<div class="seriesmeta">This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/Best Of 2020/story-paradigms/" class="series-3580" title="Story Paradigms">Story Paradigms</a></div><div class="seriesbox"><div class="center"> <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/Best Of 2020/story-paradigms/" class="series-3580" title="Story Paradigms">Story Paradigms</a></div><ul class="serieslist-ul"><li class="serieslist-li-current">New Storytelling Paradigms &#8211; Meander and Explode (Part 1)</li></ul></div>I am a curmudgeonly sort when it comes to change. And I tend not to like trends because they mostly don’t stand the test of time. Social media? A flash in the pan. Okay, so I was wrong about that one &#8211; big time. But these so-called &#8220;New Hollywood Structures&#8221; leave me as cold as a caribou’s nose. After all, the three-act structure has worked well for storytellers for thousands of years.
In order for me to make my point, let’s first examine some of the latest thinking on story structures including those used in video game practices.
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<h3>Meander, Spiral, Explode</h3>
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This is taken from a book Meander, Spiral, Explode. Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison. The contention is that story narrative can be viewed as a moving geometric shape(s) rather than a linear progression of scenes. Quite interesting to envision. 
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Let’s discuss the merits of these non-traditional narrative designs and how they might be applied to enhance traditional storytelling.
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<h3>Narrative Strategies, Not Structure</h3>
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I can’t see that the various categories discussed here can be characterized as structure per se. I see them as story strategies; a way, a pattern, a modus with which to tell a story. I’ll circle back to this point at the end of the article. And yes, I’m using a ‘circular narrative strategy’ for this.
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<h3>The Wave</h3>
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Typical narrative structure viewed as a shape is a wave. Given what we already know about Syd Field’s paradigm which was somewhat inspired by German playwright Gustav Freytag and called the Freytag pyramid, that tracks. A wave is like a rounded pyramid; the rise and fall tracing an up and down journey. The build, peak, sustain and release of story tension to lock in the audience.
Wave structure appears in most movies. Sports films follow this traditionally-shaped structure almost religiously. Movies about bands are another example. Rise (peak) to stardom, fall from grace, and perhaps redemption and insight at the end. I Used To Be Famous does this.
Endless variations have come from the wave-shaped story overlayed on a three-act structure, but even more radical derivations are becoming much more prevalent.
Why is this important? 
Because we’re beginning to see more and more non-traditional forms of narrative especially among long form story TV series, so understanding the process of how to veer away from that ubiquitous three-act structure is imperative.
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<h3>Meander</h3>
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Meander is what it says. Imagine an ant trail to a finish. You meander to the ending. You twist and turn. Backtrack, change course, but move forward until the end.
Let’s look at some movies which are an example of a meander structure.
I have to say up front I don’t see much point in meandering in story. Why follow a long trail of seemingly disconnected paths? I guess it could be said that eventually you do achieve a goal and getting there can be horrifying or fun, so there’s that. 
A French film I saw is an example of meandering. A Single Girl basically follows a young woman, nearly in real time, while she works at a hotel as a maid. There is little to no plot. I found it interesting as art, but not compelling and I will say now that the word “compelling” will be my main point in all this. 
Roma is a prime example of meandering. Not a goal-oriented storyline by any stretch but it does tell a story and its meandering narrative scheme is effective.
Same with Lost In Translation which rolls along for a few hours, does have points to make, and accomplishes a very compelling story.
In similar fashion, the Coen’s wonderful Barton Fink seems to have a plot, and, of course stuff happens, but not necessarily in any discernible linear fashion.
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<h3>Spiral</h3>
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Spiraling involves starting at a point and moving up toward increasingly bigger circles (intensities) of story. I can see how the latest Academy Awards darling Everything Everywhere All At Once could be characterized as a spiral. It starts innocuously enough as the characters begin their day and prepare for a tax audit which just gets progressively more crazy. It spirals up and around that central event of the audit. Of course, I can also see this film as fitting several other categories which we’ll examine as we go along.
