The first 10 pages of your screenplay are the most important. You can’t underestimate how important they are to the story and to attracting an audience, and therefore, an agent or producer.
The first 10 pages must grab the reader so tightly that the reader simply must keep reading to find out what happens next. Some say that many Hollywood agents tear the first 10 pages off of scripts and base their buying decisions on those alone.
The audience judges the entire story on what happens in the first 10 pages. They should share enough to draw in the audience without confusing them, but not reveal too much. You want to establish a balance between the two that makes the audience compelled to stick around and find out what happens next.
That’s no small order but there are several things to consider as you write and re-write those crucial ten pages. Be aware that the first 10 pages of your screenplay serve several purposes:
• Establish the genre
• Introduce the main characters
• Establish the primary environment(s)
• Establish the time period
• Provide relevant backstory
• Convey a distinct mood or atmosphere
• Introduce the antagonist
• To establish an event, usually at the end of the 10 pages, that sends your main character in a new direction
If you’re struggling with any of these purposes, try the following exercise: Watch the first 10 minutes of a few different movies. Study the first 10 minutes of the films. What do you learn about the characters, the setting and the story?
The trick about the beginning of your screenplay is that you need to know the ending. If you don’t, you can’t know what to reveal upfront. Everything that happens sets up the next scene and the scene after that, so you need to know what happens next. Some movies establish the villain in the beginning; some wait until later. Some stories benefit from the audience not knowing who the villain is; in some stories the villain is obvious from the start. Either way, you need a conflict. If you don’t have one early on, the audience will be impatient for the action to begin.
Your first 10 pages should include the “inciting incident,” or catalyst. This is the story’s first turning point. It upsets the main character’s order and throws him or her into an unfamiliar scenario. The story is in motion and there’s no turning back. This incident should answer two questions: What do your characters want? What might prevent them from getting that?
Once you’ve written those first 10 pages (or even the whole screenplay), it’s time to evaluate them. Read the first page. Before going on to the second page, ask yourself why you want to read the second page. Did a character hear a noise and you want to know the source of the noise? Did two characters meet and you want to know what they said to each other? Did someone get some news and you want to know how they reacted? Do the same after you have read page two. What makes you want to go on and read the third page? Revise those first 10 pages of your screenplay until each and every page must be read.