FLASHBACKS

Depends on a lot of things. The story. The genre. The writer. And on what you mean by a flashback.

For example, a Noir thriller told from the POV of the guy scheduled for the electric chair, or the private eye being grilled by cops, any kind of integral-to-the-story confession that invites filling in unknown details. "Why don't you tell us about the dame?" Ripple into a nightclub scene. The hot dame leans into shot. "You got a light, Mac?" "No, but I got a dark brown overcoat." etc. etc.

Stories with an amnesiac lead don't ding my bell. Just thought I'd mention it.

So what did you have in mind?

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity.

Hi Stephanie,

I'm relatively new here, but thought I'd throw my two cents in for what it's worth.

I teach screenwriting and wrote a short script with a TON of Flashbacks for my students simply to illustrate the various ways Flashbacks should be/can be set-up, and what they can accomplish, why they might be utilized, etc. (like the examples posted above--great examples, by the way).

It was an okay script, and fine for an example. But funny thing happened by the time I hit FADE OUT. I fell in love with my characters. The following summer I rewrote the script from scratch, took it to my writers' group, read it aloud, listened to their feedback, and rewrote the thing from scratch yet again....

Now the script is in pre-production with a Washington state filmmaker who requested it off a web posting a few months back.

So, while I recommend utilizing Flashbacks in a limited way and only to enhance your story, from my experience, they can work. Sometimes better than anticipated....

G'luck!

What do you think of a story told somewhat in flashbacks? If done right, does it have a chance?

Yes...if done right.

Many readers will throw up "mental roadblocks" to this kind of storytelling...so you need to do it right! Make them(the reader) answer YES to this question...Were flashbacks the most effective way of telling this story?

Green Chair said:

Now the script is in pre-production with a Washington state filmmaker who requested it off a web posting a few months back.

Click to expand...

Any chance you could disclose who the filmmaker is? I live in WA state and like to keep up on the local biz.

Stephanie76 said:

I don't know. I just thought of this idea last night. Just wanted to see if it was worth my time before I dove in.

Click to expand...

I think this could be good if done right, unchronological (did I spell that right?) storytelling can be effective. I'm thinking of films like 21 GRAMS and MEMENTO.

Hi Stephanie,

It looks to me like your formatting is tight, and the story you described sounds like it would benefit from FALSHBACKS, so I say go with it. Worst thing that happens is that you gain some scriptwriting practice while breathing life into a story that is itching to be told. Who knows? This may be the start of something that someone else connects with, too. Have fun!

I made one slight edit to your example--moving FLASHBACK to the SLUG LINE, though I think it may only be a matter of taste:

INT. CAR-DAY

Max pulls a pack of cigerettes from his pocket and offers one to Cherry.

She slowly slides one out and sticks it between her lips.

A flame flickers toward the tip....

INT. LIVING RM-NIGHT - FLASHBACK

A match burns out.

Cherry's mother inhales a cigerette and falls into the couch.

PS MEMENTO is awesome, incredible really. But not exactly what you're after here, I think. Still, I encourage you to add it to your list of must sees/must reads. You might take a peek at FORREST GUMP, too. I just took a look (at Drew's script-o-rama website) and found the first "flashback" handled like this:

The black woman stares at Forrest as he looks down at his
own shoes.

FORREST
I've worn lots of shoes. I bet if I
think about it real hard I could
remember my first pair of shoes.

Forrest closes his eyes tightly.

FORREST
Momma said they'd take my anywhere.

INT. COUNTRY DOCTOR'S OFFICE - GREENBOW, ALABAMA - DAY
(1951)

A little boy closes his eyes tightly. It is young Forrest as
he sits in a doctor's office.

FORREST (V.O.)
She said they was my magic shoes.

Forrest has been fitted with orthopedic shoes and metal leg
braces.

Good luck with it!

--Green Chair (also: Dana)

Rainy Night said:

Any chance you could disclose who the filmmaker is? I live in WA state and like to keep up on the local biz.

Click to expand...

Hi Rainy Night,

I'll check with the Filmmaker and get back to you, either here or via e-mail.

He's taking classes now, and has a large corporate project that he just brought me in on to write the script. These things, plus each of our families, take first priority. Thus, so far production-wise we have locked the script after a few tweaks and rewrites, found and secured a location, and begun looking for actors. He has a core crew that he works with for corporate projects, all of whom I think are already committed to working on this project, as well.

