A recent lecture for the current online screenwriting class I’m teaching provoked a discussion about writing scenes. I noted that a common problem I see in scripts by pre-pros is unwieldy, unfocused scenes. Usually that occurs because the writer is trying to achieve too many things in a single scene.

So my recommendation is this: As you go about constructing a scene, ask yourself, “What is the point of the scene?”

Since every scene exists in the dual worlds of a screenplay universe — Plotline (External World) and Themeline (Internal World) — the point of a scene is comprised of two goals:

Plotline: Structural goal
Themeline: Emotional goal

The point of a scene in terms of the Plotline is how it ties in and advances the plot.

The point of a scene in terms of the Themeline is how it ties in and advances the emotional arc.

Let’s take an example from one of my favorite screenplays The Shawshank Redemption — the final conversation between Andy and Red. Andy has just had his All Is Lost moment: Tommy, a young prisoner who heard a confession from Elmo Batch, another prisoner at another prison, that could have proven Andy’s innocence, is assassinated by Capt. Hadley at Warden Norton’s orders. Even worse, Norton throws Andy in solitary confinement for two months, then tells Andy that nothing is going to change, Andy will continue to stay at Shawshank, working with Norton as the accountant of Norton’s extortion schemes. In other words, Andy’s brief hope of gaining his freedom has been squashed by Norton. Now Andy has been let out of his long stint in solitary confinement:

205 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DAY (1966) 205

Red finds Andy sitting in the shadow of the high stone wall,poking listlessly through the dust for small pebbles. Redwaits for some acknowledgment. Andy doesn't even look up.Red hunkers down and joins him. Nothing is said for thelongest time. And then, softly:

   ANDY My wife used to say I'm a hard man to know. Like a closed book. Complained about it all the time.  (pause) She was beautiful. I loved her. But I guess I couldn't show it enough.  (softly) I killed her, Red.

Andy finally glances to Red, seeking a reaction. Silence.

   ANDY I didn't pull the trigger. But I drove her away. That's why she died. Because of me, the way I am.

   RED That don't make you a murderer. Bad husband, maybe.

Andy smiles faintly in spite of himself. Red gives his

shoulder a squeeze.

   RED Feel bad about it if you want. But you didn't pull the trigger.

   ANDY No. I didn't. Someone else did, and I wound up here. Bad luck, I guess.

   RED Bad luck? Jesus.

   ANDY It floats around. Has to land on somebody. Say a storm comes through. Some folks sit in their living rooms and enjoy the rain. The house next door gets torn out of the ground and smashed flat. It was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the tornado.  (softly) I just had no idea the storm would go on as long as it has.  (glances to him) Think you'll ever get out of here?

   RED Sure. When I got a long white beard and about three marbles left rolling around upstairs.

   ANDY Tell you where I'd go. Zihuatanejo.

   RED Zihuatanejo?

   ANDY Mexico. Little place right on the Pacific. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where I'd like to finish out my life, Red. A warm place with no memory. Open a little hotel right on the beach. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up like new. Take my guests out charter fishing.  (beat) You know, a place like that, I'd need a man who can get things.

Red stares at Andy, laughs.

   RED Jesus, Andy. I couldn't hack it on the outside. Been in here too long. I'm an institutional man now. Like old Brooks Hatlen was.

   ANDY You underestimate yourself.

   RED Bullshit. In here I'm the guy who can get it for you. Out there, all you need are Yellow Pages. I wouldn't know where to begin.  (derisive snort) Pacific Ocean? Hell. Like to scare me to death, somethin' that big.

   ANDY Not me. I didn't shoot my wife and I didn't shoot her lover, and whatever mistakes I made I've paid for and then some. That hotel and that boat...I don't think it's too much to want. To look at the stars just after sunset. Touch the sand. Wade in the water. Feel free.

   RED Goddamn it, Andy, stop! Don't do that to yourself! Talking shitty pipedreams! Mexico's down there, and you're in here, and that's the way it is!

   ANDY You're right. It's down there, and I'm in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.

Red snaps a look. What the hell does that mean? Andy rises andwalks away. Red lunges to his feet.

   RED Andy?

   ANDY  (turns back) Red, if you ever get out of here, do me a favor. There's this big hayfield up near Buxton. You know where Buxton is?

   RED  (nods) Lots of hayfields there.

   ANDY One in particular. Got a long rock wall with a big oak at the north end. Like something out of a Robert Frost poem. It's where I asked my wife to marry me. We'd gone for a picnic. We made love under that tree. I asked and she said yes.  (beat) Promise me, Red. If you ever get out, find that spot. In the base of that wall you'll find a rock that has no earthly business in a Maine hayfield. A piece of black volcanic glass. You'll find something buried under it I want you to have.

   RED What? What's buried there?

   ANDY You'll just have to pry up that rock and see.

Andy turns and walks away.

In the External World (Plotline), the structural goal of the scene is for Andy to get Red to promise that if Red ever gets out of prison, he will go to that hayfield in Buxton. This is a critical plot point because Andy and Red can’t seal their Unity state unless they reunite in Mexico.

In the Internal World (Themeline), the emotional goal of the scene is for Andy to go through a sort of confessional review of his life, so that he can determine, once and for all, that he is going to go through with his escape plans — which he does that night.

So even though there’s a lot going on, it is a tightly focused scene because Darabont has a clear sense of the point of the scene.

Now is it possible to construct a scene with multiple points? Yes. But for writers whose scenes tend to wander all over the place, asking this question — “What is the point of your scene?” — can be an excellent tool to help focus your scene-writing.

UPDATE: In comments, H asked:

Do all scenes have a 3-act structure? And is there a usual amount of beats to them…like six beats?

There are all sorts of scenes, so I’m reticent to declare that they all have to have this or that many beats. Is the six-beat thing part of a theory floating around? If so, please forward that info to me.

I will say this: If you think of a scene having a Beginning, Middle, and End — essentially their own 3-act structure — you will be on solid ground in how you approach writing scenes. It just makes sense:

* You enter a scene and establish what’s going on: We can call that the Beginning

* Something happens that creates a shift in mood, tone, who’s ‘controlling’ the scene, etc: We can call this the Middle.

* The scene has some sort of resolve, even if the resolve is open-ended (e.g., cliffhanger): We can call this the End.

If you look at the scene cited above from Shawshank, there is a clear 3-act structure to it:

Beginning: Andy looks back on how he was sentenced to Shawshank, admitting to some measure of culpability in re to her death.

Middle: But Andy also realizes that he has more than paid the price.

Ending: He tells Red about Mexico and a hayfield in Buxton, getting Red to promise he’ll go there if he ever gets out of Shawshank.

Again, as noted above, Andy’s ‘confessional’ is, I think, about him going through the logic of everything to convince himself that he’s going to go through with his escape. He sums up where he is at this critical juncture in his life with the touchstone line of the movie: “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

Are there scenes with 4-acts, 5-acts, 6-acts, whatever? Probably. A scene needs to be what it needs to be. However for pre-pros, if you approach each scene asking, “What is its Beginning? What is its Middle? What is its Ending?” — you should do all right.

I get into this subject in depth in a 1-week online course I teach called “Screenwriting as Scene-Writing.” I think I’m scheduled to teach that again next spring.