Screenwriting : To Flashback or Not to Flashback...That is the Question... by Mike Childress

Mike Childress

To Flashback or Not to Flashback...That is the Question...

Howdy Peeps,

It's me, Mike, again coming in hot with my burning screenwriting questions!

I don't get the general aversion to flashbacks. Almost every article, post, book section, etc. rails against them. Trottier, in The Screenwriter's Bible is basically like, 'They almost never work, avoid them'. Yet I still see them employed in the lion's share of series and features?!

I mean they are not akin to INTERCUTs, which obviously encroach into others' crafts. I stopped including INTERCUTs altogether. Done and done. Granted flashbacks can be utilized poorly in production, but no reason to surgically remove them from spec scripts altogether...in my humble opinion... In a similar vein non-linear stories are cool?!

So unless one of you spits some legit logic about exclusion of said literary device you can pry them from my cold, dead fingers.

Cheers,

~Mike

Ewan Dunbar

I think its not so much that people don't like them but that its a tool that is very easy to over use. A well crafted flashback can bring a great comedy beat, a dramatic beat (often by giving the audience a challenging new perspective on something they already know) or an important detail that shapes a character's life. They're mostly objected to when they are used as lazy exposition to spoon feed the audience information.

Mike Childress

Ewan Dunbar The general hate seems real from what I have seen! What constitutes "lazy exposition" appears to vary from person to person. Narrators in spec scripts also seem to be verboten, but I used one in my traditional fantasy script because the lack one was detrimental to the explanation of the story via dialogue and action lines.

Dan MaxXx

Some of my fav movies- Sunset Blvd, Reservior Dogs, The Usual Suspects- begin with flashbacks. But then again, we never talk about thousands of average/ho-hum dud movies with flashbacks.

On paper, a script is really hard to gauge if flashbacks will work or not.

Basically, film production execution or the lack of it to seperate your work from average filmmaking.

Hey, what do I know? I read Manchester By the Sea before I saw the movie. The script has 25+ flashbacks scenes. I didnt think the story worked on paper. But the movie went on to win Oscars. Lol

Göran Johansson

When I once performed a statistical investigation, I found that median ratings for movies with a flashback is about the same as for movies without. But obviously, a person with the wrong talent profile can use them in the wrong way.

Francisco Castro

The one truth about the Industry:

"Nobody knows anything." --- William Goldman, two time Oscar winner for Screenwriting

E Langley

Though it is a flashback, the beginning of "Sunset Boulevard" is the open of a Framing Device that closes at the end similar to "Saving Private Ryan."

"Manchester By the Sea" is not a linear narrative. It uses the Multiple Timeline or a variation of Non Linear structure that pops back and forth in time. I'll bet it was a bear to read. Other films that use this structure, among many, are "The Fountain" and "The Godfather."

In a linear Three Act structure, a flashback might throw off the flow. That's why the admonition not to use it from Brother Trottier not because they can and do work but because they are used in the wrong structure.

However, there are many structures where cinematic past, present and even future can coexist in harmony. The trick might be not to force a complex story into a Three Act box.

There are at least ten screenplay structures. Use the one that best tells the story.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh

I like flashbacks. They can definitely be used poorly (like any writing device, really) but they’re great for giving background and even changing the context of a scene entirely.

Francisco Castro

I think the one important fact everyone appears to be ignoring....

... Flashbacks do not exist in the Multiverse.

CJ Walley

As ever, when someone gives you dogmatic advice, question the source and adjust accordingly.

Mike Childress

Besides writing sci-fi I watch a lot of sci-fi so obviously temporal jumps are a recurring thing. Said time bounces can be a bit much if it occurs super-frequently (especially sans Supers), e.g. Bodies (Netflix), and The Lazarus Project (TNT). Still good productions regardless. Good points all around! I think, thus far, I have only employed flashbacks thrice...out of nine completed scripts... I tend to favor dream/mental image sequences.

Bill Brock

Agreed, Mike. I LOVE my Flashbacks. EVERY single one of them. I treat them like my own grandchildren, which is kinda weird, seeing how I don’t have children.

Mike Childress

Bill Brock HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Bill Albert

The best flashbacks are when you learn something. Something new about the characters, or even what really happened, that will advance the story and situaltion.

Mike Childress

Bill Albert Yeah, when I utilize them I make sure they are integral to exposition. Moderation is a good rule for them too.

CJ Walley

At a production level, something worth noting about flashbacks is that they can incur a lot of time, money, and effort for very little gain. Want a momentary flashback to a character's childhood? Great, that's now casting a younger version of them, potentially casting all new people around them, redecorating or finding a new location, and a whole new shooting day to fund and organise. That'll be the real reason experienced producers take a sharp intake of breath the second they see one in a script.

