Film Courage: What are the first steps in writing a crime drama?
Jennifer Dornbush, Screenwriter, Author, Speaker, Consultant, and Forensic Science Specialist: To
write a crime drama you first need to know how story works really well because crime
dramas are left brain/ right brain. You have to know exactly the logical
plot, your plot and your trails of evidence have to make sense, not just for your hero/
your investigator but also for your criminal. Your criminal definitely needs his or her own
very structured story. But then there's the whole other emotional element/ relational element to
the story that you need to know how to tell well because that's the thing that is the page turner,
that's the thing that keeps you coming back after the commercials or binge the next
episode is that that underlying humanity behind all of it that your investigators need.
I think we've come a long way when I look at TV from the 80’s and 90’s to now, even criminals have
been it's never black and white. We used to be able to get away with like the bad guy
and he's sort of this stereotypic thing but bad guys are not black and white,
criminals are not black and white in real life there's layers and layers to why they got to
where they did. Those two things on on layering those for your protagonist and your criminal are
the for me the foundations like that's where you have to start you have to know how to tell
story really well and then how to really think through these two major chess pieces
what should happen the first 10 pages of a crime thriller drama what's crucial
kind of the same is really any story setup you're setting things up you're setting up your crime you
typically not you're because you're introducing oh we're this is a crime Jonah we're going to
tell you about a crime that happened so you're setting up your crime your criminal world your
criminal you're setting up your investigator and his or her world and what that looks
like sometimes investigators are professionals sometimes they're not what is sometimes they're
this is their job and so that innately gives them a motive for having to investigate something a
lot of times they're not they're maybe reluctant heroes or they get thrown into a situation where
they're sort of forced to investigate something and then you know become more obsessed about it
but that's it's really kind of yeah the first 10 pages it's really the same as setting up any story
your main your main characters and your world and the tone what kind of ride we're going to go on
the if you would look at the pilot of Pushing Daisies which is very fun right very quirky fun
kind of crime story versus you know Dexter pilot it's the tone's very different right so you're
setting that up too right away you said to start your story in the middle of things come in late
leave early why is that in media raised just yeah start in the middle of things it's I mean really
I think for any story you want to do this but I think it's really important for this type of
story because you are constantly trying to build tension and suspense and you want to come in late
and leave early so that helps you build that that pacing that tension you don't want extra really
I'm obviously like in any script there's not room for extraneous right you only want what's on the
page or on screen to be there and nothing else it I think it's like tenfold for crime stories
if you're especially if the tone is to is less relationship relational less comedic and more
about the action the thrill the adventure the suspense the tension because you're really you
don't want to leave any room you want to just keep it super tight and keep us on that ride
you know fast okay so with if we could use an example so let's say I'm trying to think
of the beginning of sharp objects but we're not necessarily seeing all the mundane right of her
life we're speeding right right I mean yes exactly you're only going to see and honestly it's a great
that's a great way of putting it because you really are trying to build for your protagonist
you're really trying to build in the motive right what is driving them personally let's just take
professionally off the table because especially for like detectives like that is their job so
the motive there's a different kind of motive because the motive is like that's your job here's
your case you know oh that's today's job but it's like sharper objects she doesn't have to take this
and even like Breaking Bad in the pilot the first 10 minutes we're really seeing what Walter White's
or right in the middle of the abyss of his life at this moment when he's just at its lowest of
his low like he's found out he's gonna die and he's not respected at school he's not respected
outside of school so we're seeing that setup of that motive of why he's gonna delve into the
world of crime criminal activity so we're setting it up really fast and in multiple little scenes
so I think that's a really because we don't it's and he's he's definitely more of the caper kind of
so it's a little bit different than a traditional detective kind of crime story but even with
the traditional detectives you're seeing right away
they're getting launched into this crime right and they have to go on the scene and right away
they're trying to evaluate everything they're right in the middle of this chaos somebody's just
been murdered and this is a chaotic world and what do we know we have to quick figure out what we
know so you're given you're given as an audience and them as a protagonists are given just the
pieces they need at that moment to propel them to the next scene and then the next scene in the next
scene one of the things that's tempting for people who are newer in writing this genre and I'm just
as I was guilty of this is just wanting to throw all the evidence up front you know within that
first 10 or 20 Pages we don't need that we don't we shouldn't have that it's it's a rabbit trail
and so we're going to lay carrots all the way through to the very end so you're only giving your
your heroes exactly what they need in the moment to just get to the next step to figure out the
next step and then the next step and then the next step and of course obstacles are going to get
thrown in their way and bounce them around so so we don't want to make it too easy for the reader
or the viewer to solve and at times maybe throw them off keep them guessing yeah I definitely you
don't want it to be easy for your hero I always think about I don't want it to be easy for my hero
because that makes that person kind of boring and not very good at his job or her job and it makes
them not very human so they may do things they may make mistakes there's definitely I always say like
you definitely want rabbit trails that don't pan out they find a piece of evidence and it
doesn't pan out they talk to a witness that they think oh my goodness I just solved the case or
this is it we got what we need and it doesn't work out so you definitely want that for for
your hero also for your also of course for your audience yeah you want to take them on the ride.