This Post Will Self Destruct In 10 Seconds

My writer brain cells need more RAM

That side project I mentioned last week has been taking up all my writing time so I don’t have any substantial updates on Harlan’s story at the moment. But even with that project taking up the majority of my story creating brain cells I’ve been thinking a lot about the opening scene for Harlan. So lets talk beginnings.

Get it while it’s hot

The conventional wisdom is that you’ve got about 10 minutes to draw your audience in before they’re done and ready to move on. I think that number is too high. You probably only have about 10 seconds. With the availability of internet streaming entertainment and other forms of entertainment such as video games and whatnot your audience has plenty to do and see. If you don’t get them in those first few seconds they’ll go somewhere else.

Gone in 10 seconds

In today’s movie market a theatrical release isn’t where the audience is found or where the money is made. Both of those are found at home on the couch. Your movie will be seen by more eyes on netflix, youtube, DVD, and BluRay. This means that if they aren’t almost instantly interested in your movie it’s as simple as the push of a button to move on to something else. That’s why I say 10 seconds.

Cut to the chase

The old saying “cut to the chase” probably (I refuse to research this to confirm) from movies. When things start getting slow you lose your audience so cut to the chase. People don’t actually need 10 minutes of set up before they can understand why the secret agent is chasing the villain. They just need to know the villain has the bomb. Often they don’t even need to know that before the chase starts. James Bond movies usually start right in the middle of a chase. If you can find a way to do the equivalent with your introspective Victorian romance you’re well on your way.

For example

Let’s take a quick look at the first few seconds of some pre internet movies and see how they hold up to the 10 second rule. You’re sitting on your couch in your boxers trying to ignore the globs of taco bell sauce dripping down your shirt while you browse through the Netflix streaming options. You pause at something called “Star Wars”. You think to yourself “That title took a lot of imagination.” Then you press play because you think it might be a behind the scenes look at Dancing With the Stars. A bunch of words scroll across the screen that you don’t read because your big gulp almost spilled on your keyboard. But then a giant space ship flies across the screen shooting lasers at a smaller space ship. In those few seconds you’re either in or out. You either turn it off and look for the real Dancing With the Stars or hope it’s better than Starcrash. In those first few seconds you’ve been told you’re watching a movie where big space ships shoot lasers at little space ships. If you don’t like it you should get out now. At least that’s what the viewer will be thinking.

You’ll know it when you see it

Those first few seconds are crucial. Your movie isn’t likely to have a huge advertising push behind it like Iron Man 42: The Answering. Instead your movie is more likely to be that one people happen to find while searching the web. Whether this is good or not isn’t really the issue. That’s just the way it is. So take advantage of those first few seconds and tell people what they’re about to watch. If you take 5 minutes to show an ice cube melting before we get into the story you’re really only going to get viewers who like watching ice melt.

If you don’t like it get out

For Harlan’s story I’ve got to take those first few seconds to make sure the audience knows what they’re about to watch. They need to know it’s going to be an adventure with great big monsters and if you don’t like great big monsters in your adventures then move on to something else.

That’s what I’ve been pondering and I think I’ve got it nailed down for Harlan. What about you? What do you think? Do you think viewers will give it more time at home?

Next time let’s hope we can get back to a little quality time with Harlan. If not I’ll come up with something else to ramble about.