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<img class="wp-image-40322 aligncenter" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/reid-zura-rSrK-P0Wips-unsplash-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="770" height="502" />
Another spiral might be Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. The structure is a layer on layer, non-linear examination of a story about a jewelry store robbery committed by two brothers. The spiral is perhaps more horizontal, like the constant lapping waves on a beach where each subsequent thrust of the ocean overlaps the last one but also moves the shoreline inward.
Spirals then, are defined as pieces of story spun around a central core in a range of directions. As mentioned, if you watch Everything Everywhere All At Once the central core is Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) and her various iterations at a tax audit and using characters established in her family and at that audit.
Perhaps another example would be Scott Pilgrim vs The World in which Pilgrim (Michael Cera) vies against several different antagonists one at a time all connecting him to Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
There’s also he potential for a spiral to be a downward movement. Like A Christmas Carol in which things get increasingly worse.
A film like Memento could be considered a reverse spiral since it unfolds in a backward fashion.
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<h3>Explode (Radials)</h3>
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Explode is best visualized as a radial, the secondary definition in the title of this section. A pebble dropped in a pool of water that has outgoing rings of causality. The energy (pebble drop) starts from a central location and radiates larger, but not necessarily more intense moments like a spiral does building up or down. A single action has wide-ranging knock-on effects much further away.
If you think of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet perhaps as an example you can get there. Maybe even Twin Peaks where the discovery of a body is the pebble drop that has ever growing circles of story.
By the way, Lynch was creating non-standard narratives when many were still writing hokey comedies or derivative dramas. Mulholland Drive tells a tale from a dropped pebble of a car accident and explodes (radiates) from there.
I would say the radial structure mostly purports to inform theme. 
There is an interesting example used in Alison’s book of Joyce Carol Oates Blackwater. Let me quote from the book directly so I don’t mis-characterize it. “We know she’ll die because this novel, like a Greek tragedy, follows the lines of a known story; also because the narrative keeps driving right up to the point of Kelly’s death but then halts, circling out to tell more about her.”
So it would seem that radials, as defined by Alison, can be say a first act, a second act of radials from that one point of an event (like a death) and then a third act:
Setup &gt; Event &gt; Radial focus around something &gt; Resolution
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This is a very comfortable way to envision a structure for a film story or any story.
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<h3>Network and Cells</h3>
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A bee hive’s cells. Bubbles. They can be all sizes but they are basically the same shape. That’s called tessellation. Cracked, parched earth, tree bark, etc. This form of narrative shows you no linear path or central core, but rather presents tessellation (cells) and invites (forces) your brain to connect them.
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Perhaps the closest we come today is the long form narrative TV series. Episodes are presented with different information and we are allowed to make the connections we make until the very end when the detective reveals what we never saw coming. 
The first season of Damages did this masterfully. Pieces, pieces, pieces then connection and more pieces.
Season one of Stranger Things is cells of information which connect and reconnect throughout. Like any good mystery, the whys of Eleven and the demogorgon is teased and only revealed bit by bit as we head for the finale in episode eight. All the characters, like cells in a beehive, are given their due. But even then, something Eleven does is not revealed until season two so we get resolution to all the story tessellation but not entirely.
If you watch season three, it opens with a powered woman named Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) with a group of criminals. This group and their importance isn’t revealed until much later in episode seven, Lost Sister.

New Storytelling Paradigms – Meander and Explode (Part 1)

<div class="seriesmeta">This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/Best Of 2020/yes-pile/" class="series-3544" title="Yes Pile">Yes Pile</a></div><div class="seriesbox"><div class="center"> <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/Best Of 2020/yes-pile/" class="series-3544" title="Yes Pile">Yes Pile</a></div><ul class="serieslist-ul"><li class="serieslist-li"><a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/12-ways-to-get-your-script-to-the-yes-pile-part-1/" title="12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 1)">12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 1)</a></li><li class="serieslist-li-current">12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 2)</li></ul></div><h3>7) Sleight Of Structure</h3>
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Sharper took story setups to a different level by having four stand-alone segments that laid the foundations of the characters, their stories, and the plot, and then delivered an interesting ending in the fifth segment. It’s bold and unique. Whether you liked it or not, you have to admire the vision that went into it.
