Film Courage: How do you write a great scene?
Jason Satterlund, Filmmaker: Write a great scene. Writing a great scene is
one of the strangely hardest things you can do as I think the writing piece of all the stuff
we have to do in filmmaking is the hardest part that because that's where it all begins
that's the foundation that your entire house is built on and when you're building this house
the easiest thing to do is your you get your house done and you're looking at it and you're like
something looks off it doesn't look a little level and you'll get notes and they'll the notes will
come back and say yep it's probably because your house is red if you paint it green it might not
look off so you'll paint it green and it's still off but it's because the foundation isn't right
and the foundation of scene work is is really amazingly hard to do amazingly hard to do um
what I've learned especially over the last few years in depth is how tricky it is to come up
with scenes that work and I think the best way you can learn this is through watching plays
plays now every not every filmmaker but a lot of the filmmakers I talk to they always say I just
can't write small I just can't write simple I get that because oh I want to go into outer space and
fly a ship around and I want to plan it to explode well that's great I do too but what that can be
it can be the filmmaker waving their arms in front of the camera saying I don't have a story so I'm
going to distract you with all of these explosions so that you forget the fact that what it actually
really isn't a very good foundation the whole house is still leading to the left because you
never figured out how to write a good scene it comes down to these very simple nuts and bolts so
if you watch a play you're watching scenes on the most basic level and you're looking at generally
one or two characters or two or five characters or something talking on a stage and you're pulled in
how are they doing that what is the magic sauce that's making all that that scene work
it reminds me of and I think that those filmmakers myself included if they want to
get better at this don't start by making scenes with explosions start by making scenes that are
simple two people in one room this is I had a friend of mine that used to teach like a
summer camp for drummer like a music a working musicians Camp he was a drummer he would teach
all the drummer kids and he said the first thing he would always do on day one is all
the kids would come in with all their drum sets and they would set up these elaborate multiple
Toms and snares and this big giant sets he would let them get all set up and then he'd go okay
I want you to take apart your drum sets and only give yourself one kick one snare and one symbol
and the kids panicked because they suddenly all their tools were taken from them
and they had to learn how to get good at making music with just the kick snare and
that's tough anybody could sound great with two kick drums but do it with just those
three little symbols same with scene work so how do you make a good scene work well
it's so simple yet it seems to be lost on a vast majority of people
you have to be the number one thing I think when it comes to scene work is Clarity of
goals and Stakes Clarity that means knowing exactly I just had a it's so interesting I
just had a a script consultant take a look at one of my scripts he said to me because what do
you think you're best at in your writing I said I think I'm pretty good at writing action when
people read my scripts they say the action is like usually really compelling and like
he goes what do you think you struggle with the most I say well probably like the all the things
in between the little connector pieces and the overarching like sometimes scene work and stuff
like that like exactly what we're talking about he goes why why they say that like no
I don't because because in action scenes it's very clear what the character wants
they're trying to win the motorcycle race or whatever right so it's super easy to write
this compelling action scene because I gotta get over the Finish Line before the other guy does
very clear goal very clear stake I don't want to lose the race so it's a it's a really compelling
scene he goes that's why your action scenes are selling better it's not because you're magical
with words it's because me as an audience member understands what he wants when it's just husband
and wife talking about getting going shopping it's just like because there's just nothing there so
this is super common and then we hear to make all this more difficult we we are told
I don't know who tells us this I don't know where this comes from but
on the nose writing right is considered bad writing well what what why is that considered
bad writing have you ever wondered that why who I don't know who initially said this but on on they
say that on the nose writing and when I say on the nose I mean Clarity what does your character want
and where is he going what and what is at stake if he doesn't get it well in order to understand
what that is that means being on the nose and very clear I really want to get out of this house okay
but we're told we're there's somehow in our filmmaking Society we're told that on the
