Chapter 11
Honesty
Mark Twain said, “When in doubt, tell the truth.” I have used this advice many times in screenwriting. Sometimes when a climactic scene isn’t working right, when it’s not delivering the emotional impact I’m after, I will simply have one of the characters tell the truth in a way that the other didn’t know or fully understand before. Tell the hidden secret. Reveal the truth at the bottom of one’s heart. Even if it’s scary or embarrassing or so painful the person might fall apart. These may be bad things in real life, but they are good in screenwriting. The same way that when things go wrong in real life we get upset, but when things go wrong in a screenplay, we get excited. Now we’re cooking.
And this telling of the truth can ...
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