Your First Ten Pages…
Posted on August 19, 2006
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I cannot stress enough how important the first ten pages of your screenplay are. I cannot stress enough how important the first ten pages of your screenplay are. I cannot stress enough how important the first ten pages of your screenplay are. I cannot stress enough how important the first ten pages of your screenplay are. I cannot stress enough how important the first ten pages of your screenplay are.
And, if your inciting incident does not occur within those first ten pages, then the first ten pages of your screenplay are even MORE CRITICAL than normal because unless those first ten pages really GRAB the reader that’s reading them, they might just decide NOT to read on.
That’s not to say that your inciting incident must fall somewhere within those first ten pages of your screenplay but what I mean is that if it does not occur, then those ten pages must be even more intense and really grab the reader’s interest… This really isn’t as hard as it sounds as long as you pack all the following information within those first ten pages…
- The mood, tone, style, and scope of your story. Is it dark? Is it edgy? Is it a comedy? Is it a love story? Is it action? Is it horror? Your opening or what I like to call your VISUAL PROLOGUE, should be POWERFUL! What is your story about? You gots to let us know!
- The HOOK! This is something that makes YOUR STORY unique and different from everything else in the theater. This hook needs to make us sit the fuck up, lean forward, dig in, and prepare for what is to follow. Your hook can be visual as well as a concept but you’ve got to reveal it to us no later than page 5! Stuff like a gun in the mouth, a victim running away from a killer, a car crash, a rape, etc. SOMETHING THAT GRABS US IMMEDIATELY!
- Set up your main characters, ESPECIALLY your Protagonist and his or her ORDINARY WORLD! You gotta let us get to know this individual and you don’t have very long to do so. We need to identify with your Protagonist and feel sympathy and empathy toward him or her. Give your Protagonist some undeserved misfortune so we immediately get on his or her side. Your Protagonist is often living in a Utopian world where everything is going perfectly or Hell on earth. Maybe give us a glimpse of your Antagonist or one of your Antagonist’s victims.
- Give us a glimpse of the theme you might explore… The theme is what your story is really about underneath all that structure, action, and dialogue. It might even have something to do with your Protagonist’s flaw(s)…
*NOTE: If you do not have your inciting incident occur within the first ten pages, then you only really have two more pages to accomplish it or you run the risk of losing your reader.
I’ve often been asked to send over a treatment… I rarely ever do that and instead, usually fax or email the first ten to fifteen pages of the screenplay instead.
If you’ve done your job as outlined above, the powers that be will ask for the rest of your script.
Unk
Tags: first ten pages first 10 pages inciting incident screenplay screenwriting grab the reader’s attention
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5 Responses to “Your First Ten Pages…”
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Personally, I say have the inciting incident within the first 5 pages, and even then, you better have a flippin’ good reason not to have it on page 1 or 2.
Good post!
Hey… As long as it’s no later than page 12 but you KEEP my interest until then…
I’m happy.
Unk
I’m gonna fall on the page 10-12 range for inciting incident. If you say that the inciting incident is what causes our character to take the step at the end of Act 1 (I’m going to say it’s also the Call to Adventure), then you have to setup the character, his world and get the audience on their side first.
That takes a few pages. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to recognize it as an inciting incident.
Also, I believe you have to look at the screenplay length as well. If you stick to the “hollywood” template, then it’s about 10-12% into the story based on the length of the script.
This is all based on how stories naturally flow and what, as an audience, we expect to see at about that time for the type of stories we’re engaged in (the hollywood fairy tale type).
No doubt, the first ten are super important though. Not that the rest can suck, but as you say, if the first 10 do, you don’t get the others read.
not wanting to mix it up but HOW can you have an inciting incident occur on the first couple pages?Since it is a complication or turn born out of established setting, characters…the ‘world of story’, don’t those things all have to be in place first for an ‘incident’ to incite change? or are there some examples out there?
you cause my Office Depot visits to go up dramatically. I need to print out yet another of your fabulous tips… thanks again