What we do for the love of the craft....

Soon,
GC

Stephanie76 said:

Greenchair, welcome and thanks for your thoughts. I guess you never know where a story will take ya. It will be nice to have another experienced professional around. Looking forward to hearing some more of your thoughts.

Steph

Click to expand...

Steph,

Thanks for the welcome. I've been receiving the e-mailed newsletter for a while now, and published a short essay last year, which landed me a free subscription to the writing leads every other week...but only recently realized there was an entire community here.

Must confess that I had a very bad experience on a website forum discussion board a few years back. Was attacked for a simple question. Since I receive enough negativity from rejection letters and ignored queries, I swore off nearly all boards and writer's websites after that. Am pleased to have found a supportive and helpful community here. It may still take me a little bit of time to feel absolutely comfortable in these boards, though. Baby steps.

So again - THANK YOU for the welcome. Much appreciated.

Cheers,
GC/Dana

Green Chair i'm so glad you came on here. For the past year or two i've been trying to write the perfect script and just can't. I had a story told in flashbacks but it just wasn't working. I'm still learning how the write a screenplay the proper way.

To be quite honest i've wrestled back and forth with stories and screenplays and every time I think of something I don't like it. I know WHAT I want to write but not sure with the copyright laws and such... I had rather tell you by private message about that

My biggest problem is that I have like a million ideas swimming around and if I could take all of them and put them into one story, that would be perfect Getting back to the flashbacks i'm glad you're here b/c I knew somehow flashbacks could be used in screenplays.

Aspiringwriter (a.k.a. Bill)

Flashback is a tool.

And just like any tool it can be used properly to create a wonderful work of art or when used improperly can mangle the material.

Most inexperienced writers use flashback as a patch, almost as an after thought. They think, "Well, I have this info, I forgot to put it in, or now I think it needs to be in, so I'll just flashback...."

When thinking about your story and considering flashbacks keep these objectives or issues in mind.

Does the flashback advance the story or does it simply shift us backwards in time? (the story should always be moving towards the resolution. An ill concieved flashback is like suddenly throwing your car into reverse. You may be moving but you aren't getting nearer the destination.)

Is the tone of the flashback consistent with the rest of the story? (don't jump from serious drama into slapstick comedy, or from horror into light hearted humor.)

Consider what the effect would be of putting the info into chronological order, or starting with the flashback info and then moving into present time.

Does the flashback create twists in the plot line, advance our understanding and feeling for the character, or provide info we wouldn't know any other way? (In Knights Tale we believe that William Thatcher is just a young man seeking fame and glory. But once we have the flashback to him and his father watching the Knights and then him being apprenticed as a child we understand that his goal is to change his stars, return home to his lost family, and fundamentally change himself into a man HE can personally respect. His journey has now just expanded outward to one more person.)

Does the flashback assist the protag and give him/her the info needed to solve the conflict? ( If Mr. Incredible doesn't flashback to the first robot stabbing itself then he has no way of stopping the giant black one and the conflict can't be resolved.) In this example Mr. I didn't think any thing of the event at the time BUT recalled the info when he DID need it.

How long do we stay in the flashback? Is the flashback actually the real story like in Forrest Gump and the present time is the connecting fiber?
If you jump back and forth too much then the audience becomes disoriented.
Either tell your story in the normal, linear way, adding in one or two flashbacks for effect, or write most of the story in flashback and add in only a few connecting present time scenes.

Is the flashback natural to the story and does it easily lend itself to match cuts or smooth transitions?

Is the flashback dialog or visually based? (we all know it is better to SHOW then tell right?)

If you cut the flashback out does it kill the story?

Steph, the idea you're working on seems to require the use of flashbacks.
What you've written works.

The great thing about screenwriting is that unlike wood carving you can try scenes a couple of different ways and if it doesn't work then you just highlight and delete.

Play around with the tools in your writer's box.

Green Chair,

Welcome to the boards.
Sorry to hear about your previous experience.
From time to time a poster here will get obnoxious, stupid, or mean but they don't stick around long and things settle back down.
The core group is solid and Joe is an excellent mod.

