Screenwriting Advice From The Past: How To Begin [Part 1]

“A good beginning, the value of which appears to have been sadly underrated by most amateurs, makes a photoplay nearly as salable as a good ending, at same time making the writing of it many times easier.”

If you are a screenwriter, you should know about Anita Loos. Loos was one of the most influential writers in the early stages of American cinema, associated with 136 film projects per IMDb.

Married to writer John Emerson, the pair wrote one of the first books on screenwriting in 1920: “How to Write Photoplays”. I have been running a weekly series based on the book. You can access those posts here.

Today: How To Begin [P. 94].

A good beginning, the value of which appears to have been sadly underrated by most amateurs, makes a photoplay nearly as salable as a good ending, at same time making the writing of it many times easier.

Opening a story seems to the amateur photodrama tist the easiest process in the whole routine of composition, but presently he finds that his story has mysteriously tied itself into knots. The art of beginning your story correctly consists in following these rules:

1) Open in such a way as to interest your audience at once and arouse curiosity as to what is to follow.

2) Explain briefly, but clearly the essential facts which the audience must know in order to understand the story.

3) Give a clue to the theme or idea upon which the story is based.

The first rule is particularly important in motion pictures since audiences are pretty well fed up on standard pictures and are ready to be interested in something new or exciting. Your first scene might show a fight in a western dance hall in which you introduce your hero.

However, you must not start with a scene simply because it is exciting. It must have a bearing on the plot. Also it should conform with the other two rules.

Tell me any contemporary screenwriting guru who makes these important points any better! Entertainment. Exposition. Theme.

Get the story going with a bang, but not for the bang’s sake, rather use the opening to introduce the reader to the story universe and convey something of the story’s emotional meaning.

Plus, don’t overlook the first point: The nature of your opening lays the foundation for the rest of the story. If you have a good beginning, that would assume you have connected it to the ending and everything that transpires throughout.

Tomorrow: More screenwriting advice from the past.

You can read “How to Write Photoplays” via Google books online here.

For the rest of the series articles:

Introduction
Getting Ideas
Conflict and Crisis
Situation
Theme
Star Sympathy
Action: Part 1
Action: Part 2
Action: Part 3
Action: Part 4
Action: Part 5
Story Synopsis
Continuity: Part 1
Continuity: Part 2
The Title
Marketing the Script
Writing for the Camera
Scenery for Scenarios
The Actor’s Angle: Part 1
The Actor’s Angle: Part 2
Character On The Screen: Part 1
Character On The Screen: Part 2
Character On The Screen: Part 3
Character On The Screen: Part 4
The “Interest”: Part 1
The “Interest”: Part 2
The Kinds of Stories That Sell: Part 1
The Kinds of Stories That Sell: Part 2
The Kinds of Stories That Sell: Part 3
The Kinds of Stories That Sell: Part 4
The Kinds of Stories That Sell: Part 5
What to Write and Not to Write: Part 1
What to Write and Not to Write: Part 2
What to Write and Not to Write: Part 3
Cutting The Picture: Part 1
Cutting The Picture: Part 2
Cutting The Picture: Part 3
Writing for the Censors: Part 1
Writing for the Censors: Part 2
Writing for the Censors: Part 3
The Pictorial Element
The Denouement: Part 1
The Denouement: Part 2
The Denouement: Part 3

Note: I ran this series originally in 2012. Unfortunately, the individual articles got bungled up on the site in some sort of technical snafu. So, I am recovering them one by one in this reprise of the series.