by Noi Sabal • April 2, 2023
How to Write an Opening Scene That Will Grab Your Audience
Film is a visual medium. So when screenwriting opening scenes, you need to open with something visually appealing. Something that will hook your reader/audience right from the very first page/minute. That’s why Opening and Ending screenwriting scenes are so important; they’re what hook your Audience at the start and satisfy them at the end.
When screenwriting opening scenes, it’s important to write strong, intentional scenes from the very first page.
And while there are no hard-n-fast “screenwriting opening scene rules,” there are a couple of simple tricks you can follow:
2 Tricks for Screenwriting Opening Scenes
First, before you start writing — anything!! — make sure you set a beginning and ending point for your story. Then you won’t be just creating a random slice of life. Instead, you’ll write a STORY, not just chronicle a SITUATION.
And second, make sure you grab your Audience with an engaging, never-quite-seen-like-this Opening Scene. And that’s what this post is about; how to write that all-important first scene.
Why is the Opening so important?
The first thing your Reader reads (and Audience sees) is more critical than any other image or scene in your story. It’s a make-or-break moment: you either hook ’em…. or set them up for disappointment. The Opening Scene, with its Opening Image, establishes the tone, action, and characters that will inhabit the rest of your story. It promises your audience, “This is how things are right now, but stick with me, and things will get interesting!”
The Opening Scene is second only to the Finale (including the final image which is the last thing the audience sees). The Finale should be a “mirror” of the first scene; it reflects the Opening but shows you how things have changed over the course of your movie. And consciously creating change is the most critical aspect of screenwriting. Without change, you have a slice of life. With change, you have a movie arc.
(And this is why Screenwriting Ninja has special Brainstorm Boards just to help you discover the Opening and Finale; they’re THAT important!) Developing a mirrored Opening & Final Scene is one of the most powerful tricks you can have in your Pro Screenwriter’s Toolbox.
Why the right Opening Scene is Crucial
- First Impressions Count! — it lets the reader and audience know if they want to continue
- Sets the Tone — Match the scene to the genre, world, and inhabitants.
- Establishes Expectations — They’ll expect more of what happens first.
Of course, you can always subvert these norms and do the opposite. For example, you can turn an adventure movie on its head by having an unexpected romance open (“Romancing the Stone”). Or change up a horror movie and start with a character study — then kill ’em off first (i.e., “Scream”).
That’s why screenwriting opening scenes is so important — it’s what you’re hitting your Reader with first. So hit ’em hard! Make them sit up and take notice. And a boring old conversation with no action will not get anyone’s attention.
Don’t get us wrong. There’s nothing wrong with opening your script with a good ole conversation. But you have to think about the ACTION happening while your characters talk. You need to give the audience something to watch while they listen. Because which is more riveting:
4 Ways to Write Action for the Same Dialogue
#1. A couple sitting at their dining room table discussing their failing relationship over their usual Taco Tuesday meal.
#2. That couple having the same conversation — but while throwing plates at one another across that dining room table, tacos flying.
#3. The couple huddled together, quietly hissing the same dialogue at one another as passengers file past them on a packed plane.
#4. Calmly delivering the lines as the couple tightens their skydiving harnesses… and then one pushes the other out on the last line.
All of the scenes above have the exact same dialogue. But they are all very different scenes — with very different feelings and meanings — just because of the Action.
What you do AROUND the dialogue — how you write the Action of the scene — is what makes great opening scenes, well, great. Pairing the right action with dialogue can morph a bland, chatty Story Idea into an exciting, visual Screenplay Idea. So when you’re thinking about how to do openings in a screenwriting scene, remember this:
When screenwriting opening scenes, you need action
“When Harry Met Sally” is dialogue heavy. It’s a whole lotta talk — and it’s always about the same thing: relationships. It would’ve been insanely dull and redundant if Harry and Sally had just sat around the dining room table or lounged in their living room whenever they chatted. But Nora Ephron and Rob Reiner knew how to make all that talking more cinematic. When screenwriting their opening scene, these two brilliant writers had their characters doing all kinds of things:
How to “When Harry Met Sally” it
A few of the Actions that made the dialogue-heavy script a classic:
- Rolling out a new area rug
- Moving a wagon wheel coffee table
- Walk through Central Park or The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Dragging a Christmas Tree through the streets of NYC (with a callback to doing it alone)
- Shopping for a wedding present in Sharper Image (hello, karaoke machine)
Screenwriting Opening Scene Tip
Have your characters DOING something. You don’t want them just sitting there (unless that’s the point of the scene!!)
And — elephant in the room — yes, the Deli Scene (below) is literally them just sitting at a table, eating. But it was for a (very specific, very funny) reason! How else could Meg Ryan have a large captive audience for her fake orgasm? Where else could Estelle Reiner have delivered the Billy-Crystal-suggested line, “I’ll have what she’s having”? (Speaking of which… Do you know the evolution of this scene? Check out the story behind this iconic scene here. What a great example of how filmmaking is a collaborative art!)
7 Exercises for Screenwriting Opening Scenes
• What are your opening images? Can you change the setting? Is there anywhere else this could happen (especially if it’s an unusual place… somewhere unexpected)?
• What are your characters doing? If they’re not moving, why? (Stillness with intention is fabulous! But opening with a lack of action just ’cause you didn’t think of it, well, that’s an amateur move.)
• What’s the most obvious place they could talk about this? Is there some way you could flip this situation?
• How could you make this scene LESS dynamic/active? (Sometimes going super still or small can make more of an impact than big action!)
• If your characters can’t get up and move around, what could be happening around them?
• What’s the STRANGEST thing these characters could do while having this convo?
• What are three ways that absolutely could NOT work for this interaction? Why? Could there be a tiny bit of inspiration for a scene in those ways? (Because… if you think there’s no way it could work, can you imagine how unusual… comment-able… and downright riveting the scene could be if you could make it work?!)
The main thing you need to take away when screenwriting opening scenes: It’s what you do around your conversation — where you choose to set the scene and the action you write — that makes the difference between a movie and a radio show or podcast. In movies, you gotta see it to get it. 😉
GUT CHECK: If an audience can close their eyes and understand everything happening in your scene, it’s not a strong MOVIE scene. When screenwriting opening scenes, make sure you have to see it to understand what’s going on.
However you decide to write your Open, just make sure you do it with intention. Because you only have one shot at making a first impression when you’re screenwriting opening scenes!
Want more help? Check out Screenwriting Ninja! The info above is from just ONE prompt in our online story planning platform. We have 215+ helpful tools that make it really easy for all writers to create professional quality stories for screenplays and novels — including how to how to easily structure your Opening Scene.
