1. The claim ticket
Mara finds a ticket for locker 19 among her late brother’s papers. She decides to collect what he left.
Needs
Nothing from earlier
Sets up
- Mara knows locker 19
Screenwriting revision exercise
Moving a reveal can change suspense. Moving a setup can leave a character acting on information they do not have. Reorder seven scene cards, inspect what changed, and take a repair checklist into your next revision.
Try two moves
Move The duplicate key after The quiet question
A reveal moves. Nothing breaks, but the audience now learns about the key after Mara’s question.
Move The flooded depot before The night porter
A setup goes missing. Mara reaches a depot nobody has told her about, and the map draws a red line.
No scene needs something before it is set up
Mara finds a ticket for locker 19 among her late brother’s papers. She decides to collect what he left.
Needs
Nothing from earlier
Sets up
Ivo tells Mara the lockers were emptied after a flood. He gives her the off-site depot address.
Needs
Sets up
Alone, Ivo hides a duplicate key in his cuff. The audience learns he has kept access.
Needs
Nothing from earlier
Sets up
At the depot, Mara finds the locker empty except for a dry strip of red thread.
Needs
Sets up
At the station, Mara notices red thread hanging from Ivo’s torn cuff. She remembers it, without yet knowing its significance.
Needs
Sets up
Mara asks Ivo to name the depot clerk. She is testing her suspicion while pretending not to have one.
Needs
Sets up
After being tested, Ivo returns the envelope. Mara opens it, deciding to hear the recording her brother left.
Needs
Sets up
If your browser blocks the download, select and copy the checklist above.
Before moving a scene, write down what the audience knows, what each character knows, and who has each important object.
After the move, trace each fact to the scene that establishes it. Mark missing setups without assuming every gap is a mistake.
Read the sequence aloud. Decide whether the new order creates the suspense, surprise or confusion you intended.
These are original teaching cards, not extracts from a film. The checker reads only their declared requirements and reveals, in order. A scene’s requirements are checked before its reveals are added; an unmet requirement does not suppress later explicit reveals. Audience-only facts never satisfy character requirements. This cannot detect every continuity problem, interpret flashbacks or grade a story.
For the difference between scene size and sequence, try the pacing arrangement exercise.
Name a save point, make a draft line for the experiment, and compare the changes before choosing the version to keep.