nose writing is bad well why is that why why who who initially said that that was a thing
I'm not sure who said it but in some ways it doesn't let the audience really guess
and the relationship unfold it's too it's just there's no mystery
to it you need subtext right yes we we want this man we want it to be
we are we want we want to be so clever about and making them figure it out right well the thing is
that's and I and I totally get that because I'm totally wired the same way
like I don't I want to be more clever about the way to reveal what the character wants
but on the nose writing what makes it that is is it almost makes it feel that way because
when you see well done scenes when you see a scene that just wraps you in and pulls you right along
the writing is pretty on the nose but they are essentially giving us what makes things feel on
the nose is when I'll give you an example you see an action like a bad action movie and at the very
beginning of the action movie usually there's a scene like we got to go in and kill that guy
because he killed my sister and I'm going to take revenge on the blah blah and it's just long drawn
out like setup of okay we gotta go kill the bad guy because he killed my sister and it it feels
really clunky and on the nose the reason why is because we didn't ask for that information that's
what makes it feel on the nose as an audience member you're like you're handing me all of
this stuff I didn't need but if you hand it to me in a way that makes me go what is his name
then reveal it it's on the nose but it's when I asked for it well what is it about
this guy that bothers him what grievance did this villain do that makes it so bad
killed his sister you're revealing it at the right time that is a real trick when it comes to
putting a scene together properly but where it starts is it starts with I think
not writing in final draft it starts with very clear outlines and mapping what you want so
and this is where
there's a simple goal and stake so what I mean by that if you don't know what that means that means
like I want to get out of the house but the thing that's often missed is what are the stakes of that
what happens if he doesn't get that or she right what happens if I don't get out of the house well
if it's just I'm gonna be bored well it's going to be really hard for me to get behind that as a
story you have to come up with a way to make that so terrifying if they don't actually get there
if the house is on fire I'm gonna get third degree burns if I don't get out of the house
now that Stakes if the house has ghosts in it now there's a reason to get out of the hat
like that you're you're tying Stakes to it but that's just the beginning because you also need
someone against those stakes and goals usually with their own stakes and goals
attached to them and if you really want to make a scene work you've got to come
up with a way to put those two things against each other so I want to get out of the house
but character B wants me to go upstairs that's a conflict and if me going upstairs means I'm
just I'm thinking off the cuff here but like if I want to get out of the house because
I don't know why I'm going so dark with this but if there's a demon that's trying to take my soul
right so okay let's just say that's the story there's a demon that wants to take
my soul and he's ah and I gotta get out of the house well that's huge steaks oh my gosh
character B walks in and says I need you to go upstairs okay so this one now for me like
that's a huge State oh there's no way I'm doing that but for them okay let's imagine there's a
bigger threat outside that the outside person sees like maybe there are zombies outside and
if you go outside you're going to die so we need everyone to go upstairs now you have a
conflict so that's a scene that's that's two characters that have two different goals and
they're they're running into each other I need to get out of the house the other one's going no you
need to go upstairs well if I stay in the house my soul is gonna be taken by this demon but if you go
outside you're gonna get eaten by the zombies well someone's gonna someone needs should win
right that's what makes it compelling conflict now I went way monster movie it's a horror movie or
whatever with that idea but that is essentially the essence of what makes a great scene taking
two characters that each have differing goals and aligning them so that they are hitting each other
probably a better example would be someone needs to get into the
bank vault right I need to get in there okay I'm writing the scene I need to come up with a way
that's my goal I have to get in the bank vault and I don't know get my marriage certificate out
of the that's the I get my marriage certificate I need to go in there and I need to get it I'm
the only one with a key how it works safety safe deposit box my marriage certificates
in there I've got the key it's Hank off to my wrist I have to be the one to go in and
unlock it and of course you've got to have the other usually it's two people that unlocks the
thing together how it works at the bank let's say that's your goal okay that makes sense
well how am I how do I make this goal exciting well we need to create someone with opposition
