Constructing Scenes

This Trick Will Help Writers Cut Scenes They Don’t Need – Andy Guerdat

What is the unit of information that I must communicate here in order to advance my story to the next place?

[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]

 

Film Courage: What is a scene?

Andy Guerdat, Television Writer, Producer, Instructor, and Podcaster: scene is an interesting thing because it’s not the same to a writer (to a screenwriter) as it is to say an actor or to even a line producer or a director because they think of scenes, even when you look at Final Draft let say scene heading interior so and so exterior so and so, a scene is not a place. A scene to a screenwriter is a unit of emotional information that is communicated through dramatic conflict but it’s a unit of information. As a screenwriter what you’re going through your outline and I usually write from a just a beat sheet outline, it’s not terribly detailed but it can be detailed if want, you are going through your outline and you’re saying okay What is the unit of information that I must communicate here in order to advance my story to the next place? And then the next one and then the next one and How do I do that? Those are scenes and there you can write a film story that has technically three scenes in one location within real time. It happens all the time or the dynamic between the characters shifts even in mid conversation sometimes and becomes about a new thing, well that’s a new scene to a writer. No one else would call it…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

 

About:

Andy Guerdat has been a working writer/producer in film and television for the past 45 years, with hundreds of credits in movies, half-hour comedies, hour-long dramas, theater, and animation. He is currently a consultant at Disney TV Animation.

 

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