Like Memento which told its story backwards, or When the Devil Knows You’re Dead or Damages which told their stories in layers of time and place.
Coming up with a unique way to tell a story can get big rewards. The stories in these non-linear works aren’t all that new or unique but the way they’re told keeps you engaged. The challenge then is not to confuse the reader.
Moonlight did their story as three separate segments as varying stages of the main character’s life each titled in different names as he was Little, Chiron, and finally Black.
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<img class=" wp-image-40079 aligncenter" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/jwNMsp3oHku2tLZG48p7pBSqt5a-1024x576.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="770" height="433" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/jwNMsp3oHku2tLZG48p7pBSqt5a-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/jwNMsp3oHku2tLZG48p7pBSqt5a-150x84.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/jwNMsp3oHku2tLZG48p7pBSqt5a-250x141.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/jwNMsp3oHku2tLZG48p7pBSqt5a-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/jwNMsp3oHku2tLZG48p7pBSqt5a.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px" />
Like a magician who distracts you with one thing while sliding other things around, or making props disappear, by the time you realize you’re being fooled it’s too late because you’re at the end of the script. Winning!
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<h3>8) Defy Expectations</h3>
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One of my go-to movies in my Intro to Scriptwriting class is the amazing Attack The Block. It’s sci-fi horror, but with such great bones and genre-defying moments, that I rarely hear a negative review from the students. This current class gave it eights out of ten.
What amazes me though is the consistent comment, “I didn’t think I was going to like it but…” or “I don’t like sci0fi (or horror) but…”.
There are movies that simply transcend genre. ATB is one of them. How do you pass up a film that purports to tell the story of a group of young men, wanna-be gangsters in London, who stop an alien invasion using nothing more than a few hastily constructed weapons and are on bicycles!
A few years back there was this odd trend of telling semi-traditional movies with kids in the lead roles. Bugsy Malone was one of them. Traditional gangsters but played by young actors like Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, and John Cassisi. Now that’s unique.
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<h3>9) Reinvent The Wheel</h3>
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Teen Beach Movie which takes a trope or two to the mixer and spits out something new(ish) is wildly entertaining because it skewers the old 60’s films but with love. You’re engaged on several levels but overarching this is the recognition that these characters have dropped into a beach movie from the days of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. If you’re asking who those actors are then that’s fair &#8211; but someone loved them enough to remake them with tongue firmly in cheek.
Mad Max: Fury Road bridges the gap between the last Mad Max flick in 1985 (Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome) and a new vision of this post-apocalyptic world. It probably sets a record, several no doubt, for extended action sequences on wheels. It’s the same and wildly different from all the other movies in this series, although to be accurate, motorized vehicles have always played a prominent part of the franchise.
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<div id="attachment_40080" style="width: 777px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-40080" class=" wp-image-40080" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/MV5BMjMzODcyNjI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODg2ODcyMjE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="767" height="511" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/MV5BMjMzODcyNjI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODg2ODcyMjE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg 1000w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/MV5BMjMzODcyNjI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODg2ODcyMjE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-150x100.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/MV5BMjMzODcyNjI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODg2ODcyMjE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-250x167.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/MV5BMjMzODcyNjI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODg2ODcyMjE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px" />Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) In Mad Max: Fury Road. Photo by Photo by Jasin Roland/ Warner Bros.</div>
Stand Up Men took three veteran actors known for their various tough guy rolls and put them in a sunset-of-their lives gangster gambit.
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<h3>10) Subvert Conventions</h3>
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A Futile and Stupid Gesture upends the biography movie to tell us about legendary comedy genius Doug Kenney making it as profane, insane, and arcane as the man himself who took traditional publishing and flipped it into something that started a satirical trend that continues today. Futile even features the ghost of an older Kenney who not only narrates but participates in an imaginary storyline.
