Day 31: Roadmap into the industry

Put. The. Remote. Down.

Why Planting and payoff is such a powerful storytelling tool

I'll never forget the way a friend watched a DVD she had rented--it was a movie she'd never seen before.

She kept the TV remote in her hand the whole time. She fast forwarded if the pace slowed, she fast forwarded during predictable sections. She only stopped to watch the movie in real time if something interesting were happening or if something unusual appeared onscreen. She didn't care about the days the screenwriter had struggled over character development and rewrites, she didn't care about the work the director and actors had done or the hours spent editing. When the movie ended she felt satisfied about her experience; she had succeeded in not being bored.

I've sometimes felt the same way while watching a movie. The experience would be much more enjoyable if I could fast forward during all of the boring parts.

Bad movies are worth studying--how are they different from the amazing ones?

In Advanced Screenplay Analysis class, as we learned about the structure of movies, we studied planting and payoff. It's one of the most powerful techniques to keep the audience engaged and entertained.

Planting and payoff is when the audience sees and/or hears an image, a sound, dialogue that may not have meaning the first time it appears, but when it reappears and is tied into the story it has deep meaning.

An example we studied appears in the movie Jerry Maguire. The planting happens when Jerry has been fired and as he leaves his workplace with Dorothy. A couple in an elevator are very much in love; they're communicating using sign language. Dorothy translates what the boyfriend is saying for Jerry: he's telling the girl, "You complete me." The payoff happens at the end of the story; after Jerry has learned to love, he repeats the same words to Dorothy to prove to her that he has changed.

A quick Google search will reveal many more examples of planting and payoff.

Using planting and payoff is powerful because a sound, an image, a musical phrase, can make people feel something before the characters say anything and even when they don't say a word:

• Humor.
• Fear/terror.
• Longing
• Sadness

When an entire audience experiences the same emotion, there is electricity in the room.

In storytelling, when used creatively, planting and payoff is something that will make my friend put down the remote and enjoy every second of the story.

NOTE: These entries are inspired by the final assignment for "The Business of Writing for Screen and Television," a School of Cinematic Arts' course taught by Frank Wuliger. Hoping to help his students become working screenwriters, he asked us to create a personal, five-year road map into the industry. This post is day 31.