Write the Damn Thing!
DAY 10
Buongiorno authors!
I bet those first acts are coming along great. That’s why I don’t want to take much of your time today. Let’s get the writing going as fast as we can.
Remember we have the facebook group and the hashtag #WTDT if you want to share your thoughts, or just scroll through what the community is talking about.
Today’s “key concept” is a little bit different. Today I want to share with you…
Key aspect of screenwriting: Great introductions of characters.
We’ll go over some great character’s introductions. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired.
Remember, first impressions matter. Make it count.
1- Jack Sparrow
Yes, I’m a sucker for some Pirates of The Caribbean, but forget my pro pirates bias and gawk on how cool that character intro is. They managed to tell us this guy is a proud mysterious pirate, resourceful, funny and smart. And all of this in under 2 minutes. The idea of the sinking ship is pure genius! Love it!
2 — Rachel Green
The opening scene of Friends is pretty efficient. They make a great job introducing all the characters, and showcasing their personality. But I want to highlight how they use the introduction of Rachel to suggest one of the central conflicts of the show: Rachel and Ross, will they or will they not?
3 — Willy Wonka
A bit of a classic, but you can’t deny how effective this intro is. At this point in the film we’ve been hearing about Willy Wonka for some time now, and we expect to see an eccentric guy. Instead, we get a crippled man with a cane… but it’s all a ruse! Everybody claps! But somewhere in the back of our minds, some questions start to pop up: Is this man trustworthy? He is definitely fun, but is he hiding something?
So much in so little time!
4 — Derek Shepherd
Think what you want, Grey’s Anatomy had its moments. This is a great intro scene because it works as a twist later on. It’s basically the same idea as the Friends one, they are setting up the romantic tension of the series.
5 — Don Draper
This one is slightly different. You don’t really get a whole lot from Don Draper, but the audience understands: 1) It’s a period piece. 2) The nature of the job we will be exploring in the coming episodes. In this scene, Don might be displaying some doubt about the nature of his job, but I might be reading too much into that last shot. Either way, this is a pretty efficient scene when it comes to exposition.
The audience gets handled a lot of information in a non-boring way. Which is always a plus.
Day 10 Task:
Keep writing that 1st Act. Two or three pages more, c’ mon!
I’m sure those scenes will help you get those creative juices flowing. Now put that overflowing creativity into the page.
See you tomorrow.
And remember, if you missed the post yesterday, you can read it here.
Happy writing!