But even before Futile, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the biography of Chuck Barris (Dating Game, Gong Show) startled Hollywood out of complacency. Reading this script would have been like being in a fun house without any gravity to anchor you.
No biography to that point had quite the WTH factor. Even the acid-dripped biography of the infamous gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) would not have compared for pure weirdness and entertainment.
Imagine reading a script that claims that the man who started these goofy game shows was once a spy for the CIA and would take his Dating Game winners on a trip to West Berlin in the winter. Why? The average temps are 29 degrees? Chuck explained that he had had to do a hit in Berlin so this was good cover. I mean…what? I can just see someone in the studios reading this script, laughing and unable to put it down.
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<h3>11) Suspense/ Intrigue/ Mystery</h3>
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The big three. Create mystery, intrigue, and suspense and you’re a lock. The box with a bow on it that just sits there is too compelling. What’s in it? Being the curious monkeys we are we just have to find out. As long as you can keep a reader guessing, in a good way, you’re gold.
Even if I’m bored by something, if there’s a who done it at end I’ll probably finish it. I just had to watch The Monster of Wall Street (never boring BTW) to the end because I was so curious at how Bernie Madoff got away with stealing 60 billion dollars. I read some of the news accounts, sure, but this expose was stunning and I was hooked because I wanted more of this real life mystery.
Any drawing room mystery, crime drama, even just a drama drama should be infused with questions that a reader wants to see answered. This keeps the reader and viewer engaged until the end, the reveal. It’s why Midsomer Murders is going on its 22nd season with no end in sight.
“Law and Order” the original series, went 20 seasons ending in 2009 but it spun off several others of its kind and in 2022, the original series was resurrected. Hard to beat that mystery box.
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<h3>12) The Kitchen Sink</h3>
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You always think something is impossible until someone does it. Is Everything Everywhere All At Once a drama? Yes. Sci-fi, fantasy, horror? Martial arts? Check all those boxes. Comedy? Chinese opera? Yep. Is it about quantum theory? Sure. Multiple themes? Of course. And does it utilize just about every technique discussed in this article. That too.
Impossible. And yet…
Somehow, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as &#8220;Daniels&#8221;, have managed to create something that really hasn’t existed before.
Astounding.
I’m not sure many could write or get away with a script like this. It’s chaotic, solid and wildly entertaining at the same time. But it could also be a precursor of how far you need to push your material these days to rise above the noise.
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<h3>In Conclusion</h3>
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All writers who succeed start with first understanding the ‘rules’ before they break them. Before you resort to gimmicks that weaken, not strengthen your work, spend some time learning solid storytelling and then look around and see how to subvert that “normal” stuff to capture and hold the eye of a reader.
<fieldset><legend>Series Navigation</legend><a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/12-ways-to-get-your-script-to-the-yes-pile-part-1/" title="&lt;&lt; 12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 1)">&lt;&lt; 12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 1)</a></fieldset>

12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 2)

<div class="seriesmeta">This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/Best Of 2020/yes-pile/" class="series-3544" title="Yes Pile">Yes Pile</a></div><div class="seriesbox"><div class="center"> <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/Best Of 2020/yes-pile/" class="series-3544" title="Yes Pile">Yes Pile</a></div><ul class="serieslist-ul"><li class="serieslist-li-current">12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 1)</li><li class="serieslist-li"><a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/12-ways-to-get-your-script-to-the-yes-pile-part-2/" title="12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 2)">12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 2)</a></li></ul></div>You’ve seen it yourself, I’m sure. An opening gambit on a movie or TV episode. Expectations are high. You’re intrigued. And then you find your mind wandering &#8211; already mentally searching for something else to watch &#8211; the promise only to end in disappointment way before the midpoint of the story or episode two of the series.