all right well we can put a security guard there now I think most people when they would write
a scene like that we could make a security guard there that doesn't want to let them in
okay so the security guard's there he doesn't want to let them in the room
and you could just oh he just lazy he doesn't want to get off his chair and open the door I think
does that do you would you think that that is a scene that could
work and they begin in this argument about how he's just lazy and he just
likes his chair he just wants to stay there do you think that would be a scene that would work
only if I discover later that actually he's part of a larger ring that's stolen these
marriage certificates and he's selling them on the dark web yeah he seems lazy
and he seems innocent enough but actually no because your certificate is actually
not in there anymore oh that's interesting okay and he doesn't want you to know that
so I guess if he's just lazy I need a good reason why he's lazy yeah right okay so a lot of times
you'll see scenes like this where it's like I need to get in there to get my thing out of the drawer
well and the other person just doesn't want to do it well and then they break into this argument so
this is very common you'll see this kind of scene all the time and as two people in this argument
but what's missing there are Stakes for both of them number one and the security guard has no goal
like he's not really he's just resistance he's not he's not an antagonist necessarily so what that's
doing is it's defusing your scene it's going to help drag it down instead what you could do is you
could make a scenario where the security guard has an extremely jealous wife who thinks he's cheating
on her and he and she think he's supposed to stay at his desk and just like let people into the room
he tells her over and over I got to go in there and unlock both doors no I swear you when all
the pretty girls show up you go inside and you go in there with him because you want to flirt
and you go in there with one more girl and I'm Gonna Leave You and I'm gonna sit here
in the lobby and watch and make sure that you don't now you got a conflict he's sitting there
going I can't open I can't let you in there I can't do it or my wife is going to leave me
and and the other character is now getting in now you have two characters with two separate
goals that are slamming into each other this is very very it sounds so simple to do but this is
where it's important to like really outline and put on a I like putting it on a big white board
your directions that your characters are going and make them go into each other and then more
importantly attach Stakes to each one of them if I don't get into that safe deposit box to get the
whatever marriage certificate if I don't get that I can't prove that I was
I'll lose my inheritance if I can't show that I whatever okay now you have steaks and then
you put the security guard where his marriage is going to fall apart if he lets you in great
you can almost feel the tension go up you can feel it on set too when you have a scene that
has these kinds of things attached to it the actors relish it like they can immediately you
feel it come alive you can feel it right how you can just suddenly the tension goes up you haven't
even started working on escalations and how you you suddenly amp up the tension in a scene like
that or adding and Ticking it's 4 59 and it closes at five we haven't even gotten there yet it's just
two characters with goals now it gets a lot easier to to really make a scene work that's
where it always begins that's that's the initial building box did you see come back to the five
and dime Jimmy Dean Robert Altman it's based on a play it's from 1982 or something so it's just one
room it's a Woolworth in like Marfa Texas and all the characters it's all women except for one man
and he's in and out it's kind of a memory and the just the subtleties that it's not on the nose but
you learn about the characters then you learn about their Petty gripes and jealousies with
one another you learn about the small town gossip all of it is slowly revealed until the real story
finally comes out but it it's so excellent and you're just there riveted and it's one location
yeah writing scenes in one location is especially simple ones with just character driven with no
fancy tricks it is the most challenging thing but I do believe that that's where all scenes
should begin no matter if they're in space or some sci-fi time travel epic or not because that's a
foundation right now if you never go into outer space or back in time and you stay in the room
with the Woolworths you don't have any way to wave your hands around to distract the audience
that you have nothing does that make sense like so I think that if you really want to create
more complex sci-fi stories you need to really get good really good at writing those simple
start writing scenes with two characters each of them has something that they want only one
of them can win both of them can lose write a scene like that that's a page Turner and
you're going to be amazing at writing the Big Space Opera like it's hard to do but
it's that's so if you want to make it as a screenwriter that's you have to master that.