OK, I’m fibbing, it was actually Tennessee Williams’ advice to playwrights, but it applies just as much to screenwriters:
“What shouldn’t you do if you’re a playwright? Don’t bore the audience! I mean, even if you have to resort to totally arbitrary killing onstage, or pointless gunfire, at least it’ll catch their attention and keep them awake. Just keep the thing going anyway you can.”
Of course you don’t really want totally arbitrary events in your script, but if you need to capture their attention, put it in and then in the next draft work your way backward in the story so it has some motivation or at least is foreshadowed and work your way forward in the story to make sure it has a consequence.
(Jurgen Wolff offers a new screenwriting tip here every Tuesday; also see his site, www.ScreenwritingSuccess.com and his book, “Your Writing Coach.”)
About Jurgen Wolff
Jurgen Wolff has written more than 100 episodes of TV, created the animated series “Norman Normal,” wrote the mini-series “Midnight Man,” starring Robe Lowe, the feature film “The Real Howard Spitz,” starring Kelsey Grammer and has been a feature film script doctor for movies starring Kim Cattrall, Michae Caine and Eddie Murphy, among others. He is also the author of a dozen books including “Your Writing Coach” and “Your Creative Writing Masterclass,” both published by Nicholas Brealey. His screenwriting blog is www.ScreenwritingSuccess.com.
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