Write “Yes” pages

Advice to screenwriters from a literary manager.

At the recent Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference, I moderated three panels, one of which was entitled “Nailing Your Spec Script.” One of the panelists was manager Glenn Cockburn (Meridian Artists). He had a piece of advice for screenwriters: “Write ‘yes’ pages.”

What’s a “yes” page, you ask?

Simply this: It’s a page where when the reader gets to the bottom … they go, “Yes, I want to read the next page.” Like this furry fellow below.

Like the very first page of the screenplay for Knives Out:

The last two paragraphs — right at the bottom of the page — compel us to read the next page. In other words, Rian Johnson has crafted a Page One as a “yes” page.

Takeaway: Look at your current script. Is every page a “yes” page? Is there something you can do to make each page more compelling? Can you organize the words on the page to land at the bottom line with a bang — or a “throat slit” — which makes the reader go, “Damn! I wanna turn the page!”

That’s a “yes” page.