#Open script without slugline how to

This is just the beginning, maybe the inciting incident followed by a long ellipse that drives you to the main time of your story. The audience don't know that your main story is set in the future (E.G. Hello Howard, IMO, - if your opening image/setup occurs in the past, this is not a flashback because that respects the chronology. I would try to avoid using it at the start myself, but YMMV.

#Open script without slugline how to

Agree that a flashback should be an option, if you simply must use one at the start (as 'Batman Begins' does, while he's in the prison camp, remembering how his father told him about how to cope with his fear of bats) I don't know who decided it can't _ever_ be used, but that's like a lot of 'rules', more of a general one, if anything. My apologies, for not having been more precise. If anything, it seems, you disagreed with what _you thought_ I wrote. _Nothing_ in this prevents the two speaking characters from doing their laundry, eating, playing handball, etc. It goes from present to past, and back again, and is a vivid demonstration of ACTION: two characters, interacting. yours, not mine! Another character can ASK him to tell the story, and he can tell it, in pieces, with the other character interjecting questions, as people would do, in that situation.

'In other words, you would prefer dialogue rather than action.' Those are definitely other words. Indianapolis in 'Jaws' is one of the creepiest scenes in the film, and we don't see a thing, except the reactions Brody and Hooper have to what he's saying. Take 'Jaws', for example Quint's chilling remembrance of what happened to the U.S.S. that prevents it from including suspense.' Sure there is: the flashback can present the image and sound of what happened, while a dialogue-driven recreation can allow the viewer to fill in the blanks. For openers, 'There's nothing about the nature of a flashback. I'll clarify them, in the hope of clearing up your confusion. Peter, Ah, yes, I see your problem you're disagreeing with things I did not write. Sorry to ramble but I enjoy these type of questions. I just used the restaurant scene as a template. Just an example, to explain what I would do, although I understand in your story the facts are different. This shows the injury not only impacts the protagonist, but the whole world around them now, in a trench moment way. The waitress nearly cries feeling the pathos, and scurries about trying to soothe the situation, pouring the wine for them both. The protagonist remembers their past, with the camera catching the reaction of their date sat opposite, and all the other diners around them. The protagonist is in a universal situation the audience identifies with, we all go on dates restaurants, and when the flashback happens the audience already have built up emotion. I'm not sure what the protagonists injuries are, but suppose severe injury of an arm.he/she could be in a restaurant with the woman/man of his/her dreams, the simple act of pouring the wine at the table turns into a catastrophe. Build a tense scene in the present, such as a hot date, or police pull over. Don't kick the script off with the flashback, but you can still have it in the first act. Best of both worlds kind of thing, in other words.

Perhaps you could hook the viewer, by framing the flashback AS a description, after the fact, of these events in other words, this is a scene in the present of one character answering questions about past events to a second character. That is what keeps us watching! On the other hand, maybe you have a good reason for beginning the flashback this way. Don't forget the value of making the audience want more, and doling it out to us, a piece at a time. You should also consider the value of cannibalizing a flashback, a few seconds at a time, along the way,to create a growing suspense. Then, just discard the flashback, and have the protagonist explain what it described, as if recapping it for a colleague, friend, love interest, authority figure, etc. Figure out what it tells you that the rest of the story does not. Perhaps you should write the flashback out, as if you were beginning the script with it.

It's better if another character asks your protagonist 'how did we get here?' That feels more natural, like if we were asking the protagonist this question, as if we knew him or her. Howard, In general (there are exceptions to this), I think it's better to create suspense about the piece, at first.