For the last movie we shot, we had to build a whole new set for the one flashback we had.

They can be a very clunky form of telling and not showing too. But then so can having a character explain it all with dialogue. Extra cringe points for having the character perform a monolog over a flashback. This is where the rubber really meets the road in terms of planning and telling a compelling story. Look at something like Silence of the Lambs and Clarice Starling's whole trauma with trying to rescue an animal from slaughter. No flashback, no boring exposition, all buried in drama and conflict where the information is traded for something else.

CJ Walley

Something else you have to watch out for is low quality feedback/notes that wants everything explaining. That can led to writers feeling the need to start adding more and more, sometimes in the form of flashbacks, to remove any form of mystery.

Erwann Uriac

To me flashbacks are used when necessary. It's not like you can't use flashbacks but, if there is another option, use the other option. Flashbacks are plan Z when plans A to Y don't work or don't have as big of an effect. I'd say you can consider flashbacks only when 1. It is important at this particular moment of the script otherwise the whole story crumbles and 2. You can't say it in another way than a flashback.

CJ Walley

Matthew Kelcourse, I mean, 99% of feedback is just nitpicking and subjective differences from what I've seen. How people are supposed to comment on craft and filmmaking when they have no knowledge and experience is beyond me.

That said, there is also the issue with people feeling they have to say something, because they've been asked what they think. The Simpson's parodied it brilliantly with the Itchy & Scratchy and Radioactive Man Q&As.

Mike Childress

Re: potential production-level issues I feel like a lot of new writers I see post/comment confuse spec scripts with shooting scripts, i.e. instead of "my script/screenplay" I see people go "my movie", and that is also evident when I see camera angle instructions in LOTS of scripts I skim through. I see specs as solely an avenue to showcasing my writing/storytelling craftmanship. No cost in writing a flashback in a spec (outside of to a reader's sanity, possibly)! I'm not trying to be a director, editor, etc. so I try and stay out of other crafts' lanes, which is why I ditched Intercuts altogether.

CJ Walley

Wait, are we not doing INTERCUTS anymore? I didn't get that memo.

Mike Childress

CJ Walley Just me haha.

Francisco Castro

The trouble is, Matthew Kelcourse, writers still have to get passed those "amateur/inexperienced/fraudulent reader" to get to the producers who have the power. As a paid studio/network reader for several years, I was taught to read with shields up and weapons locked on every script. There are so many scripts that producers must wade through that they wanted readers to say "No" at the drop of a hat. I read well over a thousand scripts and I only gave a CONSIDER to about a dozen specs. But I have to admit producers sometimes wanted to me to read for a CONSIDER, meaning they really liked the script and/or writer and wanted the coverage to be positive so that the studio heads --- who only read the coverages --- would see the script is good and move forward on it.

Mike Childress

12 out of 1000...good odds!

Bill Brock

Francisco Castro WOW! Only 12 “Considers” out of 1,000???!!! Okay, that’s it. I’m outta here. Time to stop writing. : )

Bill Brock

Mike Childress Brock to a producer: “Don’t like the flashback? Fine. Take it out. I don’t care.”

CJ Walley

When actual readers tell you how the system operates, listen. Dan MaxXx shared some similar insights the other week.

Once you have that insight, reflect and figure out a plan on how you, given your strengths and weaknesses, best move forward.

Doug Kayne

I’ve written flashbacks in some of my writing. I have an entire episode of my sci-fi comedy series that are two flashback stories. My thought is, if it serves to enrich the characters and the narrative, do it. If it doesn’t, don’t do it. If it would be better at the beginning, so that it’s not a flashback, then move it.

Dan MaxXx

I worked as a dailies editor; sometimes sat in for final edits. There's script movie, production shot movie, and the final edited movie. Three different versions. Outsiders and wannabe filmmakers would be in shock if they sat in editing sessions. Your mentor-peers-heroes, famous filmmakers all have imposter syndrome. Fix it in post.

So I dont think anyone is 100% sure what works on a paper script. if filmmakers knew for sure, there would not be hours of unused footage, scenes deleted, reshoots.

Mike Childress

I've always wondered how many good scripts failed on the production side. Obviously I'm sure some weak scripts slip through the cracks, especially if penned by someone's cousin...

CJ Walley

There's plenty of stories in various biographies mentioning exactly what Dan MaxXx describes. Brilliant scripts can fail. Terrible scripts can become brilliant. A lot of great directors owe a lot to their editors. They're called dream fixers for a reason.

