#5 - Withholding Information
Edition #5 of the Lighthouse miniLetter!
You'll always get:
Three examples of great screenwriting
Two quotes about storytelling
One thing to think about
Plus some fun links at the bottom.
Three examples of great screenwriting
Russian Doll (Pilot)
Pilot by Leslye Headland
We don’t need it to say SFX to hear the thumping bass or the faucet or a knock, but it explicitly calls our attention to it, so that later in the script, we’re immediately called back to earlier, reinforcing the premise of the show.
The repetition of the question, “Or maybe a faucet?” “Or is it a faucet?” is another pattern.
Succession (309 - All The Bells Say)
Written by Jesse Armstrong
The poetry in Armstrong’s work here carries over to the show. Stating the subtext, but with metaphor and figurative language.
Sky King
Written by J. Adam Russel
The specificity of the plane really gives it weight and communicates the milieu that the characters are comfortable in. It might sound like gibberish to us, but to the characters they know exactly what this means. Additionally, great use of bold here to emphasize how big of a moment this is in the story.
Two quotes about screenwriting
“You will have found all the ways to solve the problems in your first script by finishing the second.”
“Don’t get it right. Get it written.”
One thing to think about
Are you unnecessarily withholding information?
Information can be shocking. But are you trading one moment of shock for many moments of tension, intrigue or drama?
Hitchcock famously talked about how a bomb under the table provides tension for the rest of dinner, but this only works if we know it’s there before dinner.
Unlike many other stories, The Last of Us gives us Joel’s past in the very first episode. We know what he’s been through, and every episode after we attach it to why he is the way he is. We read the past on his face.
Surprise is effective, but dramatic irony lasts.
Are you unnecessarily withholding information?
Have a great draft,
David Wappel