Being and Writing in the Moment

Time is a mystery, especially in a screenplay. As writers, we can leap through decades from one scene to the next. Or we can stretch a moment into minutes of screen time, page after page unfolding the action in slow-motion, the same event visualized from multiple points of view. Indeed, each scene has its own rhythm. They can flash by like this one from The Matrix:

INT. HEART O’ THE CITY HOTEL

The Big Cop flicks out his cuffs, the other cops holding
a bead. They’ve done this a hundred times, they know
they’ve got her, until the Big Cop reaches with…