Emotional Swings in Your Script Scenes
Check out Blake Snyder for the importance of having a plus or minus emotional change in each scene. The +/- indicates how the tone evolves during the scene. (Just like every good movie, every good scene has to have clear conflict and some emotional shift from start to finish.) If the scene’s main character (might not be the hero) comes in on an emotional +, then the scene must end on an emotional – to have change. If there’s no change in the scene from + to – or from – to +, ask yourself if the scene is necessary. And you better have a good answer! Do this to really amp up your tension in each scene.
Lt.
Kaffee goes from minus to plus in this scene from A Few Good Men, and Kendrick
goes from plus to minus.
