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— T
WO
IN
CID
EN
TS
—
129
alo
ng w
ith his
partner and le
arns that the likely
suspect,
Catherin
e
(S
haron
Stone),
is
a
sm
art,
beautiful,
and
accom
plished novelist. A
nd w
hile he questio
ns her, N
ick is
imm
edia
tely
attracted as she darin
gly
fla
unts her sexuality at
him
. It's
easy to see w
hy he's
sm
itten and in
trig
ued by her,
and w
e know
the tem
ptatio
n she offers is
goin
g to hook him
.
It doesn't take too lo
ng before he becom
es so in
fatuated
with her that he can't listen to his
voic
e of reason, or his
associa
tes'
warnin
gs,
as
he
plu
nges
headlo
ng
into
a
tum
ultuous affair that costs him
his
jo
b and m
ay w
ind up
costin
g him
his
life.
I
began
to
understand
that
this
openin
g
sex/m
urder
scene
is
the
incid
ent
that
sets
the
story
in
motio
n
an
d
directly
draw
s th
e m
ain
ch
aracter in
to th
e story lin
e. T
he
mu
rder is
com
mitte
d to g
rab
ou
r attentio
n and show
us the
reason N
ick is
called upon to in
vestig
ate the crim
e. W
hen he
leaves the scene of the crim
e, w
e follow
him
and his
partner
and begin
to le
arn m
ore about this
m
an and the choic
es h
e
makes. T
he op
enin
g scen
e an
d th
e story th
at's
g
oin
g to
un
fold
are directly
linked.
This
in
cid
ent—
the m
urder—
and the story of a cop giv
ing
in to h
is tem
ptatio
ns epitom
ize the illu
min
atio
n of ch
aracter
and
in
cid
ent. R
em
em
ber H
enry Jam
es: "W
hat is
character
but the determ
inatio
n of in
cid
en
t? A
nd w
hat is
in
cid
ent but
the illu
min
atio
n of character?" Y
ou can't reveal
a character
dram
atic
ally (or com
ed-ic
ally) unle
ss you have him
/her react
to a partic
ula
r in
cid
ent; the nature of dram
a, after all, is
to
show
the
univ
ersal
connectio
n
betw
een
all
hum
ans,
regardle
ss of race, colo
r, gender, or cultural diffe
rences.
The in
cid
ent of the m
urder le
ads directly
to the in
fatuatio
n
Nic
k fe
els
fo
r C
ath
erin
e. A
nd
th
at a
ttra
ctio
n is
re
info
rce
d
wh
en
th
e police questio
n C
atherin
e as the prim
e suspect.
There is
a rela
tio
nship
betw
een these tw
o in
cid
ents. O
ne
incid
ent,
the
openin
g
sex/
murder,
is
called
the
incitin
g
incid
ent, because it sets the story in
m
otio
n; it is
the first vis
ual
representatio
n of the key in
cid
ent, w
hat the story is
about,
and draw
s the m
ain
character in
to the story line. R
em
em
ber
the defin
itio
n of in
cid
ent: "a specific
event or occurrence that
occurs in
rela
tio
n to som
ethin
g els
e."
When
I
understood
this
connectio
n,
it
was
alm
ost
a
revela
tio
n. U
sin
g a
n o
pe
nin
g se
qu
en
ce
to
d
ra
w th
e m
ain
ch
ara
cte
r in
to
th
e
13
0
—S
CR
EE
NP
LA
Y—
story lin
e is
p
ure cin
em
a. F
rom
here on
throu
gh
th
e rest of
the
screenpla
y,
the
story
is
set
up,
the
characters
and
prem
ise are established, and there is
a story line, a directio
n
to follow
—and all because of the connectio
n betw
een these
tw
o in
cid
ents. T
his
new
understan
din
g g
ave m
e an
oth
er
tool to u
se in
th
e craft of screen
-w
ritin
g.
I w
en
t b
ack th
ro
ug
h a
ll o
f E
szte
rh
as's
scrip
ts a
nd
b
eg
an
to
e
xa
min
e h
is scre
en
pla
ys, fo
cu
sin
g o
n h
ow
h
e w
ro
te
an
d stru
ctured openin
g scenes or sequences. A
nd I saw
, in
most cases, that the openin
g scene, the in
citin
g in
cid
ent,
was a cin
em
atic
tool
he used to set up the story from
page
one, w
ord one.
I beg
an
to see th
at in
certain
kin
ds of m
ovie
s—
actio
n
film
s,
actio
n-thrille
rs,
mysterie
s,
actio
n-adventures,
sci-fis
,
even dram
as—
w
rite
rs stru
ctu
re
th
eir
sto
rie
s so
th
at th
is
op
en
ing
, th
e in
citin
g in
cid
ent, serves tw
o dis
tin
ct functio
ns.
First, it grabs or hooks the audie
nce im
media
tely
—ju
st lo
ok at
the openin
g scenes or sequences of
The M
atrix
, Jaw
s, C
old
Mountain
, T
he B
rid
ges of M
adis
on C
ounty, A
meric
an B
eauty,
Pulp
F
ictio
n, Lord of the R
ings: T
he F
ellow
ship
of the R
ing,
Rushm
ore,
The
Royal
Tenenbaum
s,
and
other
film
s,
and
you'll
see that this
openin
g scene or sequence is
w
hat sets
the entire story in
m
otio
n.
For
exam
ple
,
in
The
Matrix
,
a
squad
of
policem
en
confronts T
rin
ity, and as w
e w
atch her defy all know
n la
ws of
physic
s and gravity, le
apin
g over buildin
gs to escape, w
e are
draw
n in
to a w
orld
of cyberspace that grabs our attentio
n
imm
edia
tely
. T
he in
citin
g in
cid
en
t an
ch
ors u
s to th
e edg
e of
ou
r seats, an
d le
ts u
s kn
ow
th
at w
e're in
for an in
credib
le
adventure. In Jaw
s, the la
te-nig
ht beach party and a nude
sw
imm
ing la
rk turn in
to a horrifyin
g experie
nce as the great
white attacks.
In C
old
M
ountain
, U
nio
n troops burrow
underground and
pla
nt explo
siv
es beneath the C
onfederate cam
p; w
hen the
charge is
detonated the result illu
strates the total m
adness of
war, ju
st as in
the cla
ssic
T
he B
rid
ge on the R
iver K
wai (M
ichael
Wilson and C
arl F
orem
an). In T
he B
rid
ges of M
adis
on C
ounty
(R
ichard LaG
ravenese), after the death of F
rancesca (M
eryl
Streep), her tw
o grow
n children are goin
g through her thin
gs
and uncover a hid
den dia
ry. A
s they read, they dis
cover that
their m
other had a lo
ve affair w
ith a m
an nam
ed
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