“Give the reader an emotional experience or you’re wasting your time. It doesn’t matter what emotion it is, but make damn sure he or she feels something. “
William M. Akers
Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 ways to make it better
One of the 100 Ways to make your script better in William M. Akers’ book Your Screenplay Sucks! is this:
22. You don’t give the reader enough emotion!
Emotion can be anything. Laughter. Fear. Compassion. Heartache. Lust.
One of the illustrations Akers’ mentions in his book is the scene in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial when Elliott and E.T. fly for the first time silhouetted against the moon. Earlier this year Filmclub voted another scene from that movie as cinema’s most powerful moment.;
1. ET: the Extra-Terrestrial (PG, 1982): ET says goodbye to his friends and heads home in a spaceship, leaving a rainbow trailing across the sky.
2. Toy Story 3 (U, 2010): The toys hold hands and face their fate.
3. Rocky (PG, 1976): The emotionally-charged climactic fight.
4. Bambi (U, 1942): The moment when tragedy touches the young life of Bambi in the shape of his mother’s death.
5. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (PG, 1969): The scene in which the besieged cowboys leap out of their bunker, all guns blazing.
6. The Wizard of Oz (U, 1939): When Dorothy opens the door of her grey house to behold a world filled with colour.
7. Battleship Potemkin (PG, 1925): The influential “Odessa steps” massacre scene.
8. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (U, 1939): The filibuster scene makes a powerful case for justice: “I’m going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause.”
9. Network (15, 1976): When news anchor Howard Beale announces: “I’m as mad as hell.”
10. Miracle in Milan (U, 1951): Final scene when Toto and his friends rise into the sky on brooms.
Is it even possible to have a memorable scene that isn’t emotional? (This is why I’ve been on this thread for two-weeks. I think it’s the most overlooked aspect in screenwriting circles.)
Also note that there is a mixture of joy and sadness in the above list. And in the cases of E.T. and Rocky, the filmmakers pulled off a mixture of joy and sadness in one scene. Two emotions for the price of one.
Related Post: What’s at Stake? (Tip #9)
[…] “Give the reader an emotional experience or you’re wasting your time. It doesn’t matter what emotion it is, but make damn sure he or she feels something. “ William M. Akers Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 ways to make it better One of those 100 Ways to make your script better in William M. Akers’ book […] Original Source… […]
Great post, incisive and informative. Keep up the fab work!
Thanks, Ria.