The old cliché goes that you never get a second chance at a first impression. Truth is, if you don’t nail the first page of your screenplay, you may never get a first chance at a second.
Producers aren’t exactly rich in time, and their inboxes are creaking with scripts, so making sure to hook the reader from page one is crucial.
At the same time, though, it’s no fun being prescriptive. ‘Start in media res’, ‘open with a set-piece’, ‘avoid voiceover’ are all well and good, but they’re also limiting…
So what’s the best way to open a screenplay?
This exclusive members-only whitepaper examines the most common openings we see in submitted screenplays, and lays out the best ways to keep a reader reading from page one until page done.