Lessons Corner: Tips on Writing Scenes for Screenplays

A busy week. I've watched two movies, Mission Impossible: Fallout and A Simple Favor, planning to write reviews for them, but with college starting again they will have to wait a few more days. In light of this, I will keep today's Lessons Corner short. Today we will discuss some pointers to keep in mind when writing a scene.

Conflict and Urgency Are Your Bread and Butter

A scene is a single selection from every possible event within a story. But a scene where you follow someone down the street is much different than a scene where a person must consider jaywalking a modestly busy street to get to work on time. The first is okay, but the second is far more interesting.

Conflict is a hurdle on the path your character is trying to finish. A story will have varying obstacles of varying difficulty. You can add to the interest of a scene by adding stakes to it, like a ticking clock. For a reference, consider Christopher Nolan's films, which seem entirely run on clocks.

Conciseness Over Length

I've mentioned this before on other blogs. Every storytelling medium has its quirks. A novel allows you to spend all the time you want on something. An oral story works well if you spend time on the details and their ramifications. For some reason, scene in films and television work best when you get straight to the point.

A conversation in real life might take 20 minutes. But when you distill the conversation to its essence you notice only a few points were brought up. The rest of the time there was negotiation between the points. In a film, you essentially treat those points as the turns in the conversation. Instead of a paragraph of dialogue you only spend a few lines. On paper, it may look a bit on-the-nose, but when delivered in front of camera by a good actor you feel the full weight of that line.

Just watch the very first episode of Game of Thrones and write down all the dialogue in each scene. Notice how surprisingly little dialogue there is for each exchange. It is straight and to the point. Yet, it's effective.

A Scene Runs in Beats

Just like the turns in a conversation, a scene has its turn in activity. What are the interesting developments when trying to jaywalk across a busy intersection? How much time you have before you're late? How long is the light taking? How many cars run the red light? The attitude of other drivers and pedestrians that are late for work? How do all of these interplay with each other?

Implied Questions

Just laying information down can sometimes work, and in some cases it may be necessary. But generally it's a good idea to present the scene as a question that someone is trying to get answers for. It's alright if they don't achieve that goal.

David Fincher does this often in his films. In the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Michael Blomkvist, a journalist, is met at a train station by an old man who gives him a ride to where the majority of the story will take place. In the Swedish film, the old man gives Michael a plot dump about the Vanger family along the way. However, in the American version, Fincher doesn't have the old man say much on the ride there, instead taking time to ask questions between Michael and the old man. They continue the conversation at the location, then Michael explores alone, running into people and developing first impressions. In the Swedish film, you sometimes forget Michael is a journalist. But in the American version, Michael actively investigates like a journalist.

Opportunities for Emotional Expression

You aren't just writing the screenplay for yourself. At some point actors will pick it up with the responsibility to act it out. These people are normally professionals who don't get to explore the depths of their profession. How about giving them something that makes their time on the project worth it?

Vary up the interactions and experiences of your characters. Make them interesting and in conflict with each other. Create situations where it takes more than a pretty face to buy a scene for an audience. Your actors will appreciate you for it.

Have you noticed that Keira Knightley spends most of her career in period pieces despite the demand for her in films like Pirates of the Caribbean? Not all actors and actresses have this kind of pull. Do them a favor and give them something good.

Opportunities for Visual Expression

You are involved in a visual medium, far more than any other type of medium. Just as you construct situations for your actors, also create interesting scenes and situations for the rest of the crew to explore.

I'm not just referring to cinematographers. I'm also talking about set designers. Wardrobe. Make-up. Anyone involved in what will be seen on screen. Are there important symbols? Is the environment involved in a subliminal conspiracy against your protagonist? Is the hero in a good situation at one point, then absolute shit at another?

In Closing

Sorry I did not have the opportunity to write a more comprehensive blog this day. But I didn't want to skip a blog day. I've gotten a small but loyal fan base already and I want to honor your loyalty. Your comments and feedback make this an exciting and motivating thing to do.

I'm not sure what next week's Lessons Corner will be about. But the screenplay for Metamorphosis, Interrupted is almost finished. I plan to submit it to at least one screenplay-reading service, and possibly any of you if you're interested. Just send me a message!

- Easton

#blogs #lessons #filmmaking #storytelling #minds