Breaking & Entering: Seize the Reader – Pro Secrets to Creating Unforgettable Script Openings

In my last article, Secrets Only The Pros Know – When To Break The Rules, I focused on character introductions that defy many of the traditional constraints aspiring writers follow, including the biggie: “Show, Don’t Tell.” But when it comes to teaching, showing is a powerful tool. In an effort to fill the article with solid examples from A-list writers, I found myself dragged down the proverbial rabbit’s hole and simply could not stop reading!

I discovered incredible first pages, great opening scenes and sequences, and distinctive voices that deftly set the tone, crafted hooks that left me absolutely dying to know more, set the stage with the characters and their world, and hinted at the story to come, including the theme. They break rules. They take liberties. They are intriguing. They pull us into their story!

Knowing how these stories played out allowed me to truly appreciate how impressive these opening scenes were in terms of the entire narrative. It left me in awe of how much can be accomplished in an opening page or two. It’s something to aspire to – a reason to either begin with a clear sense of your story’s foundation, or to remain open to reworking your opening once you have a stronger grasp of the big picture. Indulge in some time and imagination to dream up many possibilities and discover the opening that will be the perfect launch for your story.

You Had Me At Hello

The opening of your script offers readers their first taste of your storytelling skills and voice. There’s a reason that the phrase: “You only get one chance to make a first impression,” has endured for decades. It harkens back to human evolution – those who were good at making snap judgements were more likely to survive – eat or be eaten! Life today encourages ever-shorter attention spans. And you’ve heard the scary stories about industry pros who stop reading after just a few pages, quickly deciding there’s no reason to continue.

Act One is a heavy lift, but playing by the rules is not the answer to a great setup. I believe you must know where you are headed. What’s the story you’re telling? What’s the tone? Who are these characters? What’s the message you want to convey? Once you have clarity on these foundational story elements, you can explore opportunities to shine.

The Number One way to impress readers from the outset is to establish your distinctive narrative voice. Openings crafted by masterful writers do more than hook the reader, they are a microcosm of the entire story. They establish what the world feels like. The characters are distinctive, dimensional, and match the tone and voice. 

Tone is more than simply a genre; it’s specific. Something meaningful is at stake – to be gained or lost, success or failure. The theme that will unfold is seeded in from the start. These scenes are highly cinematic, pulling us into the story, engaging us, and making us eager to keep reading. Top screenwriters don’t just get the plot in motion, they promise an extraordinary journey ahead.

The Swiss Army Knife

The most effective openings, no matter their style, serve multiple purposes at once. A-listers know the many tools available. They draw inspiration from great films of the past, and then combine that knowledge with something utterly inventive. For the cream of the crop, the top writers who have been gracious with their time to speak to my online seminar students, I find it always resonates for them personally. They immediately activate our emotions. They establish entire worlds in mere moments. They raise compelling questions that we want answers to. They suggest the film’s deeper themes. They use cinematic storytelling – combining visual and visceral elements – in innovative ways.

These examples of effective opening techniques should stir up your creative juices and hopefully inspire you to powerfully launch your story, setting up a promise of what is to come – one that your script delivers.

Grabbing the Reader

In choosing which examples to use, I found many that were unforgettable, proving there was no need to include script pages. Openings that work are memorable. Once you’ve seen Jaws – as the skinny-dipping girl is jerked back and forth and dragged under the water by an unseen shark – you’ll never forget it. The palpable scares trigger our primal fears, pulling us into the moment. We’re emotionally invested.

It doesn’t have to be scares – although they are incredibly effective in provoking a visceral reaction. But authentically evoking emotion is a great start, whether through heart-pounding action, moving drama, or a twist so astonishing it makes us gasp.

The Character

In a story about extreme characters in extreme situations, the iconic opening of the epic Vietnam War film, Apocalypse Now, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Coppola and John Milius, is quiet and calculating. It uses the character to draw us into the lengthy, complex tale that we will experience through his eyes. It begins slowly, with lean voice over narration revealing as Martin Sheen reveals his character's backstory as he restlessly awaits his orders. Confined to a hot and humid hotel room, Captain Willard grows progressively drunk and haunted, wrestling with his inner demons. 

Visuals escalate as well. The smooth movement of the ceiling fan is juxtaposed with explosions, foreshadowing the final images. Willard’s agitation is intercut with depression, and superimposed images amplify his psychological anguish, building narrative tension. All the elements combine to create a disorienting, dream-like atmosphere bolstered by the music and the mirrored sounds of the fan and helicopter rotors.

Inspired by Joseph Conrad's novella, The Heart of Darkness, this character-driven opening is a mini-journey that launches the lengthy and complex journey of the film.

Setting the Stage

In some films, the setting itself becomes a character. Think the hotel in The Shining, the prison in The Shawshank Redemption, the decrepit mansion in Sunset Boulevard.

Paul Schrader’s Taxi Driver is steeped in the urban decay and alienation of 1970s New York. The city itself is an antagonistic predator, dark and threatening, reflecting Robert DeNiro’s portrayal of Travis Bickle’s volatile psychological state. The shadowy, menacing streets at night, and even the set design of his apartment reflect Travis’ inner turmoil as he battles insomnia and loneliness.

No-No Narration

There is plenty of conventional wisdom warning you away from using narration. It can be a clunky device...except when it’s not. There are times when it is utterly necessary, but it demands a deft hand.

This narration provides a jolting hook that instantly creates narrative tension. Accomplished in just over three-dozen words, in lean short sentences, with a huge twist.

