The Bear: The First Image and the Opening Sequence

The Bear: The First Image and the Opening Sequence

This week, we're going to be talking about The Bear. 

We're going to be analyzing the first image of The Bear and the opening sequence of the pilot. We’ll be talking about the importance of the first image in your screenplay not only when it comes to selling your script but also on a creative and structural level. And most importantly, we’re going to talk about how to make the first image work for you in your screenwriting. 

The first image of your screenplay, just like the first image of The Bear, is the most important image in the whole script.  That's because it's the only element that you know that every reader is actually going to read!

When a coverage reader reads your script, they are actually making the decision from that very first image: am I going to read, or skim? Is this going to be cool? Or is this going to suck? Am I excited about this? Or is this just another script I've got to slog through? 

When a producer, director, manager, agent, or star reads the first image of your script, from that very first image they are making a decision: Is this script for me? Is this something I'm going to want to make? Is this one strong enough to take home to read tonight compared to all the other ones on my desk or iPad? Is this the one that's most likely to actually be good? 

This may seem like jaded Hollywood B.S., but it's not. Because the first image is also the image that the audience uses to decide if they’re going to watch your show. Is this show for me? Is this movie for me? Do I want to stream this? Or do I want to flip to something else? 

Netflix has actually proven that audiences make a decision about whether they're going to watch your show or movie in the first 10 seconds. 

Think about that! The first 10 seconds! 

Yet, despite this, many writers throw away their first image! Many writers simply don't understand that the first image is the moment that pulls the reader into the script, or fails to pull them in. 

Another reason the first image is so important is that the decision to buy a script or to option a script is an emotional decision. 

You may think that people are buying your script, because it's “four quadrant” or because it has this element or that element. Sure, that's a part of it. But usually, someone's actually buying your script because they had an emotional experience when reading it, an experience that made them say to themselves, I've got to do this, I need to do this, I absolutely need this script. 

You can think of the first image in your screenplay or pilot like the first moment on a first date. No matter what happens next, that’s the moment that’s going to set your expectations.

You might have a lot of great stuff (or terrible stuff) that comes after that first image in your screenplay. But that first image is going to determine the way that the reader feels about the rest of the script. Everything else in the script is going to happen in relation to that first image.

Many years ago, I used to direct off-Broadway and off-off Broadway theater. And I realized very quickly that when people come to see off-off Broadway theater, just like when most coverage readers sit down to read a script, they are not expecting to have a good experience.

When people come to watch off-off Broadway theatre, they're actually coming to support their friends. Most of your audience is there as charity. And what they're really doing when they sit down is praying! Please, please, let it not suck! Please let me not have to have this negative experience, and then have to go pretend to have liked the play and act supportive of my friend! Please let it not suck!

They are not coming into an off-off Broadway play thinking, I hope this is awesome.