How to write the first scene of a screenplay: establish the mood, show your main character’s situation, and give the reader a reason to continue. Openings commonly serve these purposes without explaining the character’s whole history. The guide to writing a scene covers building the action within any scene.
How do you start with a hook?
Start with a problem your main character cannot comfortably ignore. For example, Lena hides evidence that she has lost her job while her roommate asks about rent. Her attempt to hide it gives the reader something specific to watch.
- Hook
- A hook is a story element that commonly raises a question or presents a problem, making the audience want to keep watching. Here, the question is whether Lena will admit she cannot pay.
Build your screenplay opening around a visible problem
- Choose a situation under pressure
Give your main character something to handle now. Lena needs to conceal her job loss before her roommate enters.
- Show the situation through an action
Give the reader evidence they can see. Lena pushes a dismissal letter beneath the kitchen rubbish.
- Choose behavior that establishes the mood
Let Lena carefully wipe coffee from the letter before hiding it. Her care with something she wants to bury makes the moment uncomfortable.
- Write a specific problem that remains unresolved
Have the roommate ask Lena to request a pay advance. Now hiding the truth requires another choice.
What mistakes weaken an opening?
Explaining the situation without giving your character anything to handle weakens this opening. In the first version, Lena names her feelings, but nothing tests them.
- Scene heading
- A scene heading is the line that commonly opens a scene with its location and time in capitals. INT. means inside; EXT. means outside. For this opening, INT. APARTMENT KITCHEN - MORNING places the action indoors.
INT. APARTMENT KITCHEN - MORNING
LENA, still in yesterday's work shirt, sits across from MAYA, her roommate in paint-stained overalls.
LENA
Losing that job is embarrassing. Telling people feels worse.
MAYA
And rent is due.
Lena nods. They drink their coffee.
Give Lena a chance to conceal the problem, then make concealment harder. The revised opening lets her behavior carry the embarrassment.
INT. APARTMENT KITCHEN - MORNING
LENA, still in yesterday's work shirt, wipes coffee from a letter headed NOTICE OF DISMISSAL.
Keys rattle outside. She pushes the letter beneath potato peelings in the bin.
MAYA, her roommate in paint-stained overalls, enters with a rent notice.
MAYA
Can work advance your pay?
Lena closes the bin with her heel.
MAYA
Call before you leave. Please.
Lena opens her phone's contacts. Her thumb rests above OFFICE.
The letter reveals Lena’s situation, and hiding it establishes an uncomfortable mood. The request for a call leaves her facing a decision. For more examples, see show, don’t tell in screenwriting and the screenwriting guides.
Should you begin with FADE IN:?
You can leave out FADE IN:, as current scripts commonly do. The revised example begins directly with INT. APARTMENT KITCHEN - MORNING. Put your attention on what happens after that heading.