Monday, April 22, 2013

Perfunctory Moments

According to Miriam-Webster, the word perfunctory is-

Just kidding. I would never subject you to the moist handshake of essay openers. But while we're on the subject, now is a good time to talk about your throw-away moments. The moments you have to get through the show the big plot point you can't wait to write.

Take a woman about to discover a body. Or a killer. Whatever. How do you make the start of the scene stand out? To you, she may just be PERSON ABOUT TO DISCOVER BODY (housewife, 40s). To a good writer, she's a woman in the middle of a day. Good day? Bad? Maybe she's soaked from the rain. Maybe the paper bag of groceries is so wet it breaks. Perhaps a PEAR rolls to the front door of her apartment where the shadow of TWO FEET are visible under the door...

In some scripts the writer is so excited to drop a body (or discover one) the scene leading up to that moment could've been written by a computer program. I'm not even talking about a good computer program. A $4.99 in Fry's discount bin, cutting edge of 1997 kind of program.

When your script is finished, go back to your big reveals - especially those after throw-away moments - and ask yourself if you really need to throw those moments away.

Every scene we read is time we give to your script. Throw-away moments let us know if you value our time as much as you value your own.