Screenwriting : What makes a Sci-Fi tv show or movie engaging? by Nathan Ray Clark

You seem to have good cred Nathan Ray Clark. What attracts you to any film or TV show? I recall Ron Moore hassling about the last few eps of "Battlestar Galactica." He had a whiteboard full of ideas and directions and had an epiphany. Paraphrasing, he wrote on the board, "It's about the people, dummy."

How does whizzing about at multiples of C change that?

People. Plain and simple. All the gadgets and techno-bable in the world means less than nothing if you don't have interesting characters and a story that your audience can care about. A gimicky futuristic thingamabob can get people interested in seeing a film but if the script falls flat then so does your movie.

What we cared about in Star Wars was Luke's journey, in Alien was Ripley's survival, in Blade Runner was Deckard's relationship. All stories about people who happened to be in a future time that the tech is ordinary to them but is fantastic to the fans.

The tech should appear that it solves a real world problem for the people using it.

I also think of SciFi as a setting for a genre, rather than a genre itself. If you think of it on those terms it may free you up.

What makes any story "engaging?" Sorry for the semi-scientific explanation but you're a sci-fi writer anyway, so.... It's when a story is so compelling/engrossing/unpredictable, that it stimulates a chemical reaction in the brain, making the reader/viewer more focused and engaged, and more attentive in processing and thinking about a story as it plays out. That doesn't happen when you're just kinda half-watching something that doesn't capture your interest at that type of level. It becomes a different type of sensory experience. It's like when you're "glued to your seat", or you "can't put a book down," and when you kinda fall into that world, always thinking...processing....and wondering/caring about what comes next. Congratulations, you have now "engaged" your audience!

What makes that? Kinda repeating myself in this sentence, but a great story that grabs your audience and that makes them care what happens next, and that stimulates their brain and makes them think and therefore engaged. Compelling conflict. Not just "conflict," but COMPELLING conflict. Empathy for characters. Rising tension. High stakes - that doesn't just mean "....or the earth will explode!", but it means that your characters' earths, at your story level, will explode at the very least. Complex and conflicted characters who aren't puppets to a predictable story line. Achieving the suspension of disbelief. A plot that twists on a journey of uncertainty. Scenes that move and are intended to evoke specific emotions. Relatable themes. And memorable characters that we care about and who may evolve, transform, and re-emerge - victoriously, and against some/all odds, or who may end up brokenhearted, crushed, and even eaten by the monster. Sometimes monsters get to eat, too, you know?

Andrew Stanton delivered some great insights during a Ted talk. He said "the audience actually wants to work for their meal. They just don't want to know that they are doing that. That's your job as a storyteller. Make the audience put things together. Don't give them 4. Give them 2+2. It's the invisible application that holds our attention to story."

In Lisa Cron's Wired for Story, she goes into this in more detail. And there are of course a ton of specific ways to better understand the individual elements of storytelling and dramatic structure. You can find a lot of that in webinars and other services available here on Stage32. But here's a link to Lisa Cron talking about Wired for Story if you're interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfqGPv5GTPI&t=400s

Best fortunes to you in your creative endeavors, Nathan!

For me as a popcorn viewer its about fancy worlds and technology, dodgy looking aliens and powerful gunships barraging a planets surface. But when I write I take a different approach and contradict myself lol. I focus on the characters within the story and as Craig said above, it's a setting for a story and then write about the characters journey.

In one of my scripts I had the opening scene of a young cadet on his first dropship experience from the transport ships cargo and how he felt sick, almost vomited and a fellow traveller found it amusing. Just an example but yeah in all, it is the people and their voyage of discovery as they discover along with the viewer. Of course I ain't no pro but hope it helps.

Thank you everyone for your feedback and thoughts.

Yes, I completely agree about story, characters and their journey. I should have clarified.

While I am very familiar with Star Wars and Star Trek I would love any recommendations you may that take place in space or on other planets. Film, tv, or web series you believe is a prime example of great story within the genre.

Thanks,

Nathan

I enjoyed Dark Matter and Space: Above and Beyond. Try them if your looking for something to watch.

One of the Top 100 shows of all time, "Battlestar Galactica" (2004) is terrific. "Stargate Universe."

"Moon," "Solaris," (2002), "Avatar," and "Gravity."

The new film Sorry to Bother You is an excellent example of sci-fi that does a beautiful job of introducing strange otherworldly concepts while keeping the viewer attached to the reality of the situation.

Tony S. already said most of the projects I was going to mention. Other than those: Gattaca, Alien, The Martian, and District 9 are all greats in my opinion.

Great sci-fi usually uses the science and tech to allows us to explore the extremes of an idea we usually only see the small effects of. It allows you to take things like eugenics, racism and apartheid, corporatism, and isolation all toward their farthest ends.

On the TV side, Eureka is a great example of a sci-fi comedy that's a bit different from everything people have mentioned here.