Question: “How to hit the right pace at the script’s beginning?”

An open forum question from Antonio:

Thanks for creating the Open Forum. Just one question: I’m new to scriptwriting but not to short stories etc, but what I’ve found when I’ve been given feedback on spec scripts, is that one person will say move it along, there’s not enough action, get right in there from the beginning. Then when I re-write to do just that, another critique will state: You’re telling us/giving us too much, let it come slowly. It does become confusing, and I suspect it’s getting that balance right that’s the hard bit?

Antonio, if I was forced to choose between getting a script off to a rocking start or taking my sweet time to set things up “slowly,” knowing the mindset of script readers like I do, I’d rock it out.

Script readers start forming their opinion of the script and you (as a writer) on P. 1. And by P. 5, they want to have been pulled into the story. This is one reason, I suspect, so many scripts / movies begin with some sort of big ‘opening incident.’

Does that mean you manufacture a ‘big’ opening? No. But a lot depends upon the genre of your story. If it’s an action, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, or horror story, then you’d be wise to brainstorm a kick-ass opening incident. If it’s a drama, maybe not.

Then again, Alfred Hitchcock said, “Drama is life with the dull parts cut out.”

Movies are a different narrative form than novels or short stories. And I think it’s fair to say in the “Twitterization” of this modern age, where everybody seems to suffer from short attention spans, movies (and the script they’re based on) more than ever — typically — need to start off with something that immediately grabs the reader / viewer by the eyeballs.

Here’s a suggestion: Think of your favorite 20 movies. I’ll bet those scripts are available at SimplyScripts.com or some other script-hosting site. Read and compare how each of those 20 scripts handles their opening 5–10 pages. That should give a good feel for the ‘balance’ you asked about.

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