Screenwriting : In a spec script, which is better...? by Charles V Abela

Charles V Abela I think conventional wisdom will tell you to introduce the protagonist first, often in the opening scene/on the first page, but one of my favorite examples where the antagonist, The Joker (arguably the main/pivotal character), shows up first is in The Dark Knight. I think you can probably base your decision on personal dramatic license if your story flows better with your opposition character(s) kicking things off.

That makes sense. Mike Childress There may be an argument to keep the type of audience in mind and the genre. Got it in my head, but I cannot explain it clearly. In simplistic words, the badass audience normally like to kick somebody good (this is a sweeping statement) while the good-natured God-loving ones like to kick the nasty antagonist character from the start.

Matthew Kelcourse A super interesting data point (among many unlikely to be quantified) would be how many spec scripts where there's a delayed protagonist introduction get optioned, sold, place or win in contests...

Charles V Abela Many people will tell spec script writers 'not to worry about the audience', but part of the judgment of scripts is marketability which drum roll relates to potential viewers (edits post-sale be damned)!

Depends... what's the genre? What's happening? Horror films tend to start out with the bad guy, so we can see the first kill that kicks off (and establishes the world).

Not Horror. Just drama. Lazy brother wants to take a fortune from his brother built on playing the stock market, legitimately. I visualize most of the plot would revolve around the scheming carried out by the bad boy to achieve his end.

Furthermore, is there any currency in a script if the main characters are two badasses, with no one to be loved by the audience, but needlessly, one would be more palatable.

Mike Childress Marketability is king. That is why I have been saying "in between lines" that I would love to find somebody on this platform or elsewhere, with "certified and proven authority," who can tell me it the script has legs before it hits an editor's desk thus preventing me putting good money after bad.

Hard to answer. Case-by-case basis. Sometimes it's better to start with the protag. Sometimes with the antag. Sometimes with a teaser that doesn't have either. shrugs

all depends on the story !! if they both suck i wouldn't want to see anything kick off with neither lol ...

everyones different i tend to like the bad guys more. maybe your the opposite ... but a good story is a good story ( :

Chase Cysco Both bad, but one is worse. I think, the audience would want to pick somebody to kick right at start. So I would start with the one who would attract most of the hate barrage. I believe that's logical enough. However, the twist in the plot would come suddenly when the badder of the two would surprisingly change and shed a new and loving personality. It's one big muddle in my head.

Charles V Abela just write , scratch , write scratch (: soon you will be like OMGGG THIS IS GOOD (:

Charles V Abela Re: marketability of course then you have "What's good for the goose may not be good for the gander", i.e. one studio/producer/"authority" may think your script "has legs" and another may not! Given the sheer volume of scripts being written (and I presume many of those are hawked) I think you can only really cram all that ideation magic you have inside you into well-structured/formatted scripts with interesting plots/characters as the nuclei, and then conduct a saturation "bombing" campaign in an attempt to get people to read/buy them.

Mike Childress As you say, it's a matter of opinion. How does one decide? Suck it and see..And this is even more true "I think you can only really cram all that ideation magic you have inside you into well-structured/formatted scripts with interesting plots/characters as the nuclei." The bombing campaign is worrying though I got knocked off my old email and I only sent 28 emails on the day. PMOFF.

Charles V Abela Subjectivity is always going to be that potential enemy in the trenches, but at least with the studios (or executives at pitch sessions I presume), if you are say sending out Query Letters, you can look at what they've produced, and if you have a sweeping sci-fi epic, and the studio tends to produce highbrow coming-of-age dramas maybe not your ideal target. Part of the reason I stepped up my novel-writing plan (and bought a Scrivener license) is you can see some studios, like Netflix, already looking for more safe bets via novel adaptations. The Black List is even offering free unpublished novel manuscript hosting now apparently. The main battle plan is to charge the film industry gates, but the contingency plan is to enter through the back in a Trojan horse.

I think you to need introduce the protagonist first in the opening scene and on the first page.

There is no black and white answer to this, Charles. It all depends on your story and plotting. You should go with whatever best suits your tale, whatever brings the most dramatic tension and conflict, whichever best sets up your story and gets the reader most excited to keep turning those pages.

Thanks Phil, as you say, ultimately, in the end, it's up to the writer and his instintive compass.Can I read it, though? Is it true north, magnetic north or quite a few degrees off?

In some cases it isn't even an dicussion point, because there isn't a clear protagonist or antagonist, like "Knock at the Cabin."

I like kicking off with a protagonist, they feel like bottle episodes which there are very seldom of now these days but also a great way to expand a character's arc!

In "Casablanca", Rick the protagonist isn't introduced till page 14. Almost all the antagonists and supporting characters are revealed first.

Cecile George wow that was a good catch ,. forgot about casablanca

So many known unknowns as to why scripts and films make it to the silver screen. Not much consolation though, not even the slightest learning curve to the thousands stranded with their hands begging past the gates... only the hands.

Charles V Abela Not just to the silver screen now, but to the silver screen's cousin in the basement, streaming platforms! "Straight to DVD" became "Straight to Mike's TV". I get that everyone has preferences re: everything, including film, but some of the stuff I see on streaming platforms wooooo. "Somebody's cousin wrote/produced that one..."

Leading with your protagonist is usually best. The story is most likely framed from their perspective so let's get to it up top

thank you Pat Alexander In the intended script, there are two badasses. One is worse than the other. I believe, there is a bad nasty vein in many of us if not most, so people, that being the audience, wait to have somebody to love and somebody to hate in a movie. Often, hatred prevails over love. Therefore, I think that for certain genres, the number of people who want to see the bad guy hammered top the list. So, I would like to present and describe the baddest(?) guy first, to be the first off the starting blocks - in the most despicable manner so as to generate immediate dislike and the feeling “can’t wait to see this character blown apart” (not literally, I am against violence, but often it’s the thing that sells)… anyway, then the readers or the audience, would continue reading the script till justice in their eyes, is served. Hardly articulate but ...