Recommended Screenwriters
Intrigue: Arousing the Reader’s Suspicions
- October 6, 2010
- Posted by: HalCroasmun
- Category: Articles
When it comes to screenwriting, one of the more difficult experiences to create is intrigue. Below is part of the of one of the lessons from the Pushing The Envelope Screenwriting Class that will provide some insight into intrigue.
With SUSPENSE, the reader is worried, wondering, waiting for the solution. SURPRISE, on the other hand, shows up without notice and usually changes the situation to bring about new story questions.
But INTRIGUE starts a machine in a person’s mind — they can’t get it out of their head. There’s something dastardly going on, something disturbing, something that they won’t stop thinking about until it is resolved. It is a very useful mental state to have a reader or audience in. It keeps them engaged.
To start the process, let’s look at a few definitions, then we’ll see some examples.
Intrigue: To arouse interest or curiosity by scheming or through covert, secret or underhanded schemes. Clandestine.
Clandestine: Concealed, usually for some secret or illicit purpose.
Illicit: Not sanctioned by custom or law. Not allowed.
So for something to be intriguing, there will be three components:
1. Secret/clandestine/concealed/covert
2. Underhanded/illicit/scheming
3. It arouses interest or curiosity.
To illustrate a great use of Intrigue, I’ve chosen a scene from the movie JFK.
As you may remember, Jim Garrison is a prosecutor from New Orleans is about to bring charges against a small number of conspirators who were part of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Here, he meets with a man in Washington D.C. who only identifies himself as X. As you’re reading this, notice how the intrigue of the scene and story are built and how it fulfills the three requirements for intrigue.
One more thing before you read this. Even though this is done with long monologues by X, it works because he is revealing intriguing information instead of preaching, which is often the problem with long monologues.
>From JFK…
FLASHBACK TO the Pentagon offices in 1963. X strides down a busy hall and into the offices of one of his
superiors, Major General Y, a lean, cold warrior, battlefield handsome, civilian clothes, and several advisors.
There’s a U.S. flag on the wall.X
…a strange thing happened. I was sent
by my superior officer, call him Y, to the
South Pole as the military escort for a
group of international VIP’s. This trip had
nothing to do with my nine years of work
in Special Operations. It was sort of a
“paid vacation”.We hear vague ad-lib mutterings on the soundtrack indicating a friendly atmosphere, and we see stock
footage of a C-130 transport flying to Antarctica and ice floes on the surface of the sea.Then, at a New Zealand airport, we see X, in a uniform, at a newsstand reading of Kennedy’s assassination.
The banner headline of an “Extra” edition of The Christchurch Star screams out “KENNEDY SHOT DEAD.”X
It wasn’t until I was on my way back in
New Zealand that I read of the
President’s murder. That was 2 in the
afternoon the next day New Zealand
time, but already the papers had the
entire history of an unknown
24-year-old man, Oswald – a studio
picture, detailed biographical data,
Russian information – and were pretty
sure of the fact he’d killed the President
alone, although it took them four more
hours to charge him with the murder in
Texas. It felt as if, well, a cover story
was being put out like we would in a black op.
NOTE: At this point, it is clear that something is occurring that is clandestine, underhanded, and arouses our curiosity. How could New Zealand have a story on Oswald that the U.S. papers don’t even have? How could it be so detailed on the very next day?
Back at the Pentagon office, we see X returning and meeting Y. The atmosphere is cordial, but Y is slightly
different from before – more harried, more nervous. He turns away to light a cigarette, he doesn’t want the
usual conversation.X
Anyway, after I came back I asked myself
why was I, the chief of special ops,
selected to travel to the South Pole at
that time to do a job that any number
of others could have done? One of my
routine duties if I had been in
Washington would’ve been to arrange
for additional security in Texas. The
Secret Service is relatively small, and
by custom the military will augment
them. I checked it out when I got
back and sure enough, I found out
someone had told the 112th Military
Intelligence Group at 4th Army
Headquarters at Fort Sam Houston
to “stand down” that day, over the
protests of the unit Commander, a
Colonel Reich…We see an outdoor shot of the Texas Army Headquarters on a day in 1963.
Inside, on the same day, Col. Reich is on the phone, puzzled.
NOTE: This is a key to the conspiracy. Notice how our suspicion is being built. If the President’s security was deliberately reduced for that one day, who could have done that? Why would they do it? And who does that implicate?
X
Now this is significant, because it
is standard operating procedure,
especially in a known hostile city
like Dallas, to supplement the
Secret Service. Even if we had not
allowed the bubbletop to be removed
from the limousine, we’d’ve put at
least 100 to 200 agents on the
sidewalks, without question! There’d
already been several attempts on
de Gaulle’s life in France. Only a
month before in Dallas
UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson had
been spit on and hit. We’d have
arrived days ahead of time, studied
the route, checked all the buildings…
We never would’ve allowed all those
wide-open empty windows
overlooking Dealey … never …
We would have had our own snipers
covering the area. The moment a
window went up they’d have been
on the radio. We would’ve been
watching the crowds – packages,
rolled up newspapers, a coat over
an arm, never would have let a man
open an umbrella along the way –
Never would’ve allowed that
limousine to slow down to 10 miles
per hour, much less take that
unusual curve at Houston and Elm.
You would have felt an Army
presence in the streets that day,
but none of this happened. It was a
violation of the most basic protection
codes we have. And it is the best
indication of a massive plot in Dallas.
Who could have best done that?Jim shakes his head.
X
People in my business, Mr. Garrison.
Many strange things were happening
that day, and Lee Harvey Oswald had
nothing to do with them.
NOTE: With that last line, it becomes clear that Lee Harvey Oswald couldn’t have caused all those lapses in security. Suddenly, the intrigue has grown to a new level. It is a government — our own government — that is acting secret and underhanded.
Now, I know that this is a lot of exposition, but consider what it does and why it makes a fascinating scene. This is all EVIDENCE of a CONSPIRACY. It is designed to cause the audience to become more suspicious.
Keep in mind, I’m not promoting the theory of JFK’s assassination, I talking about the writing. It is what X-Files does all the time. There’s a conspiracy and a cover-up. Both fulfill these requirements:
1. Secret/clandestine/concealed/covert
2. Underhanded/illicit/scheming
3. It arouses interest or curiosity.
One more thing. You don’t need an assassination or kidnapping or aliens from outer space to create intrigue. It could be lovers meeting secretly or two kids who are luring another behind the house to beat him up or two office workers setting up their boss to get fired. The intrigue could last only one scene or it could go throughout the entire script.
Learn more about integrating intrigue into your script here.