The Craft of Scene Writing: Beat by Beat to a Better Script, by Jim Mercurio, published 2019, 361 pages
Review by Beverly Nault
“The notion that a scene is a story in and of itself is not merely a clever paradigm; it is a fundamental truth about the nature of storytelling.” P 24
Jim Mercurio knows a thing or two about storytelling. “I have read more than five thousand feature scripts as a development executive, teacher, and filmmaker.” (Preface)
Using examples, descriptions, transcriptions, excerpts, and scenes written for the book, Mercurio addresses an often-overlooked tool in a screenwriter’s box: strong scenes that stand on their own. More than a good idea, making each scene work will keep the reader engaged, be top-talent “actor-bait,” and raise the bar on otherwise mediocre stories.
It’s said that Jack Nicholson won’t entertain a part if the script has any fewer than three terrific scenes. Howard Hawks said a great screenplay is “three great scenes, no bad ones.” (Introduction)
So, how does Mercurio suggest we writers up our game?
The book breaks it down into three parts: Fundamentals, which describes reversals and beats in dialog and action among other topics; Part Two covers theme, writing cinematically, and breaking rules; and Part Three, which delves into rewrites and voice.
Know what a Clurman Breakdown is? The process taught by legendary stage director, Harold Clurman, is used by actors and directors to understand the beats, motivation, and theme within scenes. Jim suggests the same process is a good exercise for writers to utilize for character development and for the eventual actor who will bring the scene to life.
“A story for a screenplay is built with several smaller stories, i.e., your scenes. How can you expect to master the 100-page story form without mastering the three-page form?” (ch 1)
Without skimming the surface, Jim’s style isn’t super academic, but he never talks down to the reader, and there’s a wealth of practical advice. He provides many ways to practice what he preaches and explains how to engage a reader’s, actor’s, and audience’s imagination. We all want to create several aha! moments talked about long after the credits roll.
Bonus: The appendix is “14 Steps to a Better Screenplay” to immediately turn all this talk into action on your current projects. This could be used as a guide for first passes or rewrites for pushing characters to their limits, eliminating on-the-nose dialog, and many other actions we should apply to each draft to bring it to a higher level.
Get a highlighter, notepad and/or your WIP and tackle this book. Full of many example scenes, lessons learned, and advice from a long career, Mercurio’s book is a master class in writing for the screen.
“…you’ll be as astonished as I was at his ability to reveal and explain every conceivable element of an emotionally captivating scene. The next hundred times will be when you use it to make certain that every single scene in every rewrite of your screenplay or novel is entertaining, compelling and memorable.” ― Michael Hauge
From Amazon: “Jim Mercurio is a writer, author, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He has directed or produced five feature films and has helped countless writers as a teacher, story analyst, and script doctor. Mercurio is a former development executive and has sold or written as work-for-hire several screenplays. He wrote and directed the bonus material for the film Making Hard Scrambled Movies-a two-hour seminar on making indie films-which the Washington Post called ‘a must for would-be filmmakers.’ Creative Screenwriting magazine ranked him as one of the top screenplay consultants in the country. Mercurio divides his time between Los Angeles and New York City.”
