Altruism? Hell no. Review to Learn. BEGINNINGS

I'm not going to discuss the fact that altruism doesn't exist and that any Gutmensch gets something out of whatever good deed they're doing. Nope. This is about reading and reviewing unproduced screenplays (posted to the net by pros as well as unsold writers) for YOUR benefit.

Screenplays that show that the writer knows the basics, of course. You don't learn anything from discussing - for the umpteenth time - what "in late, out early" means or what the diff is between V.O. and O.S.

I read a script by a new produced writer that started out not-so-great, got more interesting, and had a good third act. One of the reasons the third act worked well was that we finally got to know the protag better, she finally came to life! Of course the beginning should have intro'd her just as effectively.

That got me thinking about beginnings and character introduction.

Yesterday I came across one of my many unlabeled, unwatched video tapes. Spidey I! I watched the beginning:

Spidey chases the school bus, gets laughed at, called a loser by the other kids, falls on his face. His love interest doesn't pay attention to him. At the field trip, he spouts some knowledge about spiders and is called a dork. Seconds later, Mr. Dorkcaller repeats what he'd just heard to MJ and she digs it.

During all this, Spidey stays calm. No hate. No revenge. He's cool! (In a later scene, he's pretty pissed at the manager of that wrestling freak show and lets the robber go. Payback time. Then Mr. Robber kills his uncle. Wow. Okay, I didn't watch the whole film yet, but so far it looked cool.) So we know he's not one of the cool crowd but instead they think he's a loser. And he's kind of a geek. But a cute one. We're so ready to pull for him.

Also, MJ seemed rather interested in Spidey's factoids that Dorkcaller recycled, so she appears to be a good match.

In my book, that beginning works really well. It's a well chosen incident that's active and does a good job of introducing protag, his goal (to get the girl. Hm) and he gets bitten by the spider. That's actually a really cool and highly effective visual: he gets bitten and in the background there's an info screen educating people about spider DNA.

Shallow Hal starts out with relevant back story that explains basically, why the hell Hal is shallow. If you got a chubby, average-looking guy behaving like a total jackass, it's a good idea to redeem him before the chicks throw their popcorn at the screen and walk out. It also helps to show him when he is still a kid. And the "wisdom" he picks up stems from his half-dead father who's high on morphine. So before Mr. Sexist Idiot even utters the first b.s. the joke's already on him. That softens the blow. Or so the theory goes. Worked for me.

And God, do we love jerks who learn and change and end up being the kind of guys we want them to be. Uuuuuh. There seems to be no shortage of them, either. I call them RJs. Reformed jerks (in the making).

What Women Want would be another such example. With Mel Gibson playing Jerkovich, he wouldn't really need the prophylactic redeeming upfront, but nevertheless - it's all his mother's fault. Yep. To raise a boy among showgirls? Please. No wonder he's screwed up. I thought that piece of backstory upfront was cheap. Let the guy be a jerk and then give him what's coming, no excuses.

As Good As It Gets - now there's a guy who throws a little yapper down the chute without apologizing. He's an old fart, fat, and no father/mother around to blame. Good for him. I love nuts, they are entertaining. Lots more fun than the saints, anyway. All the redeeming he needs, goody!

That Jack Nicholson's character is as grump, nutty, and unapologetic only increases the fun we have with all the conflict. He has to pull most the weight, anyway, because Helen Hunt's char - please. Waitress, single mother of a - not kidding here - sick little boy, uneducated (can't remember, was she dyslexic?). Get the Kleenex. Good thing that Jack's char happens to be a wealthy novelist, then, right? Let's just call her Cinderella. That shoe ought to fit. Oh, and let's make the second man gay, shall we? Gay AND recently impoverished. So she's really got not much of a choice. Thank God for comedy.

One thing I've noticed about beginnings: writers often seem to feel the pressure to
a) reel people in
b) put the inciting incident early, no, earlier. Can't you put it on page 1?
c) move forward with speed of light
d) etc.
that many focus on plot and forget to set up their chars, to introduce them and their world as they get the story going.

Coming up.... Effective Beginnings.