How To Generate Narrative Momentum in Screenplays

There’s a great quote from F. Hauser and R. Reich that states: “In all the best material, the outcome is inevitable and inherent in the opening moment and every moment inbetween”. Think how fated Daniel Plainview’s rise to power and fall into corruption feels throughout THERE WILL BE BLOOD or how unavoidable Travis Bickle’s descent into violence is in TAXI DRIVER or, more broadly, how irrevocable the protagonist’s downfall feels in any theatrical tragedy.   ‘Narrative momentum’ itself refers to

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