Manuel is a passionate, driven, and techsavvy AV technician, Screenwriting for Authors – What Your First Act Must Do
The renowned writer/director Billy Wilder offered this piece of advice on screenwriting and filmmaking: “Grab ’em by the throat and never let go.”
This is what your first act, specifically, your initial 10 pages, should accomplish. The first act serves several purposes. It introduces your main characters, the setting, the time period, the theme, genre, and tone. This is the act where we meet both the protagonist and the antagonist.
In some films, we might not encounter the antagonist directly, but we are at least introduced to them, with hints of an ultimate revelation, as is often the case in mysteries. Even if we don’t see them yet, we are made acutely aware of their presence and the negative, often devastating, impact they will have on other characters in the story.
The first act also establishes the premise of the story: a saloon owner is surprised to see the woman he loves walk back into his life during World War II (Casablanca); a giant shark threatens a beach resort town at the beginning of the summer tourist season (Jaws); a young fighter pilot must rescue a kidnapped princess and destroy an evil empire (Star Wars).
Your first … ...Read the rest.
“Screenwriting for Authors – What Your First Act Must Do”
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