Script Editing – 5 Things To Cut (pt2)
Script editing can be an arduos process. Here’s some more things to look out for in your script that you may need to cut.
Montages
Ah, the ubiquitous montage… This is a very popular device and yet screenwriters often fail to implement them the correct way.
Montages should serve a specific function—showing ONE ACTION, usually executed by the protagonist, which should take hours, days or weeks, condensed down to a minute or less to save screen time.
One example is the classic “falling in love montage.” The hero has just met the girl of his dreams and so we get the first two weeks of their relationship—running on a beach, sharing an ice cream etc.—in the space of forty seconds.
Another is the famous “training montage” found in sports and war films. The hero has a week to get in shape for the big fight or entrance to the army, and so we see them doing lengths in the pool, chin-ups, and shooting on the range in a series of ultra quick scenes.
Often, they are visibly better at whatever they’re doing at the end of the montage than they were at the beginning, to increase the sense that they’re getting somewhere.
The key point is a montage is ONE ACTION with a purpose. The hero has a specific goal, just like in a scene, except there is little or no conflict. It simply exists to quickly move the story along by demonstrating what we already know.
The mistake many writers make, however, is adding montages without a clear purpose. Common examples are montages of city / country life. Montages of family /friends lives. Montages of travelling / driving home / commuting to work etc. In each of these examples they fail to move the story along and so should be cut.
It helps to remember that a montage should be written as
MONTAGE — FRANK AND JONNY FIX THE FERRARI
or
MONTAGE — KATE NURSES HER MOM BACK TO HEALTH
with the scenes listed underneath. This helps keep them focussed on one specific action and keep them relevant.
Unnecessary Characters
At the risk of sounding repetitious, every character in a film is there for a reason. If their impact on the main plot is unclear or non-existent, take them out.
Does your protagonist really need that buddy who pops up every so often? If the buddy is not guiding the protagonist, advising them, or turning against them then they shouldn’t be in the script.
Often, several minor characters can be melded together to form one. A protagonist will come up against several obstacles posed by different characters, when in fact they could all be the work of the same one.
Make sure your characters perform a specific function. The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler has an excellent section on character functions that we can’t recommend highly enough.
