The said and unsaid. Dialogue and subtext. Symbiotic. Train rails, side by side. The nature of every scene is what is said, and what is really said. Meaning: The essence of the scene, the subtext. What are the actors playing? Have you spoken out every intention and emotion with exposition? Have you left them enough […]
Does your story start at the beginning and run straight through? Do you pick it up late, and double back to tell the tale? Do you go Memento and get completely unconventional? Think of structure as the movie clock. Conventional stories are told in linear fashion, from 12:01am to midnight. Sure, there can be flashbacks, […]
“TV and film work is pure craft. It’s like building a table. No matter how well you build it, how well you carve the legs, it will always be a table. Because I have to outline my TV and film work, because I have to write scripts to the page count, I tend to be […]
“I never get to . . . the index cards. I’ve never done that. I should, probably. I start with theme and character and, sometimes, ideas for scenes and dialogue, and I get a sense thematically of what I want to explore and accomplish. Basically I’m too immature to actually work it all out in […]
Let’s talk about the difference between FLASHBACK and FLASH. Traditional flashback plays out over a longer period of time. Put the lead-in in the slugline: INT. JIMMY’S ROOM- DAY (FLASHBACK). Be sure to tell the reader when it’s over with END FLASHBACK. A standard flashback might last a full scene, or even a sequence of […]
