“Every scene should advance the story”
“Every scene should advance the story.”
Advice from screenwriter Philip Dunne who knew just a little something about the craft accumulating dozens of writing credits including such notable films as How Green Was My Valley, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Agony and the Ecstasy.
Every scenes should advance the story. How to determine that? Go back to that question I raised last week: What is the point of the scene? Typically a scene advances the story by fulfilling two goals: Structural (External World) and Emotional (Internal World).
Plucking a scene from my head, how about this one from The King’s Speech:
http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=cSE5H
Structural Goal: To deal with the fact that Lionel is not a credentialed doctor.
Emotional Goal: To get Bertie to realize he has a voice… the voice of a King.
Time and time again in movies, we see this interplay between the events in the External World of a scene and what is happening on an emotional, psychological level.
As you pound out the first draft of your original screenplay, put each scene you write to the test: Does it advance the story? If so, how? If it does, great. Press on. If it does not, make a note, and continue on. You can deal with the scene in rewrites.
So remember:
“Every scene should advance the story.”
“The Quest” has entered Week 20! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow the structure of “The Quest” to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s a 24-week immersion in the screenwriting process and you can do it here — for free!
Today and every Monday through Friday for 10 weeks, I’ll use this slot to post something inspirational as GOYOQ participants pound out their first drafts.
For background on “Go Into The Story: The Quest,” go here and here.
For all the previous weeks of Go On Your Own Quest posts, go here.
Join the GOYOQ Forums, a free online hub where you and other Quest participants can go to support each other and share your stories. Go here.
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