Why It’s Dangerous To Think You Have Written A Great Scene — John Schimke

Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash

Film Courage: What is your approach to writing a great scene?

John Schimke, Filmmaker/Screenwriter: I don’t know. You never sit there and think like this scene’s going to be great. I mean sometimes you do actually. What usually happens is when you sit down to write a scene that’s going to be great, it’s not great. It’s the complete opposite of great. It’s something you kind of discover or you fall into.

Usually to me I think a scene is great if there’s a beginning, middle and end. It escalates. There’s clear stakes. You’re interested in what’s happening. Usually those types of things they’re happening in the rewriting processes. Sometimes you get it at the first go but not for me at least usually not.

A lot of times too when you reread a scene after you’ve rewritten it and it does inspire you where you’re like Oh, I love how this is like working out. That’s a good sign however that also can be dangerous because a lot of times you can think This is great, this is fantastic. I love this and it doesn’t make…