Now imagine you’re a script reader or producer. You’re favorably teased by the logline and perhaps synopsis as you open the 10th of 20 scripts to read that week. And within 10 pages (or less) you’re throwing it on the ‘no’ pile. You can’t even recommend the writer. The whole experience is blah or worse.
Next.
How do you engage and keep a reader?
Simple and not so simple.
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<h3>1) A Great Premise</h3>
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This is first. A logline is like the amazing smell coming from the simmering stuffed peppers or the wrap-around-your-brain aroma of garlic in butter in the frying pan. 
That’s the logline or tagline.
“Three teenage boys are accused of the satanic brutal murders of three 8-yr-old boys in West Memphis, AR.” That’s Devil’s Knot.
“In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream.” The tagline for Alien.
Hidden Figures is the true story about the crucial role three African-American women played in the NASA program during the early days of the U.S. space program. Their roles were largely unknown. The logline intimates the story within.
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<div id="attachment_40071" style="width: 784px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-40071" class=" wp-image-40071" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Hidden-Figures-13-1024x684.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="774" height="517" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Hidden-Figures-13-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Hidden-Figures-13-150x100.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Hidden-Figures-13-250x167.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Hidden-Figures-13-768x513.jpg 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Hidden-Figures-13.jpg 1150w" sizes="(max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px" />Cast of Hidden Figures</div>
A great logline starts the process.
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<h3>2) A Bravura Opening</h3>
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Keeping a culinary theme going, amuse-bouche is a term meaning “mouth amuser,” the goal of which is to tease the pallet and create an anticipation for the main entree. Basically, an appetizer, the tease itself must be worthy, so a lot of thought goes into the small portion to make them a hit and lay the path for the upcoming meal.
A great opening, something that compels and intrigues, goes a long way to giving your script a fighting chance.
Bond films are at times heavily criticized for their formulae, but that formula works. Re-watch the opening for Casino Royale where Daniel Craig’s James Bond is a threatening shade in the dark sent to fulfil the requirements of his double 0 designation &#8211; meaning he must kill two people before he is given his official license to kill.
Consider how the opening is brilliantly stacked.
A man gets out of a car in Prague. Goes to his office. As mentioned, Bond is there in the dark. The man asks how his contact died (understanding that Bond is there because his contact is likely dead).
DRYDEN 
If the theatrics are supposed to scare me, 
you have the wrong man, Bond.
(beat)
If M was so sure that I was bent she&#8217;d have sent a double-0.
(beat)  
Benefits of being section chief&#8230;
Dryden takes off his gloves, exposes a gun in a drawer
DRYDEN
I&#8217;d know if anyone had been promoted to double-0 
status wouldn&#8217;t I?
(beat)  
Your file shows no kills, and it takes—
BOND 
Two.
There’s a cut in of furious, truly brutal hand-to-hand as Bond fights a man in a bathroom. 
BACK TO SCENE
DRYDEN 
How did he die?
BOND 
Not well.
Cut in more more brutal action showing this.
BACK TO SCENE
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DRYDEN 
Made you feel it, did he? Well 
you needn&#8217;t worry. The second is&#8211;
THWIP! Bond shoots him.
BOND 
Yes.
(beat)
Considerably.
This sets the table and the next scene and the one after that just builds on this amazingly paced and interesting opening.
Keep that up and by the time a reader realizes it, they are reading a satisfying FADE OUT:.
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<h3>3) Structure Maintains The Pace</h3>
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Lots of writers I know eschew structure. Tentpoles? Passé. Three acts? De classé. Except they are not. Tentpoles and acts help keep your script on track and moving forward at a good pace.
Anyone who reads a lot of scripts, unconsciously, will react favorably to a well-structured piece. Story being story being story, nothing will get your work put down faster than a poorly-structured tale. Readers know at least intuitively when something isn’t working and despite this craze of telling a story with tricks and gimmicks, the stuff that gets made and lasts is fundamentally a story that follows conventions of narrative.
Game of Thrones was an eight season, unqualified hit. It maintained a consistent narrative thread throughout keeping several storylines going without fail. It never had to resort to gimmicks. And it set records.
