Greg Russo: Tips on writing a contained thriller

We had an interesting reader question the other day from Debbie Moon on how to handle writing a contained thriller. You can read her question, my response, and some good suggestions from GITS readers here.

However we just got done benefiting from the insight of screenwriter Greg Russo in this exclusive GITS interview — here and here. Since Greg has sold two spec scripts in 18 months, both of them contained thrillers (“Down,” “Autobahn”), I asked Greg if he would respond to Debbie’s question. He agreed. Here are his tips:

Here’s a couple tricks to keep in mind in these types of narratives:

Always keep the driving force of the plot at the forefront. If you possibly can, work in all your important expositional dialogue (character and plot) in the setup, and then get the hell away from it and have your characters focused on the horrible things that are happening to them. This should minimize the number of “private discussions” you’ll need to have. If everyone’s focused on surviving, there really isn’t a lot of time to be talking in asides. That’s not to say you should forget character beats, reveals, changes, double-crosses, but pick targeted moments, (downbeats or even better, crazy up-beats) for these reveals.

If it’s more of a matter of separating characters in a room so discussions can organically happen. Use your space, (kitchen, eating area, bathrooms) OR, remember you can create space. How about a storage room, walk-in freezer, a workers lounge? If you need extra space, chances are you can create a realistic addition to your diner. Lastly, if you want people close by while these discussions are happening, don’t forget about the (sotto) — People talk in whispers all the time. As long as others are 10–15 feet away, you can get away with it.

But I’ll leave you with this question — It’s obvious you have a ticking clock, fast-paced, thriller. Try cutting back on the number of private discussions happening (which can notoriously slow down these types of movies anyway) and keep your focus on the plot. We’re all slaves to the concept. Keep your focus on that and you’ll see, some of those discussions you were trying so hard to jam in there, probably weren’t needed to begin with.

There you go, more ideas on how to handle a contained thriller from a professional screenwriter who has proved he knows how to write them.

Thanks, Greg. I see a blast of creative juju in your immediate future!

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