10 Ways Screenwriters Could Start Their Screenplays

In the beginning was the Word… Wait. That’s from somewhere else. Take two. You’ve typed fade in and you’re stuck thinking what the opening scene of your screenplay should be. Should it be a scene of the normal world which is about to be disrupted? Or do you start in the middle of a defining action that sets the stage for the story? There’s no correct answer other than to start your story at the right place. An exciting place that will grip your reader.

Starting too soon in may mean that you’re front-loading your screenplay with too much backstory leaving less revelation later in the story. It could also mean that you’ve travelled too far back and included unnecessary information.

Starting too late in the story may mean that there isn’t enough set up to get your audience to orientate themselves in the setup, the world and the characters.

Here are some tips on deciding where to start your story:

1) Mundane World

These are perfunctory scenes such as sleeping through an alarm clock and waking up late for work, eating a nice family breakfast with pancakes, or feeding a pet at dinner time. The blandness and minimal consequence of these scenes serve to set the stage, relax the audience and lull them into a false sense of security. This sets up your for some catastrophic event like an earthquake or alien invasion which catapults them into the story proper. The more insipid the opening, the more dramatic the event.

2) Explosive Sequence

These types of openers are the opposite of mundane scenes. They may be a high-speed car chase to avoid the police, a flight going through extreme turbulence leading to plane crash, a mother screaming through a painful labor, or an alien invasion. These tend to be elaborate sequences that force the audience to pay attention. They are high adrenaline, and often high concept, demanding the viewers focus and wait for the aftermath. Such sequences are followed by lower energy scenes to give your reader space to breathe, process the previous cinematic onslaught, and allow them to order their thoughts on the story.

3) World Building

These tend to be longer expositional scenes which state the rules and parameters of the world. The amount of explanation required varies depending on the familiarity of the world to a general audience. A courtroom scene doesn’t need excessive set up. Most people understand the functioning of court proceedings even if they’ve never set foot in a courtroom – there’s a judge, a plaintiff, a defendant, attorneys for each side. Most proceedings start with “All rise” as the judge enters the court.

A supernatural, fantastical world requires more comprehensive setting up outlining the rules and parameters of the story canvas. If, for instance, your story is set on another planet, consider starting your story with the characters doing their version of mundane earthly activities like cleaning the house to expedite the audience’s understanding of the world.

More familiar story setups such as sports films use the familiarity of sports tropes – training, a coach giving a pep talk on the importance of reaching the championships, and the motivated players determined to win the trophy. Use these moments to build character, conflict and the story intricacies.

4) Character Building

Think about the most defining traits of a character that separates them from the others. They can be quirks, habits, beliefs, or other behavioral patterns.

Are they an entrepreneur that wakes up at 4:00am to practice the violin, or a writer that starts working at midnight until dawn? Such unusual behaviors speak volumes about these characters. They show commitment, discipline, and focus on their goals. They are determined and not easily distracted.

Give these opening scenes some context to further reveal character layers. Perhaps the violinist is practising through the noise of a wild party or police siren, or the writer has just put their kids to bed and midnight is the only time they can have some uninterrupted writing time.

Be wary of repetition in these script openings. Multiple scenes showing how much a character is dedicated to their career doesn’t enhance the character or shift the plot forward. Use the most unusual way to define this.

5) Prologue

These are often the domain of epic films like Star Wars. “In a galaxy far, far away…” remains as iconic as its font. Prologues are typically shown via a graphic on a black screen with or without a voiceover. These openings are detached from the main film and deliver the background leading up to the story as we enter it in a clear and efficient form.

Sometimes, they can simply be a philosophical quote which captures the essence of the story intent. It can be referred to throughout the film, or supplemented at the end to book end it.

6) Breaking The Fourth Wall

For those of you who are unaware, BTFW is when  a character (usually the main one) talks directly into the camera to give an overview of who they are, where they’ve been, and we’re they’re going. It’s a bit of a ramble that gives the reader an insight into the main characters. The Coen brothers are famous for doing this. The Dude Abides.

7) Introductions

These are often cleverly edited montage sequences with voiceovers, graphics and anecdotes. They are often quirky and can introduce a character and their idiosyncrasies and dramatic functions in your story. They can also introduce the place, the situation, genre, or the conflict as a prelude to the story proper.

Consider those familiar scenes of neighbors observing each other over a garden fence. One is mowing the lawn or hanging their washing on the clothes line, while the other is battling with a mutt tearing the clothes down from their clothes line. They wave to each other and commenting on the weather they’ve being having.

We catch a glimpse of their lifestyles, values, and status.

8) Montage

While the previous openers suggest a single location, the primary purpose of a montage is to pack even more backstory at the start than a prologue. It’s largely a visual collection of snippets that traverses a long period of time. Consider the movies showing a group of friends playing in a sandbox as toddlers, then we cut to their first day of school followed by the first day at high school, followed by a college graduation and the exchange of marriage vows. Then we settle on a family life shot at their child’s birthday party. Montages rapidly depict key moments without going into too much detail.

9) About Face

This is often the conclusion of the story before it rewinds to the beginning to show how they got to that point. This is part of the bookend fairytale story format. “Once upon a time” will lead to “And they lived happily ever after” at the end. Wes Andersen often uses this storytelling device in his cute and quirky stories with detailed worlds.

10) Confusion

Another way to open your screenplay is by using scenes that throw the audience into a tailspin. They don’t necessarily set up the story and if they do, they don’t make sense until later. These include deep space scenes, muffled voices, to blurry images of objects moving across the screen. They create a sense of disturbance and dishevelment, without giving away to many details of the story.