I hope that you'll forgive us our little faults and stick around.

steph - your story is already out there but, it stars Orlando Bloom. he goes to Texas (meets his wacky Texan relatives that he never knew) and picks up the ashes from his dead father and travels back across country with a series of flashbacks - Elizabethtown - check it out!

Uh Nikee,

It's Kentucky not Texas.
Sheesh, GET IT RIGHT!!!!!

Steph,

You're welcome.

Each flashback will be an opportunity to present a new set of thoughts and feelings for the characters. Some of them may help her feel better and more loving, others may make her angry again. She will have to go through the full cycle of emotions in order to become complete enough to forgive and love her mother.

Same situation

A script of mine is being looked at and it's going to be a toss of the coin if my use of flashback will survive.

In the 1st Act, to page five, the characters are introduced - as they are today - and the conflict is revealed. I like it. It's visual, dramatic and doesn't require much dialogue. The viewer knows what they've become, they just doesn't know yet how everybody got there.

Immediately after that it flashes back nine years, to the beginning of the relationship, and proceeds normally to the point (30 pages later) where the time-line skips the nine years (and they meet again) and it reverts back to the opening and goes on from there.

It's almost two stories with the same characters and context - just it has nine years seperating the two - and a flashback was the only way I could think of to connect the two.

But, did I use it too early? And, is this a proper use of the flashback? The issue is that by the time the first part of the story ends and it jumps forward to the present time, that the viewer might have forgotten about the opening because it was so brief.

This sounds kinda similiar to beaches. Some difference, but if you havent, check it out. chick flick all the way. But cute. good ending. i always love it when someone dies at the end.

"youve got to laugh alittle, cry alittle"

American Beauty, told using flashbacks, won the Oscar.

Greenlight's formatting is correct -- it's preferred that the word FLASBHACK be put in the slug line for clarity.

Scripter1's list is excellent. I'd also ask, is there something that the flashback gives you very specifically, story-wise, which cannot be gotten through straight chronological time? Think of The Usual Suspects, which has a narrator and then shows the majority of the story in flashback. Without that narrator telling the story (an unreliable narrator), you wouldn't have the same story, the same surprise. It would end up being a straight-up crime or detective story, and instead, there is a psychological layering which gives the story texture and tone and something extra than otherwise simple double-cross kind of story would be able to give.

I think the main mistake people make when they're using flashbacks in screenplays is that they want to start the story in medias res, so they start it in the present, with some action, but then they've got all of this backstory and they're trying to figure out a way to get the audience up to speed, so they stop the forward flow of the story and show the backstory and then catch back up to where the story started. While it can, technically work, it's not going to get past a lot of Hollywood readers unless the writing is stunning.

Stephanie, you're not going to want to hear this, but the problem I have with your story is that the action is somewhat static. Your main character moves through memories and meets people and has an epiphany or a series of epiphanies, and then the time is running out, she's got to get to her mom's side to have the reunion / moment before her mother dies. Two of my best friends read for the Nicholl and a third was a reader for a studio for years (and I was in the business for ten, have optioned scripts, a zillion meetings, the film was supposed to go into production... in New Orleans. No idea if it's going to happen now.) Anyway, they see these kinds of stories all the time. Ya Ya sisterhood is a good example of one done pretty well -- the book sold tons, obviously, and the movie did okay, but not stellar box office. You'll have to look at those sorts of stories as well as stories which use flashback and ask yourself what is the hook that's going to make this story unique? Is there an angle, a tone, a slant on the story that's different than the Ya Ya story? (The impending death of the mother makes it a Lifetime movie, unless you figure out a bigger hook.)

I honestly don't mean this to sound harsh. I wrote a script like what you're talking about, and it got me an agent. It got me a zillion meetings, which is a great thing. But I got really tired of banging my head against the wall hearing how those sorts of scripts don't sell. (It's not the use of flashback that's going to kill you, but it can hurt his story.) Flashback ends up making that story a passive journey for the main character. They aren't facing real obstacles except from within and reorganizing their perception of themselves, which feels static to a filmmaker.

I think it can be done. I think you've got the start of a very good idea. I'd push you to think more outside the box than you have as yet.

-toni
MFA in screenwriting, ran what the WGAw called one of the "top 3 sites" for screenwriters on the internet... probably full of crap, but trying to help

I have faith in you to get it right Stephenie76. I use a couple of flashback in mine but I made sure they were integral to the story. Good Luck!