![]() A thin trail of liquid runs past his feet and off into the darkness. His legs are twisted at odd, almost impossible angles. ![]() He sits with his back against the front bulkhead of the wheel house. In the half-light we can make out that he is on the deck of a large boat. An un-lit cigarette hangs in the corner of his mouth. A large cut runs the length of his face from the corner of his eye to his chin. A plume of yellow-white flame flares and illuminates the battered face of DEAN KEATON, age forty. A dimly lit hand brings the rest of the pack to the match. SUDDENLY, a single match ignites and invades the darkness. Off in the very far distance, one can make out the sound of sirens. Water slapping against a smooth, flat surface in rhythm. ![]() There seem to be two questions here: (1) How to open a script with a flashback or flashforward scene when the time-frame of the main story has yet to be established? (2) Is this something that is acceptable per current script reader sensibilities? Per the first question, here is how The Usual Suspects (written by Christopher McQuarrie) handles its opening which is a flashforward: BLACK A lonely sound of a buoy bell in the distance. Hope that makes sense! It does to me but might not to anyone else! I just wondered what you make of it nowadays as compared to maybe throwing that scene in later on as a flashback when the reader is already settled into the story and already likes the script (the idea being that a flashback at this point won’t change their mind). But the reader might not know straight away that you’re in a time before your main story with a prologue - unless your slugline reads INT. However, there’s naturally a risk of being disconnected from the characters when we see them later on (the audience might be annoyed - “what went on in those 6 years?!”) or they might simply ask “what was the point?” Then there’s this problem in the spec market - the old tale that so many scripts open with them and do them badly (much like the flashback) that it’s a big no-no now. I can see the pros of using them - they enable you to get across much needed exposition without forced dialogue later on. ![]() Examples I can think of are X-Men, Terminator (albeit a flashforward), Batman Begins(?), Blade, Underworld Evolution etc. Not with a voiceover or Star Wars-esque super, but simply an opening, then the next scene might have a “six years later” super and we’re off into our story. I wondered what your take was on the use of the prologue at the moment? What I mean by that is literally opening with a ‘flashback’ of our characters (but not a flashback in the strictest sense because there’s nowhere to flashback FROM). Open forum question via comments from Neil: Reader Question: What about using a flashback / flashforward as prologue? ![]()
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