Unscripted: Scene Essentials
I’m starting daily discussions on ScriptMag’s Facebook page with “Question of the Day”. Let’s kick today off with one about scenes: QUESTION of the day: Let’s talk scenes. What are…
I'm starting daily discussions on ScriptMag's Facebook page with "Question of the Day".
Let's kick today off with one about scenes:
QUESTION of the day: Let's talk scenes. What are the essential elements in each scene, and how do you determine if it should be cut or not during the rewrite?
For me, a scene has to accomplish the following:
- Advance the story
- Add conflict
- Add exposition
- Start late, leave early
Head over to our FB page and share your thoughts!
Jeanne Veillette Bowerman is a Senior Executive at Pipeline Media Group and Book Pipeline, Editor-in-Chief of Pipeline Artists, Director of Symposium—a year-round conference in the arts, co-host "Reckless Creatives" podcast, partner at Fringe Press, former Editor-in-Chief of Script magazine and a former Senior Editor at Writer's Digest. Recognized as one of the "Top 10 Most Influential Screenwriting Bloggers," her "Balls of Steel" column was selected as recommended reading by Universal Writers Program. A compilation of her articles is now available at The Writers Store—Balls of Steel: The Screenwriter's Mindset. She is also Co-Founder and moderator of X's weekly screenwriters’ chat, #Scriptchat, and wrote the narrative adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name, with its author, Douglas A. Blackmon, former senior national correspondent of The Wall Street Journal. More information can be found on her website. X: @jeannevb | IG/Threads: @jeannevb_ | BlueSky: @jeannevb.bsky.social