More Scenes Are Ruined by Unasked Questions Than by Asked Questions

that expression. If they’re eventually going to be useless, you’ve probably picked the wrong rules in the first place.

the audience quits believing in the reality of your scene, they’ll stop caring.

changes weren’t forced, because the trail of inspiration

teachings. For an audience to laugh or cry, they must care. For them to care, they must believe.

You don’t need a funny first line or funny response to have a successful scene.

“You gotta know the rules before you can break them.” I’ve never liked

Relationship scenes are not about clever premises; they’re about the friction between people behaving honestly. They de-emphasize the what. They are born not from words or clever initiations but from simple emotional reactions.

Believability lies not in the circumstance or the premise but in the actions of the people involved in them.