Screenwriting Lesson: “True Grit” (Part 1 — The First 10 Pages)
Screenwriting Lessons: “True Grit” — Part 1: The First 10 Pages
Five-part series exploring lessons from the Coen brothers screenplay.
Perhaps the single most important set of pages in a screenplay is the first ten. They not only serve as a general introduction for the reader to the story universe, they also implant key specific narrative elements including:
• Establish time and place
• Introduce key characters
• Present story conceit
• Set Plotline into motion
• Convey Narrative Voice
• Create Protagonist connection
The first ten pages either hook a reader’s interest or not. If they do, the reader will be predisposed favorably toward the remainder of the script. If not, a reader may already form a negative perception of the story, a hole out of which a writer will have dig to get positive coverage.
Here is a scene by scene breakdown of the first ten pages of the Coen brothers adaptation of True Grit:
1–2: Fort Smith: In voiceover, Mattie details her father’s death and Chaney’s flight
2: Train: Mattie arrives in Fort Smith
2–4: Funeral Home: Mattie identifies father’s body / states she has “some other business”
4–6: Gallows: Mattie witnesses the hanging of three men
6–8: Later: Mattie asks Sheriff about Chaney / marshal recommendations
8–9: Outhouse: Mattie ‘meets’ Rooster Cogburn who turns her away
9: Train Station: Coffin carrying Mattie’s father heads home / Mattie stays
9–10: Auctioneer’s Office: Mattie negotiates financial terms with Stonehill
Analyzing the combination of narrative elements screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen manage to interweave here helps us understand why the story’s first ten pages are so effective in creating a compelling set-up.
• Establish time and place: In the second side of dialogue, we get a fix on the location of the story when Mattie says, “I was just fourteen years of age when a coward by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band.” The script never specifies a year in which the story is set, the Coens instead using period elements — horses as a means of transportation, train, public hanging, outhouse — to convey a sense of time. And of course, there is the distinctive lilt of the characters’ dialogue that strongly suggests an era gone by.
• Introduce key characters: In the first ten pages of True Grit, the Coens introduce the following primary characters: Mattie Ross (Protagonist), Mattie’s father (Trickster), Tom Chaney (Nemesis), Ned Pepper and his gang (Nemesis), and critically Rooster Cogburn (Mentor), which establishes the story’s central relationship. The other key character LeBouef is introduced toward the end of Act One (P. 27).
• Present story conceit: “I intend to see papa’s killer hanged.” With that declaration on P. 7, Mattie plainly states her goal. Her plan — “Could I hire a marshal to pursue Tom Chaney?” — takes her to Cogburn which completes the conceit: Fourteen year-old Mattie Ross hires grizzled marshal Rooster Cogburn to track down and bring to justice her father’s murderer.
• Set Plotline into motion: There is the inciting incident (Mattie’s father’s death), the problem (Tom Chaney has fled), the Protagonist (Mattie Ross), her goal (to bring Chaney to justice), the bounty hunter (Cogburn), and the financial means to hire him (Stonehill negotiations).
• Convey Narrative Voice: Much has been made about the distinctive language found in the script’s dialogue. But every script has an invisible character, reflected in the style the writer uses in scene description. I call this Narrative Voice. In True Grit, the Narrative Voice expands the tone and attitude of the dialogue, framed by this early scene description: “The street of a western town, night.” The Narrative Voice is rural, colorful, folksy, but with some edge, reflective of the Coen brothers’ unique take on the Old West. Some examples: “busted-out porch railing,” “whipped on by a bareback rider,” “An undertaker, grizzled and severely dressed,” “a rough-hewn three-banger gallows,” “They hit the end of their ropes with a crack.” “One, though, writhes and kicks, jackknifing his legs,” “the last man having finally given up the ghost,” “grinding motion of the train.”
• Create Protagonist connection: From a psychological standpoint, perhaps the single most important task of a script’s first ten pages is to engender a connection between the reader and the Protagonist. If a reader cares about this pivotal character, they are motivated to keep turning pages to find out the Protagonist’s fate. Consider young Mattie’s determined efforts to achieve her goal: Find her father’s killer. She is a fish-out-of-water because of her lack of familiarity in this new setting as well as an underdog because she is forced to circumnavigate an adult world. How can a reader not be moved by Mattie’s powerful drive to right the terrible injustice that has been inflicted upon this young girl and her family?
Takeaway: Be keenly aware of how important your script’s first ten pages are. And with that awareness, be intentional about using important narrative elements — time and place, key characters, story conceit, Plotline into motion, Narrative Voice, Protagonist connection — to create a compelling introduction to your story.
Tomorrow: Fish Out Of Water.