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Screenwriting revision exercise

Move a scene. See what the story now needs.

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

  1. 1

    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.

  2. 2

    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.

Story mapEach line runs from the scene that sets something up to the scene that needs it.
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No scene needs something before it is set up

Read firstRead last
  • Set up in time
  • Needed before it is set up
  • Only the audience learns it

  1. 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

  2. 2. The night porter

    Ivo tells Mara the lockers were emptied after a flood. He gives her the off-site depot address.

    Needs

    • Mara knows locker 19

    Sets up

    • Mara knows the depot

  3. 3. The duplicate key

    Alone, Ivo hides a duplicate key in his cuff. The audience learns he has kept access.

    Needs

    Nothing from earlier

    Sets up

    • Audience knows Ivo has a key

  4. 4. The flooded depot

    At the depot, Mara finds the locker empty except for a dry strip of red thread.

    Needs

    • Mara knows the depot

    Sets up

    • Mara has the red thread

  5. 5. The torn cuff

    At the station, Mara notices red thread hanging from Ivo’s torn cuff. She remembers it, without yet knowing its significance.

    Needs

    • Mara knows locker 19

    Sets up

    • Mara remembers Ivo’s torn cuff

  6. 6. The quiet question

    Mara asks Ivo to name the depot clerk. She is testing her suspicion while pretending not to have one.

    Needs

    • Mara has the red thread
    • Mara remembers Ivo’s torn cuff

    Sets up

    • Ivo knows Mara is testing him

  7. 7. The returned envelope

    After being tested, Ivo returns the envelope. Mara opens it, deciding to hear the recording her brother left.

    Needs

    • Ivo knows Mara is testing him

    Sets up

    • Mara has the envelope
Download checklist

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Use the same pass on your own draft

  1. 1

    Before moving a scene, write down what the audience knows, what each character knows, and who has each important object.

  2. 2

    After the move, trace each fact to the scene that establishes it. Mark missing setups without assuming every gap is a mistake.

  3. 3

    Read the sequence aloud. Decide whether the new order creates the suspense, surprise or confusion you intended.

How this exercise checks an order

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.

Keep the original. Try the new order in Plot.

Name a save point, make a draft line for the experiment, and compare the changes before choosing the version to keep.

Start writing freeExplore save points and draft lines