Every scene must grab and hold an audience’s attention. The best way to do that is to create conflict right away.
Think back to the days of the schoolyard when two kids would get in a fight. Immediately a crowd would appear because everyone wanted to see what would happen next. The same principle applies to writing scenes because the moment you introduce conflict, you introduce the idea that someone might win and someone might lose.
The simplest conflict comes from two characters with opposing points of views where one tries to convince the other. In a scene from “When Harry Met Sally”, Harry and Sally argue about whether Harry has ever had a woman fake an orgasm. To convince Harry, Sally fakes an orgasm in the restaurant, thereby proving her point to Harry.
Verbal conflict involves characters sparring using words. Physical conflict comes from the visual action of seeing two characters trying to beat each other up. Watch this scene from “Bloodsport” where two martial artists try to knock each other out.
Notice the key to conflict is that we know something is going to happen but we don’t know exactly how it will turn out. In the “When Harry Met Sally” scene, we know Sally will try to convince Harry that women have faked an orgasm with him before, but we don’t know how she will convince him.
In the “Bloodsport” scene, we know the two fighters will try to knock each other out but we don’t know who will win or how. Thus the tension occurs from this uncertainty about the outcome but the certainty that a specific outcome will happen.
When writing your own scenes, make sure your audience knows what will happen. Just keep them in suspense how it will happen and that one-two combination will help you create more compelling scenes.
Sign up to take a FREE course about how to write scenes in a screenplay.
