"There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God." --Psalm 46:4

My Photo
Serving God with His people at Faith OPC has been a great joy and blessing. When I grow up, I want to umpire Little League Baseball. I will revel on that day when I can say to a 10-year-old boy after four pitched balls, "Take a walk in the sunshine." My wife of 30+ years, Peggy, consistently demonstrates the love of Christ and remains my very best friend. Our six children, our four lovely, sweetie-pie daughters-in-law, and our four grandchildren serve as resident theologians.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Grabbing the Reader from Page One, Word One


A Screenplay's First Ten Minutes


Screenplay writers have no longer than 2 hours and 8 minutes, or 128 pages to tell their story.


Within the first 10 minutes of your visual storytelling, the first unit of dramatic action is the set-up, and you must convey three things: who the main character is, what the story is about, and what the dramatic tension is—the circumstances surrounding the action.


G. Mark Sumpter

1 comment:

Richard Emmons said...

I wonder if this applies to sermons.

Does a pastor have 5 minutes to make plain 3 points: the main point of the Scripture text, what virtue (or sin) is in view, and the tension between obedience and disobedience?

Or is this part of the problem with modern preaching? Pastors trying to write mini-screen plays with PowerPoint visuals rather than sermons?

One Potato, Two Potato