Screenwriting : Today's Wish and Creative Tip by Laurie Ashbourne

Set the Stage As writers it is our job to paint a picture in readers’ minds so that they can easily envision the world of our story. Starting with the premise, through to the finished script. Consider a story set up that goes like this: A family drama, where the father and his grown son’s conflict leads the son to murder intentions, but at the last minute he has a change of heart and earns his father’s respect. As written, this could play out in the old west, a rural hometown, a vast city or a mobster’s back alley. All would be very different scenarios. Paint that picture first. Father and Son cowboys journey across the plains where their differences have them ready to kill each other, until (something) forces them to a mountain peak where they both face certain death. A struggling rock star blames his lack of success on his ailing dad’s lack of support and plans to kill him so he can go after his dreams without having to take care of him . As far as our scripts go, this is where the scene heading (slugline) does all the heavy lifting: EXT. TOP OF MOUNTAIN – DAY At the edge of the rock, Son hangs onto Dad by the holster, there’s a choice to be made… INT. LIVING ROOM, SMITH HOME – NIGHT Dad snores in front of the TV. Son glares at him, pulls a guitar string tight in his hands… Notice how neither of these REPEAT the location, but only enhance it. There’s no need to say in the action lines that, Dad and Son are at the top of the mountain, or that Son watches Dad in the living room. I just banged these out in about 70 seconds so imagine what you can do with the story you are entrenched in. Give your reader (and pitching audience) a sense of place – then launch into the meat of what the characters are going through. All the world’s a stage – take advantage of where you stand. Have a great weekend!