CODA is another multi-award nominee and winner that is simply a great story told well with a traditional three-act structure. (Check out our <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/not-a-film-about-deafness-sian-heder-talks-coda/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interview</a> with screenwriter Sian Heder).
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<div id="attachment_40072" style="width: 783px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-40072" class=" wp-image-40072" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Coda-Movie-Film-Seven-1024x576.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="773" height="435" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Coda-Movie-Film-Seven-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Coda-Movie-Film-Seven-150x84.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Coda-Movie-Film-Seven-250x141.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Coda-Movie-Film-Seven-768x432.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 773px) 100vw, 773px" />Partial cast of CODA. Photo courtesy Apple TV+</div>
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<h3>4) Scene Length</h3>
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Invariably some student will point at a multi-page, talking-head scene as a defense against their own multi-page talking-head scene. “But David Mamet does it,” they might proclaim. Yep. He does &#8211; and he doesn’t. But he knows how and he knows the difference. The easiest way I know to get your script put on the ‘no thank you’ pile (besides atrociously bad grammar, punctuation, formatting, and spelling) is to have scenes go on past their sell-by date.
Suddenly, a reader is in the middle of tedious monologues or action scenes that tumble on for pages looking to pull the emergency chute on the script. 
On and on until 
1) You’re lost in the read or 
2) You’re bored with the moment or 
3) Both.
It’s hard to teach pacing. It does come, eventually. But if you’re aiming for specific goals (tentpoles) and act breaks then you start to get a feel on how long everything should go. 
One of the keys to proper scene length is an understanding of how much and when to release information. Beginners tend to front load with information. Not only is this a bad idea but it’s worse because that information isn’t necessary at that time. 
Consider the opening of Arrival. Amy Adams narrates.
LOUISE BANKS (V.O.) 
I used to think this was the beginning 
of your story.
(beat)
Memory is a strange thing. It doesn&#8217;t work 
like I thought it did. 
We are so bound by time, by its order. 
Okay. Okay. Come back to me. 
Come back to me. 
Come back to me.
We watch her and a newborn on the screen while this voice over proceeds. What we don’t know and won’t find out until the end is she’s already aware that the baby she’s kissing will die as a teen because her perceptions of time have been altered by her contact with the alien language she will work on.
Information about this is dripped in until all is finally revealed to be connected and it’s brilliant. But there are no big huge expository moments here. It’s appropriate information at the appropriate place, pace, and time.
Keeping the reader hungry (but not confused obviously) will keep the suspense high and the boredom low and get you that complete read.
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<h3>5) Scene Settings</h3>
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If I’ve called out one student about restaurant or coffee shop scenes I’ve called out hundreds. Why in the world, which is vast and varied by the way in case it hasn’t been noticed, would you set such a static scene? Just because you spend time in those settings in real life does not mean your characters should too.
There’s a script doctoring term given to scripts which feel static &#8211; it’s called opening them up. Yes, TV is a talking heads medium. Yes, movie people eat food and drink coffee. But watch quality work and notice that eating and coffee is normally consumed on the move or in a situation rife with suspense.
Vary your scenes, open up your script, make it visually interesting &#8211; that’s the sign of a pro or someone who soon will be. 
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<h3>6) Defy Conventions</h3>
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Movies and TV are basically visual mediums. Of course, writers like Aaron Sorkin use stunningly clever and powerful dialogue to get across the story. What would The West Wing be without the incredible give and take of the characters? Or something like the classic Twelve Angry Men?
In good hands apparently. 
A Quiet Place has somewhere around only 100 lines of spoken dialogue. John Krasinski knows movies and TV and how to make something unique. A simple premise: Earth becomes invaded by aliens who can track you by sound became a successful film and sequel. In order to make it work, Krasinski had to create a ‘quiet’ story that gets across everything without a lot of talking. Brilliant.
