In the opening 10 minutes of Steven Knight’s historical crime drama there are 12 scenes.
I have explored each scene in 12 posts.
Below is a link to each post:
Scene 1. Do Your Tits Still Have Milk?
Scene 2. The Man with No Name.
Scene 5. Transition. Beginning of Episode .
Scene 6. Meeting youngest brother Finn.
Scene 7. Meeting younger brother John.
Scene 8. Meeting oldest brother Arthur.
Scene 9. Revealing the Antagonist (part 1.)
Scene 10. Setting the Political Context.
Scene 11. Revealing the Antagonist (part 2.)
Scene 12. The King in his Castle.
There are many interesting things to learn.
Firstly, there are only two dialogue driven scenes – scene 8 – a fight for personal power and scene 10 – a cry for political power.
So what do these two scenes reveal? That this is a story about POWER. Personal and Political.
Secondly, the main antagonist is revealed through visuals only – NO dialogue.
Thirdly, at TEN MINUTES EXACTLY we come face-to-face with Thomas Shelby, center screen, as he enters his castle – aptly named The Garrison Tavern.
As you’ll see this is a tightly crafted opening ten minutes.
Please feel free to comment, or drop me an email.
Mark.
Screenwrite.org 