A location is the physical setting or concrete place where you set or block a film scene or sequence. While this might seem of feel abstract when writing your script, it is very concrete and specific with shooting your short film.
If your characters are inside a home or apartment that is location #1, if they are then inside a car speaking lines that is location #2, if they are inside a store or retail establishment that is location #3 and if they are at the Witches Hat Water Tower, that is location #4. With the ScreenLabs Challenge you are limited to a total of 4 locations in which all actions and dramatic scenes must occur.
A type or category of location, such as "interior" and "exterior" cannot altogether be counted as one location. You can have one location inside a home and another inside a retail store and that is two locations, not one. When you breakdown your script and plan the shooting of the scenes, there must be no more than 4 locations in your shooting schedule.
The guidelines established for Screenlabs Challenge are not meant to harm or penalize the production but rather make it possible for you to complete making the short film with few cash resources. Limiting locations provides a reasonable framework in which you can get all the shots you need in a one or two day shooting schedule. But we do encourage you to be creative and it is possible for a skilled director, DP, and lighting person to take the most of one location and make it look like more.
All good writers and scripts are very efficient with the use of locations and their impact to the story and its meaning and applying these guidelines will make you better screenwriters.
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