At what point do you decide to reveal a twist in a screenplay?

[Ryan Elder]

Yeah. Well I could introduce the twist at the beginning of the second act, because then it's a bomb under the table for the reader to get excited about, knowing that the main character will find out and waiting for the bomb to go off.

Or I could wait till when when the main character does find out, which is about halfway through the script, halfway through the second act about, and then the audience finds out when the main character does. The risk of doing it this way, is that the audience will have questions that will not get answered till after it's revealed, which may confuse them more until then though.

[Brian Drysdale]

Again, we can't answer that.

However, a twist tends to be something that the character finds out with the audience, For example in Chinatown, the mother and sister reveal.

[Ryan Elder]

Yeah.

That's why I used The Departed as an example. They could have saved the twist for when Leonardo DiCaprio finds out from the paper on the desk, but they decided to reveal it before he found out. Wonder if that's better in some ways, since some movies like that or Vertigo, choose to do it that way.

[Paul R Johnson]

Surely it depends on what reaction the author expects to get from the reveal. I've just been revisiting a novel that I've read before, and one of the reveals I discover was 'teased' at many times before being revealed. Quite overt clues that I totally missed. I wonder how many readers noticed? What was the author's point in inserting these. They weren't red-herrings used as distraction, just small clues that I missed. If I'd have spotted them, would I have realised this little sub-plot? I don't know. However - I'm not an author, so don't know how to write a plot, or even a rough draft. My one script I thought good - but my friends told me it was crap. I really don't know why, but they all said it was, so it probably was.

[Brian Drysdale]

You have to decide which way works for your story. There's no set rule, although using the method that puts the max pressure on the protagonist is probably the way to go.

A Paul says, use set ups to prepare the ground.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Oh okay, well as far as having opinions of my own, I do have a lot of opinions of my own, but there are pros and cons to everything so if I choose to do something one, way, there will be pros and cons to it, so I thought it was a matter of which approach is best, since they both have positives and negatives, each.

I also do have really strong opinions on some things, but I am often told they are bad, so if my opinions are bad, I want external opinions on which is the best way, if that is the approach I should take if my opinions are not the best?

I was also told on here before that me having strong opinions locks me into only one way of working things, so if that's true, than shouldn't I seek other opinions then, instead of working in a vacuum?

It's just if I stick to my opinions and make a whole movie in a vacuum, I feel there is a better chance it will turn out bad, and therefore, shouldn't I seek other opinions?

It would be more helpful if you saw a therapist. Hopefully with therapy you might be able to address your underlying issues that are behind all these movie problems.

[Brian Drysdale]

Unfortunately Ryan may not realise that everything around can have a twist and nothing can be taken at face value

The Greatest Movie Plot Twists Of All Time - YouTube

[Ryan Elder]

Are you saying I don't take enough things at face value, or too much?

[Paul R Johnson]

What do YOU think Ryan - this is the entire point!

[Ryan Elder]

Well I try to ascertain the most absolute of information I can to try to be certain.

[Paul R Johnson]

That's the problem, isn't it. Sometimes, this causes averaging, rounding and homogenisation. Sometimes you just need to go with your gut and do no analysis at all.

Joking aside - have you every tried free writing? You just sort of gush it out - typing or writing every single thought that appears when it appears as fast as you can without going back and reading anything - you just sort of empty your mind.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, it's just that when I go with my gut before, I felt my gut was incorrect based on other responses, so I wanted to eliminate uncertain variables if possible.

Yep I've tried. I've tried writing fly by the seat of your pants style to see where the story will go as well. But I prefer structure in order for the story to follow the same theme, cause if I do the free style more so, characters may make decisions that go against the theme, I'm trying to convey.

[Brian Drysdale]

Sometimes you have to go where the characters take you.

[Paul R Johnson]

if I do the free style more so, characters may make decisions that go against the theme, I'm trying to convey.

Yep - that's the point. You then decide which is better - sticking to the script as planned or developing what could be a better idea?
Rigid adherence to a poor plan is bad. Sticking to an excellent one works fine.

If you feel your gut reaction was not correct, then it wasn't a gut reaction at all, was it? You did say some very strange things sometimes.

[Ryan Elder]

No I felt my gut reactions were correct, it's just I was told it wasn't the right way to go after the product is finished, so that causes me to question my gut reactions.

As for going where the characters take it, I could do that, but then that might contradict the themes intended, which could be a problem.