SCRIPTREADERPRO.COM

Reversals are essential to every screenplay to help keep the reader’s interest by changing the fortunes of your protagonist from good to bad and vice-versa.

In an earlier blog we covered the type of reversals found in a scene. Now we’re going to show you how these reversals can be found throughout a screenplay, right from the macro to the micro.

A screenplay can be viewed as a series of reversals operating on all levels, from the screenplay as a whole, to within individual scenes. For example, the protagonist goes from a “down” at the start of a film to an “up” at the end, or vice-versa. The same is true of each act, sequence and scene. In each case, the protagonist starts on either an “up” or “down” and ends on the reverse charge.

These positive / negative moments are what many screenwriting gurus call “plot points.” They break down like this:

Whole Screenplay—starts on a “down” beat and ends on an “up” or vice versa.

Each Act—starts on a “down” beat and ends on an “up” or vice versa.

Each Sequence—starts on a “down” beat and ends on an “up” or vice versa.

Each Scene—starts on a “down” beat and ends on an “up” or vice versa.

By making each act, sequence and scene end on the opposite charge to which it started, you are making sure the protagonist’s fortunes are put through a sliding scale from good to bad and back again. It is this back and forth motion that gives a good screenplay it’s “rollercoaster ride of emotions” feeling, and helps eliminate reader boredom. One of the primary reasons a script is rejected is because the protagonist’s journey through the script is too even handed, without reversals changing his / her fortunes along the way, and so it’s imperative to keep the above in mind when writing.