I get to be on set and I get to be a big part of the editing process. It makes you pretty brutal and ruthless. I helped cut five minutes out of a first act only last week. Hours of passionate writing cast aside. It almost becomes masochistic.

You have to trust the process. It makes sense to overwrite and take risks, then see what is best left on the cutting room floor. Stuff you think will work doesn't. Stuff you think was a bad idea surprises you.

It teaches you to stop searching for perfection on the page.

Mike Childress

Got to be rough cutting footage, some people can't even bare to cut lines from their scripts!

Jeffery Mack

As a writer, It's my job to tell a story. So flash backs, intercuts, whatever it takes to get my story properly told and understood...is going to be used. A spec script is not my BABY. It is a road map to completing my vision. Nothing is set in stone. Anything can be changed/fixed/updated. I always give the same two words of advise. BE FLUID.

CJ Walley

Mike Childress, I went through a baptism of fire on my first movie. It was like we were cursed on the shoot. Every day entailed a huge issue that couldn't be predicted or eliminated. That resulted in me tearing pages out the script over and over. Then we found out our first cut was half an hour too long and we had to butcher some more. I came out of that with a thousand yard stare and whole new attitude. You have to get something in the can and you have to deliver the most marketable movie possible. As Dan Maxxx rightly says, there's the movie you write, the movie you shoot, and the movie you edit.

This is why, when you see people fussing over FADE IN and "we see" you realise they aren't living in the same world as you.

Pat Alexander

Flashbacks are ever prevalent in filmmaking today. Gladiator II, Longlegs, I Saw the TV Glow, etc. are all examples of successful movies from last year that used flashbacks. In my experience, any aversion to flashbacks comes from writers using them as a crutch to explain things they didn't properly arrange or rationalize in the present day timeline of the script. Like they're a convenient solution to problems that weren't solved when they should've been. Which happens fairly frequently tbqh. When done really well, flashbacks can add more context and deeper meaning to scenes. But when done poorly, they come across as hokey, lazy, convenient, and forced. If you like 'em and need 'em, always use them! That's the great thing about screenwriting, you can always do whatever you like and employ any technique if it best suits your story!

Mike Childress

This has been a great thread, especially since it ended up validating my beloved literary device hahaha.

Bill Brock

I love receiving undesirable comments about my work. It’s my Favorite Part of the entire writing process. If I fail to receive negative comments, I think to myself— “What am I doing wrong?”

Mike Childress

Bill Brock HAAAAAA.

CJ Walley

Mike Childress, that's a great result if it's helped validate a perfectly viable writing tool. We need more of that rather than the other way. I watched The Grey last night. Great use of flashbacks.

Mike Childress

CJ Walley I remember liking that flick. Flashbacks are definitely utilized well in a whole bunch of productions. Kudos for your previous comment on the production side ramifications because I do not think about $$$ when writing!

CJ Walley

Mike Childress, every day's a school day. Only the other week I watched a video where a writer was talking about the logistical ramifications of having a character get hit in the face vs hit in the stomach (makeup, sfx, continuity, etc). Stuff like that makes a big difference at a low budget level.

John C. Bounds

I like flashbacks. I don't use them. But if I do need a flashback I'll certainly use it. One of my favorites is in Point Break. Somewhere around the Midpoint. Johnny Utah sees the surfers and remembers something that helps his solve who they are.

Claude Gagne

Long or short flashbacks do you use, John C. Bounds ?

John C. Bounds

Claude Gagne If I do they are short.

Bill Brock

John C. Bounds I also enjoy writing flashbacks. My lengths are either long or short, depending on what I need to convey in order to keep the story pushing forward. Example (long): I’ve written a female protagonist (age 32) who’s a chronic alcoholic, teetering on divorce and losing custody of her little girl (high stakes, indeed!). My flashback includes her at age 7, when we learn the reason for her horrible condition— She was abandoned by her father in a movie theater. The scene runs 2 pages because it’s pertinent information on what makes her tick.

Philip David Lee

The best utilization of a constant use of flashbacks was the 1972 Kung Fu series. Second place, 2012's Arrow. Use those two shows as prime examples and you can never go wrong. For a single feature film, either the whole movie is basically a flashback or they should be used very, very sparingly. That's my opinion based on how flashbacks have either enhanced my viewing experience or has taken me out of the story.

Mike Childress

Philip David Lee Oh man I loved watching reruns of the original Kung Fu although still a bit miffed Sifu Bruce Lee didn't get the starring role. In fact when people ask what I do for a living I often respond, "I walk the Earth helping people like Caine in Kung Fu...Grasshopper..."

I think we're all mostly in agreement about flashbacks, i.e. an effective tool when used well, but bad when employed for weak exposition.

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