Bird Box shows a family trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world without using one important sense &#8211; sight. Sandra Bullock has to move her family to safety while all are blindfolded because to look onto the face of the Medusa, er uh, aliens means death.
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<div id="attachment_40073" style="width: 797px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-40073" class=" wp-image-40073" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/eea51a3a4d9d6fceae7afbf8ecfefbf679-24-bird-box.rsocial.w1200-1024x538.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="787" height="414" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/eea51a3a4d9d6fceae7afbf8ecfefbf679-24-bird-box.rsocial.w1200-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/eea51a3a4d9d6fceae7afbf8ecfefbf679-24-bird-box.rsocial.w1200-150x79.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/eea51a3a4d9d6fceae7afbf8ecfefbf679-24-bird-box.rsocial.w1200-250x131.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/eea51a3a4d9d6fceae7afbf8ecfefbf679-24-bird-box.rsocial.w1200-768x403.jpg 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/eea51a3a4d9d6fceae7afbf8ecfefbf679-24-bird-box.rsocial.w1200.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 787px) 100vw, 787px" />Malorie Hayes (Sandra Bullock) in Bird Box. Photo courtesy Netflix</div>
“CODA” (based on La Famille Bélier) is a drama, and much of the story is not spoken because CODA means Child Of Deaf Adult. It’s a slice of life that we don’t normally see &#8211; or hear.
The story is simple, the execution is not. And that keeps you engaged as we traverse the very compelling story of a teen who has to choose between her own blooming life and that of her deaf family. 
The sign language is written in italics in the script and subtitled in the movie. 
CHUBS 
How much is that gonna cost?
TONY 
Eight hundred bucks a day.
MONDO 
Come on, that’s gonna kill us.
Ruby turns to Frank, delivering this blow.
RUBY 
Eight hundred a day.
FRANK 
That’s more than we make in a day.
RUBY 
Don’t tell me, tell them.
It’s visually interesting enough to keep you reading &#8211; that and it’s also very well-written.
But CODA goes beyond just simple visuals. There are at least three scenes I can point to that I haven’t ever seen in any film.
Since Ruby is her family’s translator she gets stuck in awkward situations. Especially when her and her parents are at the doctor’s office and she has to convey the diagnosis.
RUBY 
His, you know&#8230;
FRANK 
They’re like angry hard little 
beets. Covered in barnacles.
RUBY 
I got it.
FRANK 
And your mother’s got it even 
worse. Like a boiled lobster claw.
Ruby squirms, mortified.
DOCTOR 
Right, so the layman’s term for 
what you both have is “jock itch.”
When Ruby and Miles are practicing their duet, there’s suddenly a lot of noise &#8211; like a woman screaming. Ruby quickly realizes that her parents, not knowing she’s home, are having sex. She can’t knock on the door or shout at them to stop so she has to crack the door, flick the light, and hope they stop. They do and she’s embarrassed, but it’s nothing compared to her father and mother after the fact wanting to talk to her and Miles about safe sex. Oh my. The gestures.
Then, such a beautiful moment it caught my breath. Unable to fully describe how singing makes her feel with words, Ruby resorts to sign language, he first language since everyone in her family but her is deaf, to describe the floating feeling. 
BERNARDO 
How do you feel when you sing?
RUBY 
I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.
BERNARDO 
Try.
Ruby thinks. Then, unsure of how to express it, she SIGNS.
Her two fingers make a figure standing still while her other hand circles to become the “universe,” which spins and grows 
out of her hands into the air around her. No tricks or gimmicks &#8211; just a story that speaks of her truth as a child of deaf adults. And it was rewarded with an Academy Award in 2022.
<fieldset><legend>Series Navigation</legend><a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/12-ways-to-get-your-script-to-the-yes-pile-part-2/" title="12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 2) &gt;&gt;">12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 2) &gt;&gt;</a></fieldset>

New Storytelling Paradigms – Meander and Explode (Part 1)

12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 2)

12 Ways To Get Your Script to the YES Pile (Part 1)

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