Some of you who visit regularly might be aware that I’m entering a screenplay competition in just a few days. I’ve worked on this particular script for months and have been getting decent feedback from my regular screenwriting group. Over the next few days, I’ll post sections here as the mood strikes me.
It has been said that the success of a screenplay, in this case success being the actual production of a screenplay, depends on two things. One, an engaging title and two, a decent opening. A script’s opening 10-20 pages should draw you, as the reader, so deeply into the story, that you can’t put it down. If you can get a reader, producer or actor to read your script beyond the first 20 pages, you’re doing pretty good. This is because most first time screenwriters make so many mistakes in format and pacing that readers usually round file their work in less time than it takes to write “FADE IN:” on a blank sheet of paper.
So, without further preamble… The first 15 pages of “The Hard Side of Nothing.”