Importance of Hooks to Progress Plots in Plays

Video Transcript

"STEVE CAVERNO: Hi, I'm Steve Caverno on behalf of Expert Village. And today, I'll be talking to you about developing your plot. Now we're going to talk about hooks. What is a hook? Well, hook, in the traditional sense, could be described as a "Captain Hook" hook of Peter Pan. It's basically something you can use to grab on to something. And that is a perfect metaphor for what we're doing with the audience when we discuss a play. A hook is something that keeps the audience watching. So, when we first start Romeo and Juliet, we have two Capulets' servants. And then they go in and have an altercation with two of the Montague's servants and the guy bites his thumb at the other guy. And so, then they have this altercation and it's like, "What will happen? What's going on here? Why are these guys fighting?" And then we learn that the Capulets and the Montagues have had this longstanding feud. And then we learn that Romeo is depressed over Rosaline, his spurned lover. And so, we learn all these things that drive the action forward. We wonder, will the Capulets ever find peace? Will they ever make peace with each other? We also wonder, when Romeo meets Juliet, will they end up together? Will they be able to fall in love? Will their parents accept their love? And will this conflict ever end? These are things that drive the story. These are things that help the audience stay engaged. If the audience isn't wondering anything, if you used to have A, B and C and A is standing around and then a rock falls on him and then B looks at A and he's like "What happened?" What happened to that rock? And then the rock falls on B and then the rock falls on C. It's not a very interesting story. You gotta have that hook, you gotta have something where the audience is wondering what's going to happen next. And the character is driving the action. These are some of the ways in which we can help the audience stay engaged and create a conflict, heavy script."