by Peggy Bechko
Ya gotta start the story somewhere right? Whether screen script, TV or novel. Sometimes we can just jump right into the story following that old adage “start late and finish early”, but other times we need a little something to kick start things. It can be particularly important in Science Fiction or Fantasy or Horror to give the viewer a hint at what’s coming and engage him.
It’s a bit more straightforward with a movie. The prologue can actually be a springboard into what happens next. It’s usually something that foreshadows some element in your script that slithers throughout the main element of the story or it’s something that lets the viewer know the characters of the movies wouldn’t have been in the upcoming situation if not for this happening. Think about the latest Jurassic World. The gigantic water predator (whatever the heck its long scientific name was) leaping out of the water and devouring… foreshadows what happens later in the movie. Ponder The Sixth Sense in which the viewer sees a shooting of a psychologist before the meat of the story begins.
Now I do want to add here, since I’m writing on TV Writer, that TV is a different animal in that TV most often offers ‘teasers’ rather than full prologues. Instead of a flowing element like in a movie at the beginning it more likely to have bits showing to entice viewing – such as a shot of this or that, the arrival of main characters on the scene and into the story. HOUSE, one of my favorite shows, did it admirably with medical conditions, who’s sick, how, why, what’s House’s (or one of his doctors’) problem this week, and into the story and the scrolling titles.