Screenwriters are always looking for clever ways to tell a story.  And none more clever than the tried, true and often employed flashback.  Many of our favorite films put flashbacks to great use weaving well-told tales through different times and places.  So if those scripts can do it, why shouldn’t yours?  By all means!  But before you begin, let’s have a little chat about story structure.

As someone who has spent most of his adult life looking through a camera viewfinder, it’s hard to imagine that everyone (including some screenwriters) don’t see the world as mental photographs like I do.  When I get to set each day, my job starts with the script pages (known as ‘sides’) of a scene we’ll be shooting. As I read the scene, I try and walk the set to see what angle and details speak to the visual representation of the characters and story in this scene.  Also, what would look cool. 

I first started working on professional TV and film sets in 2001. While I had been writing screenplays for a few years, my interest in filmmaking (specifically the camera department) seemed completely separate from the stories I was trying to tell through my laptop. But the more time I spent on set reading these professional screenplays (professional to the tune of a few million dollars per episode) and watching the actors perform, the more I realized this would be as good a screenwriting teacher as all the books and seminars on the subject.