I've been going over my indie short script again lately, wondering if I should try to get it produced. But the more I read it, the more I realize that there isn't enough backstory in it to explain why the main character is the way he is, and no matter how hard I try, I can't figure out how to work any more of his story into the script without interrupting the flow. So my question is, how important is backstory to a script?
To give you an idea of my dilemma, let me describe the character to you. John in his late twenties, an openly gay, Pulitzer nominated syndicated journalist, and suffers from PTSD like symptoms after his fiancee is killed by a drunk driver on their wedding day. What backstory I've managed to work in for him is that he has a twin sister named Jane who is 6 months pregnant. I've hinted at the fact that his parents threw him out when they found out he was gay, but I couldn't figure out how to work in that he was only 17 at the time, had just graduated from high school, and spent a couple of months drifting from homeless shelter to homeless shelter before starting college and living in the dorm. This information is kind of key, because John often helps out at homeless shelters. It was through his work at the shelters that he meets the man who would end up being his father in law.
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IMO backstory isn't dramatic and yet authors tend to think the audience must know as much about their characters as they do, which I don't believe is true. (See Hemingway's iceberg theory.) So I try to provide as little as possible backstory to make the story make sense and do it as obliquely as possible. Maybe slip in one line of backstory in a conflict-ridden dialog exchange, for example. Maybe do it again in another scene.
Backstory can be more important for the person writing the script rather than the viewer. It helps us understand our characters and make the more rich and complex.
Back story is only needed if it is a spring board for current day story. How does the fact that he bumped around shelters impact on his current behaviour?
You could have him tell a guy person some advice and the young person say "What do you know" and he tells them. This is as heavy handed as hell. But it is only important current actions seem unmotivated and need the support of explanation.
Get into the scene/story as late as you can and get out as soon as you can.
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When you think about it...every single element of a film - sound and vision - is information. You're responsible for making sure your audience gets all the necessary information, and hopefully in an engaging story that moves and evokes and compels. That's on you, and is your responsibility as the artist.
I think every revelation you stated is key and essential to understanding John. It's up to you to put that giant jigsaw puzzle together, and to decide how to best reveal all of that, and as artistically as you can.
You can go Halloween style and give your audience all the necessary information in the beginning, and then flash-forward. Or you can go Cinema Paradiso style, and reveal the past in flashbacks. Or you can go Once Were Warriors style, and reveal the past through exposition. It's up to you, Cathy, to visualize and conceptualize, and to put that giant jigsaw puzzle together.
This is when I'd have my big story board on my wall, and I'd have all the pieces of information that I need to convey on little cards/index cards - sentences, images - and I'd play with the pieces of the puzzle. That's the fun stuff to me. I'd have my current story line, and I'd have my past information that needs to be revealed. I'd also have my theme(s) and intent written at the top of the board - like a centered headline - and I'd make sure that I didn't stray from either.
Then I'd start lining up the scenes, each with its one goal/intents/purpose, and play with the pieces, and get my outline going, scene by scene, and make my story line the best that I could. And I'd play it in my head, of course, while doing that outline. I'd look at it in as many different ways as I could, and I'd surely take my time in doing it. But all that information you named in your post sure sounds important to your story. Don't shortchange yourself, Cathy. Or your audience.
Best of luck and best of fortunes to you!
Thank you all for your replies! I think my only concern with the backstory is the fact that it is through his working at the shelters where John meets his Future father in law, who in turns introduces him to the love of his life. I establish through a conversation with another character how the two meet, but kind of want people to understand why, if that makes sense...