Film Courage: What do some writers get wrong with flashbacks and some are good at?
Jen Grisanti, Speaker/Story/Career Consultant, Author: That's an excellent question,
that is something that many writers struggle with is the flashback sequence.
You have to recognize when you have a flashback you are interrupting the flow of story.
If you're going to interrupt the momentum in the present moment it has to be something that
is advancing the plot in the present by going to the past. Many writers will make
the mistake of not understanding that for the first thing and then they'll have flashbacks
where there's not an arc of the flashback. When you have flashbacks you need to go through the
thinking of How is this advancing my plot? Is this is going to take the audience out
of story? Is it paralleling the arc in a way that there's a value in going to the past? Is
a way to better understand and add depth to the present so the character can get to the future.
Film Courage: If I remember correctly I know we were talking about Emily The Criminal
movie off camera. We don't really see flashbacks of what her life and initial dilemma was?
I think that makes it so interesting, it really keeps you hooked.
Jen: It does. The interesting thing is and there are many writers who will say why do you have to
have a wound do you have to have a wound do you have to go into the past how come the present
arc can't carry that weight and the answer to that is the present arc if it is a compelling
enough dilemma and we feel it in the framework of the setup can carry a lot of that the value
of understanding through not going to flashback and like in a character like you mentioned through
not going to the flashback but putting the weight in the present arc but maybe through dialogue and
character dynamic in the present we are feeling the void of the past through choice through action
without having to go there or to know anything specific because we are seeing it and writers
have perfected I have seen writers certainly when you look at the genre of the action film you are
often looking at you're not going to go into the but but I even think the action film has
evolved in a way to where we do feel the earlier wound and there are different methods that were
able to thread together the emotional arc in the same way so I think that show did does a brilliant
job of setting up a strong enough dilemma in the present where we feel something from past
without having to flash back right because if I remember correctly her dilemma which we weren't
sure if we were going to see the flashback is brought up a few times and it's hinted at
or it's directly talked about but we never it really is this thing that keeps you hooked and
you know the opening scene if I remember correctly was the job interview and I thought
that was just so brilliant how it was played out yeah I agree so so I think it can work it
can work and I think also like you tapped into something the the idea of the puzzle of story
what are you creating that is creating anticipation that the audience is playing
a mind game through what you're revealing in the present that makes you curious about the
past when you look at a show like the flight attendant and you start with a flashback we
you start with the flaw we see the very flawed Behavior with her promiscuity and her parting
and her drinking in the beginning so you start with the flaw the flaw is the story of the wound
so that creates anticipation then we get a hint of a flashback about her with her father and the
idea of a deer I think is the first flashback and then by the climax we learn that she lost
her father but that's not giving giving us the whole thing that's giving us two pieces of the
puzzle which is creating a curiosity which is creating anticipation for the series arc which
we're going to get the full story of what happened to Emily's father how does that connect with her
flawed behavior that we see from the start and how does the pursuit allow her an opportunity to heal
so do you think flashbacks are effective when they're hinted at
I do and I also encourage writers to think about how can you use your background
and the character action and choice to tell a story without having to go to the flashback so
for example something that was so brilliant with the split was and I missed it the first time I saw
the the first episode was when you opened you saw Hannah and her husband were opposite ends of the
bed and you felt the void in the middle and then you cut to a series of pictures of Hannah and her
sisters and her mom and then there's a picture where you can see that the father was cut out
and that was a hint without us knowing yet what specifically happened we're like huh what was
that you know so I think that when you quietly give us information from the past in the present
there's a tremendous value if you do it in a way artistically that creates a curiosity and
an anticipation from the audience so yeah don't be too overt with the flashbacks yes interesting
yeah and I believe that there there is a value to flashbacks you're going to have many development
Executives who will say don't flash back don't do voiceovers that's lazy writing yeah I I hear it
over and over and over again from writers who tell me that they're they're hearing these instructions
and then you watch the Golden Globes you watch the Emmys you watch the Oscars and stories
that have flashbacks are the stories that are hitting in the deepest way the message is don't
gratuitously take us to the Past only take us to the past if there's value in the present story
yeah so any any type of especially like with an orphan story like with forgive me I'm blanking on
the name with Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman yes yes that one a very effective flashback because you
need it that was like a double narrative that that was very effective in the recognition if
I remember correctly I think that or no it was it was linear but there but we needed we were in the
past before but that that inciting incident was so powerful with what happened that changed the
trajectory of the of the boy's life sure and in Queens Gambit as well another orphan story we we
needed to know certain things about how the mom felt and her sort of world view Queens Gambit is
brilliant the Queen's Gambit I was so emotionally connected to that story and and what they utilized
that was so valuable is we We're In the Heat of the wound when it happened and we felt it
and we like were were like you're you're in when you feel the wind In the Heat of the Moment that
it happens and then you have the puzzle of what didn't I know that transpired before and after
that moment that is going to affect the present plot and you bring us to those gaps then we're in
and and there's a value in that the there was a show with Maggie Gyllenhaal called an honorable
woman if I remember correctly where it starts in and it's not con when you start in the wound it's
not considered a flashback if you start in the childhood wound and then you cut to 25 years later
then you give us that peace that we need without having to go to a flashback you're in real time
when the wound happens then there was a transition so in an honorable woman we see a little girl
a little boy their father they sit down to this formal dinner at the shishi place and the waiter
suddenly stabs the father and we see the blood go on the little girl and then we cut to Maggie
Gyllenhaal in her 20s in the same place that she was when her father was killed and the parallel of
what led to her father's life and a choice that she was making in the series setup was linked
so by literally giving us that page and a half two pages you make it we're in like you're like
I want to be a part of this character character's Pursuit I want to know how does a character move
Beyond a trauma like that without having to and then it did go into a double narrative
where you understood a different point in time and how it paralleled what was going on with
the present plot and there was tremendous value because of the multi-dimensions.