This arresting narration at the opening of American Beauty by Alan Ball creates a stark juxtaposition with one of the most overused opening devices in filmmaking – the protagonist waking up in the morning to an alarm. In this case, from the God’s eye perspective, showing the bedroom from high above in a lengthy static shot that gives the viewer plenty of time to grasp what the drab beige color palette, the sterile, upper middle-class style – devoid of any mess or human touches – says about the characters and, as the film urges us, to “look closer,” in this story with complex messages and wide-ranging interpretations.

The Cold Open

Films that open in media res, “in the middle of things,” may leapfrog over exposition to start with a bang. Action movies often open with a big, showy action sequence that isn’t always related to the plot, a technique known as a cold open. Especially in action and superhero franchises, one must deliver on the audience’s high expectations, as well as top what they’ve seen before.

Promising Young Woman, written and directed by Emerald Fennell intentionally skips the exposition, revealing details gradually. The opening sequence is familiar, unsettling, and ultimately shocking. A shy, “nice guy” spots a drunk girl in a bar and offers to help her get home. Instead, he takes her to his place for a drink, and gets her into bed. Then she flips the power dynamic. This sets the tone for both the plot and the character – neither will be as they appear throughout the movie.

The film flips the genre tropes of male-driven revenge thriller, deftly blending dark comedy, beloved rom-com elements, and feminist themes. Every production choice – from colors to camera angles – is intentional to support these conceits. Even casting subverts expectations, featuring actors best known for playing good guys as the perpetrators and enablers who still consider themselves “nice guys”. The patriarchal white male power position is held by a woman, who is every bit as ignorant and insensitive. All these aspects feel unsettling, while reinforcing the film’s theme.

Starting somewhere other than at the beginning – when chosen wisely – can be a powerful way to grab our interest. In action movies, the goal is to quickly deliver what viewers expect, whether it’s a classic James Bond pre-credits chase sequence in an exotic locale, or a death-defying stunt by Tom Cruise. However, beware of the opening with a “bang that is extraneous,” unconnected to the plot or character development. You might raise our heart rate in the moment, but ultimately it may feel like a bit of a cheap trick and leave us let down.

The Flash-Forward

While this is a frequently employed device, used so scripts can begin on a more interesting note than exposition, in the hands of a talented writer the Flash-Forward can be much more than a scene that we inevitably wait for the story to catch up to. The best ones capture our curiosity to discover how things could possibly have lead to this moment.

In the talented hands of Vince Gilligan, the opening of Breaking Bad makes us wild with desire to know who the hell Walter White is and what the hell he is doing in such a mind-blowing situation. Breaking Bad hauls us into a wildly improbable world, and makes us desperate to discover how the hell this nearly naked man wearing only a gas mask and tighty-whiteys got into this crazy situation, and what could possibly happen next.

This two-minute clip dramatically shifts gears multiple times. Opening on two shots of a tranquil desert landscape, cutting to a surreal image of a pair of pants floating gently down from the sky, and falling to the ground – only to be run over by an RV, barreling into the frame and careening wildly on a dirt road, then cutting inside to reveal inexplicable characters, and ultimately crashing, as the sound of sirens grows ever closer. The one thing we learn for sure is “expect the unexpected” from this narrative and these characters.

This unconventional opening perfectly sets the tone for an unconventional narrative filled with unconventional characters that never fails to deliver massive contradictions, twists that shatter our expectations, and unfathomable escalations. Gilligan set out to create a show that defied the norms, in which the protagonist becomes the antagonist, and yet somehow we still root for him. This award-winning series delivers on that promise throughout every episode over five seasons. Breaking Bad is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most critically acclaimed TV show of all time.

Foreshadowing

M. Night Shyamalan’s intricately woven psychological thriller, The Sixth Sense, is filled with deft misdirection and clever clues that makes for a domino falling cascade of realizations when both the hero and the audience finally put the pieces together. 

The attention to visual detail and the use of language are rich and evocative. The piece excels at evoking an eerie tone from the very first scene, and seeding in elements that will play through and pay off in the end. A master class in dexterous foreshadowing that perfectly sets the tone for this smart thriller with one of the all-time most stunning film twists.

Visual Metaphor

Memento, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, based on a short story by Jonathan Nolan, opens with a visually arresting sequence, the image of a Polaroid of a bloody murder scene un-develops, slides back into the camera, revealing blood splattered Leonard as the flashbulb goes off, a gun leaps into his grasp, a bullet flies into the gun, and he aims at the now alive victim as time runs backwards.

This is a perfect microcosm of the entire film, with themes on the unreliability of memory as the protagonist awakes each morning unable to recall what happened the day before, incapable of forming new memories as he seeks his wife’s killer. This distinctive visual metaphor immediately conveys the non-linear story that follows, which seems deconstructed but is perfectly structured. We immediately know this will be a story with a unique perspective, a hallmark of the Nolans’ work. You can watch the clip here.

Gotcha!

The opening pages of your screenplay are your chance to grab readers. Make sure your voice comes through loud and clear. You will make the strongest choices for your story when you know how your characters will change over the course of the story, illustrating your theme.

Whatever approach you choose, the most important thing is to find the perfect match for your story, your voice, and the tone. When you have the right opening for your story, it will serve as a distillation of everything your story is about.

Openings make a promise to your reader. Fulfill that promise, and you’ll find your writing attracts a great many fans – the key to launching your career.  

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