How to Establish Conflict in a Movie Script

Video Transcript

"Next what you want to do is introduce the challenge or another way of saying that is, ask the question in the movie that will be answered at the end. What is the main problem that they are going to be faced. Ask the question. In the end you are going to answer whatever that question was. All movies start with the main character having to face a problem. Another way of saying that is asking the question of life of whatever the circumstance is. And in Act 3 you are going to answer the question. Show the problem is what asking the question is. So I'll just write that here, just to clarify it, show the problem. And of course in Act 3, you're way ahead of me I know that, answer the problem. It doesn't matter if it's comedy or drama, they are both the same, there is no difference. As an example there's a door, a man want to get out of the door. If he's in danger and he can't get the door opened, there is drama. Same door. Man is on the other side of the door and he can't get out and there is a skunk in the room and he can't open the door, it becomes comedy. The door remains the same. We talked about asking the question, showing the problem, answering the question or the problem. In Act 2 what you want to do to give it tension, which I said before, sometimes Act 2 being half the script is a little bit slow and boring. You want to make the problems seem unsolvable. You want to give it an urgency of time. There's 24 hours before the bomb goes off or a doctor has to decide a mother's birth to save the child or the mother and they have seconds to decide. This is all making the problem seem unsolvable and of course and of course, here you start to solve whatever the problem is."