10 Screenwriting Lessons You Can Learn From Star Trek Into Darkness
2. Thwarted Plans Add Interest
Quick, tell me, how many times is a plan perfectly executed in a movie? Whats that I hear? Deafening silence? Yup. The reason is this: when things go perfectly well, they end up being kind of boring. There is no surprise in being told what is going to happen and then seeing it happen. Its almost like having a surprise birthday party spoiled for you. The shock comes when thinking you are going home to watch Game of Thrones when a grown man in a birthday hat suddenly jumps out from behind your couch.
Want to surprise the audience? Tell them something is going to happen, then mess it all up. Sure, the viewers probably know it cant go according to plan but they wont know exactly what interrupts everything. Its a classic bait and switch and it never gets old. Think of it as a set-up and a punchline. Whats great is that once that unexpected problem hits your protagonist, the audience will have no idea what to expect. Another way to do this is to have an elaborate plan, only for the characters to find a much simpler, easy way to accomplish it.