What makes people lean forward while watching a movie? Is it laughter? No. Is it love? No. Is it conflict? No. The one thing that keeps people leaning forward is TENSION!
How we do this begins with solid character development. I want to make my characters significant in some way… but also flawed. I want the reader / viewer to see my characters as real. If I’m writing about the heavyweight champion of the world, you can bet I’m going to eventually let the reader know about the loss of his family due to his drug use.
After I create the caring or emotional attachment to the character I’ll then insert the QUESTION. In the case of my example above, I’d focus on “Will the champion earn his family’s love & respect back? Will he see his kids again?”
In Sleepless in Seattle, “Will Sam’s huge bookstore chain crush Annie’s small bookstore?”
Keep the tension SIMPLE yet prolonged.
Conflict can be an argument in a scene… and not keep your readers awake. But if you have a husband and wife eating breakfast peacefully and the husband quietly place a small bomb and timer in his briefcase… we’ve just created tension! Heck, we could follow him around the whole movie just waiting to see who he blows up!
That’s it for now… happy writing!
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Brian K. Allen
Screenplay Writer & Coach
http://www.TheScriptReviewer.com
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Saturday, June 26, 2010
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