Western's MFA Screenwriting Blog

By James Napoli. Flashbacks Nothing provokes a more knee-jerk “don’t do it” reaction from screenwriters than the decision to include one or more flashbacks in one’s screenplay. We can, of course, understand this compulsion to remain linear, and the gut instinct that to tell the story from beginning to end is the only pure way to make narrative cinema work. It’s probably – largely – true, especially when one thinks about the criminally overused technique of whiting out to flashbacks in...

By James Napoli As the head of our Screenwriting MFA at Western, I thought it would be interesting to post some articles on screencraft for your review. I hope you find them helpful! I had an interesting experience while binge-watching the first two seasons of the beautifully acted and tonally flawless British television series Broadchurch. In an attempt to keep this article spoiler-free, I will simply say that the program, which concerns itself with the murder of a child in a small town...