I woke up this morning feeling like a bacterial army had stormed the shores of my brain. This is usually the result of a downtick in In N Out visits. I’ll have to remedy that. In the meantime, I need some TLC. So if anyone is in the Hollywood area and wants to come over, heat me up some chicken noodle soup, add bubbles to my bathwater, and give me a footrub, text me.
Speaking of TLC, I’ve been dong a lot of reading lately, paying particular attention to scene-writing, and noticed that a lot of writers are leaving good scenes on the table. Especially you TV writers. Remember that with television, you don’t have the benefit of spectacle or action. You need to keep our interest through good old fashioned drama. Which is why I’m leaving you today’s tip.
TSC
TSC stands for tension, suspense, conflict. Every scene you write should contain at least one of these three devices. Where a lot of writers get thrown is they believe that as long as they’re moving the story forward, the scene is okay. Oh contrere mon frere. You must not only move the story forward, you must do so IN AN ENTERTAINING WAY. And that’s where TSC comes in. It ensures that what the characters are doing is entertaining.
Tension is the easiest of the three to add. Teenage Sister talking to Teenage Brother about a ride to school is boring. However, what if Brother is dating Sister’s best friend? Now a discussion about a ride to school is laced with tension. This is exactly what they did in The Edge of Seventeen.
Suspense is a little trickier, but the most effective of the three options when used well. Staying with our high school theme, a test scene can be boring. However, what if, during the test, our student is waiting for his buddy to text him the answers? There’s only 10 minutes left. He keeps checking his phone. His friend still hasn’t texted. Will he get the answers in time?? SUSPENSE!
Conflict is the broadest of the three options and covers a lot of ground. Remember, conflict is not just characters yelling at each other. The trick to adding conflict is adding an element THAT MAKES THE SCENE DIFFICULT FOR AT LEAST ONE OF THE CHARACTERS. If the scene is easy for everyone, there’s no conflict. For example, let’s say Jimmy’s at a party and he’s about to approach his crush, Jenny. If these two get to talk freely, the scene will lack conflict. So what about bringing in Football Player Hank. Hank strolls in and starts talking to Jenny as well. This makes Jimmy’s plan to talk to Jenny MORE DIFFICULT, which adds conflict to the scene.
Conflict can be found everywhere as long as you’re looking for it. If I woke up and was feeling fine this morning, BORING. I woke up and was sick. All of a sudden my day is MORE DIFFICULT. Conflict!
There you go. Now get back into your scripts and start adding some TSC.
And somebody make me some soup.
