Let's talk about that hook, though.
The opening scene is a BFD in any story. Your page one is a big part of what will sell your script. If you create a page one that grabs your reader by the throat and says "c'mere boy" then you've won a big part of the battle.
One of the things that gets praised the most and highest about my written work is my page one. So I thought I'd talk about the hook shot, that very first thing anyone looking at your script will see.
First impressions are everything, right?
A lot of newer writers I know would take that statement and blow up a building in the first scene. And yes, that will grab attention. But not every movie is DIE HARD so you might need to compel your reader without explosives in some stories.
Maybe. One day.
Know how I make a great page one? Really really?
Micro fiction for practice. And no, I'm not joking.
If you can tell an entire story that moves a reader with only 300 words, you can write any dang thing and make it compelling with surgical precision.
Micro fiction and flash fiction as practice will up your screenwriting game like nobody's business. It will teach you to distill every sentence down to its most impactful. Every line does triple and quadruple duty. the writing is no longer a dance around boxing match. It becomes a wild and chaotic flurry of fists and feet that leave your reader battered... And they'll stand up after the fight asking for another round.
Super short fiction can help you become capable of the most unbelievable hook scenes in the business.
You'll learn to live inside subtext. Make what isn't written as important as what is.
There is a con to this that you should definitely be aware of: I absolutely have to watch my pacing. My pacing can be relentless if I don't check myself. Breakneck speed is not the goal here, but it can make the writing feel a little go go go if you're not careful.
What about you guys? Any tips on writing a great hook? Any practice exercises you use to hone your skills for opening scenes?
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Writing commercial scripts (15 sec, 30 sec, etc.) can help writers get better at writing the first page, Elle Bolan. There's not a lot of time in a commercial script, so you have to grab the reader's attention right away. It gets writers in the habit of grabbing the reader's attention right away (the first word or sentence/sentences).
I've found starting a feature script with the protagonist or monster/antagonist doing something that's important to the story grabs the reader's attention.
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Yep, that's the same method. 15 to 30 seconds flexes that exact same muscle.
It's a good skill to have.
I tend to drop in media res as often as possible. Right to a pivotal moment before page 1 ends. Maurice Vaughan
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That's a great idea, Elle Bolan. I mainly do it in commercial scripts and short scripts. I also like to set up a mystery (like showing an object) on page one. I used to overuse flashforward scenes on page one in my scripts.
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I think the first pages of The Silent PFC War may feel boring, but I can’t delete them.
They are the daily life routine before the disaster begins.
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Oh no, not delete. Meriem Bouziani And this is just your first draft, right? You can make those compelling in edits if they actually are boring (I doubt that though. I bet they're fine.) Slice of life moments aren't boring. You can make those interesting too. And in your story's case, establishing the calm before the storm would amp up the shock of the disaster. So they're necessary world building for your sci fi.
My INSPIRATION INC has some world establishing work in the very first scene too so I understand needed to set up the world first too.
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Elle Bolan This is such a great topic Elle, and I definitely have lots to learn and grow in this area, but how I endeavor to hook my audience in the first pages: I ask myself, do I feel anything? Is there a secret, quiet force drawing me in? And it comes to the emotions and feelings of the characters in my experience, expose a moment, a thought, a turning point at the beginning, or begin in the end and go back, but, start feeling them, and the audience will too.
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Yes, I’ll work on making them more engaging.
They may feel boring at first since they show insights from daily routines, but they are critical to the story logic.
Later, these moments reveal the quiet, foundational forms of human intelligence — reminding us that every act of thinking, no matter how small, matters Elle Bolan
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Before I broke in, I moved from writing feature specs to shorts in a bid to actually get some stuff made. It was like a boot camp. I wrote dozens of them. Usually around one a week, at least.
I was working to around five pages using my Turn & Burn five-act structure, so one act per page. That really taught me a lot about efficiency.
I don't fully prescribe to the page-one theorem. In my opinion, it's more about the opening scene. That needs to be a strong sample of voice along with the tone of the story. It's like an opening chat-up line before a date, or an appetiser before a meal. You're kinda proving yourself.
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@CJ that's actually a better way to state it. The opening scene rather than the page one.
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@Juliana those are all great things to ask about your opener!
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@Meriem I believe you will. Your passion for the silent pfc war shows every time you talk about the project.