What Does Conflict In Every Scene REALLY Mean? — Eric Conner

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Film Courage: We often hear that there has to be conflict in every scene. Can we break down what this really means?

Eric Conner, New York Film Academy Instructor/Podcaster/Writer/Filmmaker: I think the idea of conflict in every scene it’s like Well where does the scene go? That’s part of it right. Does the scene arc? If it’s just information, information can be pretty dull.

Then it’s like Okay, well then where’s the conflict in the information? Maybe the information creates the conflict. A character realizes he just got a huge inheritance but the problem is now other people nearby are going to want that money, so now all the sudden that scene has conflict in it. I think like conflict means it has some energy to it.

Conflict by the way is every genre, horror/comedy. I mean think of comedy is conflict because comedy is always about wrong turns, problems right. Drama is that too.

I think yeah, without conflict you run that risk I say like That’s a flatline. If your EKG shows that, that’s not good. If your…