Screenwriting : Genre tips by Heather McCluskey

I like to start with a mystery then pace the story with revelations that change how the main character is perceived by the audience, but always building toward the "big reveal" that solves the initial mystery about the character but in a surprising way. The mystery angle lets you spice up the boring bits of a life story by putting something behind those moments that can sustain an audience's interest.

I try to structure individual scenes with two layers. The surface layer is the usual, Goals, Stakes and Urgency driving the visible story/character engine. The second layer contains elements that feed into the "mystery" like clues, motivations and actions by the character that refer directly back to it.

Good luck with it.

Sorry David, but I don’t agree. If you need a mystery to make your story entertaining then it’s not a drama. In a drama, you need to find the core of the story, and make all characters revolve around it. It’s about finding universal human emotions/experiences that mark our existence and try to make a sense of it, finding a connection bigger than us. Respect to you Heather for trying your best, however if never wrote drama I suggest you find a co-writer who has experience in it and deliver the best script the story allows. All the best :)

Martina, it's not about turning a story into a mystery. It's about presenting the audience with an intriguing mystery behind the character - something new and revelatory that is at the core of the character. The promise to the audience is, that by the time the story is done they will learn something new about a person they thought they knew and follow the threads of the mystery to reach a deeper understanding of that person and themselves. It's a common device in most films, regardless of genre, but it's particularly useful in biopics of well known people because you need to tease the audience with the promise of learning something they didn't know about that person.

Malcolm X opens with a fiery impassioned, speech about oppression. Then we see young Malcolm as a dandy and a street hustler. The mystery is what did Malcom X experience in his life to become so angry and so focused he could make that speech.

Patton opens with Patton extolling the virtues of being a warrior then having a shoot out with a pair of German fighter planes where he seems to be a caricature of that brave warrior image. The mystery is what drives a man like that - is it a show, is it madness, is it God.

Amadeus begins with Solieri claiming he killed Mozart. The mystery is not just did he, but who the hell is Solieri and why would he want to kill Mozart.

The Imitation Game begins with a British professor who doesn't want a break in at his home investigated. Then we learn he was a code breaker in the War. And he's gay. They mystery is if those two things aren't Turing's big secret then what is?

Saving Mr. Banks begins with a writer who doesn't want her children's book Disney-fied by Walt. The first mystery is why not and how did he change her mind.

Certainly, you don't have to have a mystery behind a character or story. But the OP's question was what are some tricks and tips for approaching a true story. Slowly revealing a secret about a character as an audience gets to know that person allows you as a writer to make your audience really care about that person and dread for them,. Then as an added bonus they get to be surprised or made privy to a secret by the end - thus becoming possessors of privileged knowledge only the select few who saw the film know. Which hopefully they will then tell their friends to go see. Or post online as spoilers - which is free advertising too. It worked for The Crying Game.

Thanks David Trotti for the clarification and explanation, good to learn :)

Depends on what you mean by drama. Everything I write could be called a drama. Things like action etc tend to be plot driven drama. Then on the flip side there are my character driven dramas.

I think you need to focus of character more when the world isn’t a character like it can be in ScFi.

Will this be like a romantic drama? If so I highly recommend the book Romancing the Beat which has a ton of great advice about structuring romance stories.

Look for the relationships that have the greatest change/impact to the narrative. It sounds like it's a story about someone who has died. I don't know if this is a biopic or just "slice of life" about that person like a "last year in the life" type story. For reference, think of like "Darkest Hour" or "The King's Speech" vs. a story like "American Made" or "Christopher Robin".

I have a biopic I have on a back burner that will someday make it to the forefront and what I have focused on is the relationships that come/go/evolve and the items that affected those or had the greatest impact (beats if you will). Also if there are unexpected "turn of events" type items, make sure you lay out the life direction prior to that. Meaning where was life going for those characters up until that life changing event (a diagnosis, a divorce, a death if not the end of narrative event) and then the aftermath. If that's the kind of story it is, think of it like a mirror and describing what you see in the mirror up until the point that it shatters then what do you see after it shatters.

Thanks everyone, yeah it's not a romance,it's based on a true story of an epic event in the life of someone who recently deceased. It has a law suit in it dealing with some pretty big production companies that are still around today. At the moment I'm struggling with the thought of leaving the names as they are, since it did happen and the court events are documented, or changing the names of the companies to be vague and avoid incident and controversy. A little controversy could be a good thing ...hmmm. Other than that it's pretty much done, appreciate all the comments though, thanks again!!