What Writers Get Wrong About Flashbacks - Jen Grisanti

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International speaker Jen Grisanti is an acclaimed Story/Career Consultant at Jen Grisanti Inc., a 13-year Writing Instructor for Writers on the Verge at NBC, and a former 12-year studio executive, including VP of Current Programming at CBS/Paramount. Jen is the author of three books, Story Line: Finding Gold in Your Life Story, TV Writing Tool Kit: How To Write a Script That Sells, Change Your Story, Change Your Life: A Path To Your Success.
Grisanti started her career in 1992 as an assistant to Aaron Spelling. He served as her mentor for 12 years. She quickly climbed the ranks and eventually ran Current Programs at Spelling Television Inc., covering all Spelling’s shows, including Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, and Charmed. In 2004, Grisanti was promoted to Vice President of Current Programs at CBS/Paramount, where she covered numerous shows, including Medium, Numbers, NCIS, 4400, and Girlfriends.
In January 2008, Grisanti launched Jen Grisanti Inc., a highly successful consulting firm dedicated to helping talented writers break into the industry. Drawing on her experience as a studio executive, where she gave daily notes to executive producers/showrunners, Grisanti guides writers to shape their material, write from their emotional truth, hone their pitches, and focus their careers. Since launching the consulting firm, Grisanti has worked with over 1000 writers specializing in television and features. Due to her expertise and mentorship, one hundred and six pilots have sold, including ten that went to series, and one hundred fifty-two writers have staffed.
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#writing #movies #psychology

[@Ruylopez778]

'Only Yesterday' (a lesser known Ghibli movie) masterfully weaves flashbacks into the present narrative, because nostalgia for childhood and the 60s is essential to the story/protagonist. It also switches art styles between the present and flashbacks.

[@MikeEPerez]

Thank you for reminding me of this! I know film is different, but I am writing a novel that switches from past to present in much the same way. But all the advice I have read says doing this is a terrible idea, and it's so easy to get discouraged. Only Yesterday is such a beautiful film, and a good example of how to make these transitions in a natural, arc-building way.

[@Ruylopez778]

@@MikeEPerez Yes, a lot of advice tends to recommend avoiding "flashbacks" because it kills momentum, and to only do it with info that immediately impacts the current plot, but that is essentially using backstory for this specific purpose. Some stories just do whatever the hell they want and still work. So I say, if it's interesting, it can still work, even if it requires the audience to be a little more patient. I don't know if you know "The Singing Detective" by Dennis Potter, but that consistently jumps between the main character [a novelist] in hospital, his pain induced fever-dream of a character he is writing, and his traumatic childhood flashbacks. I'm talking about the 80s TV mini-series starring Michael Gambon [RIP], which can be hard to find, not the Hollywood movie remake, which is apparently not as good. It used to be up on KZbin somewhere but it got taken down, I think.

[@ram2862]

Jen''s idea of showing the impact of past in the present without having the need to display flashback is a super idea and she deserves to be appreciated for sharing this aspect of film Thanks Film courage for bringing out this useful interview

[@filmcourage]

Cheers Ram!

[@ram2862]

@@filmcourage Welcome with greatest regards. The quality of Film courage's presentation is excelling day by day. Kudos to FC

[@russellpuerini7573]

Basically I think that when you flashback, don’t let it be a clear cut answer to a question . Let it be another piece of the puzzle that fits in later. 😊

[@deanpapadopoulos3314]

Thank you. It’s so on target. Great art imitates ordinary but complicated human life. It is in the flashback that we see the conscious or the unconscious events that we can not forget but which drive the present arc for which we may have been on for 20 and 30 years. This nuance of conscious and unconscious past pictures, sounds, and complete events can be explored by the writer. Moreover, overtly or otherwise, the entire project including a flashback speaks to the universal longing that shows up in different magnitude in different individuals to understand ‘why I do what I do’ and ‘why I have become who I have become.’ To ignore flashbacks is akin to ignoring DNA - our programming found in our genes. For similar reasons, the voiceover is so important.

[@DesOttsel]

I think it depends on the story on which type of flashbacks I use. I’m going to use a lot more of them if the book is about singular self discovery than I will if it’s a wounded character, but the story is more action focused or there’s an ensemble cast. If that’s the case, I’d probably have the character tell the flashback rather than show the flashback because the character interactions are more interesting that way, where the first one is more important to understand where they came from to see where they’re going

[@randyperdew2460]

Some of my favorite flashback and flash forwards in TV and Film are Lost, Pulp Fiction and Mulholland Drive. David Lynch also uses what I like to call a dream flash.

[@jaksable1]

I'm always interested in flashback information. I've into the 6th volume of a Wuxia story where the MC is reborn every two hundred years and he (the way his race works) learns about his past by actually experiencing memories. So sometimes the flashbacks are mysteries that he needs to eventually learn, and some times (like his 30th year full out catatonic state for one month) he is allowed to remember a life or two. So far my readers are liking it and I'm gold that there is good balance. I'm also being asking for more information on his past wives... lol.

[@paulweyer4339]

Great example with Emily the Criminal. It was enough to tell us, no flashback spectacle needed.

[@ryanhowell4492]

I was thinking the same thing

[@BionicDance]

From opening credits to end credits, my movie is just one long flashback. ;)

[@instantdominator2121]

Was just thinking about this.

[@mageprometheus]

This was excellent. A new note in my PKM has appeared.

[@level_ken5231]

This was extremely helpful and useful. I have a significant flashback as the teaser in the pilot of my series, but it’s a lot. Now I know how to cut back on it to piece it together across multiple scenes and episodes.

[@russellpuerini7573]

Me too

[@pennywise6672]

Always enjoy the analysis but it occurs that few of your guests analyse their creative choices for their produced works. I'd like to see that insiders view, too. We had a lovely man here in Canada who hosted Saturday Night at the Movies for many years, Elwy Yost (father of Graham Yost of Speed fame). Elwy interviewed just about anyone who was anyone in the movie business, including many of the unsung heroes of the industry. After his death the interviews were donated to some American movie industry archives where, sadly, they are collecting dust but Elwy got many of those amazing behind the scenes stories.

[@Wordsley]

These Rock!

[@AndreComtois]

How I met your mother is a show that makes great use of flashbacks.

[@TheJoseMTapia]

May you please write an example on how awesome it was shown/told?

[@ConcealedWeaponry]

@@TheJoseMTapia Agreed. We need examples.

[@AndreComtois]

Watch the show. Every episode after season 1 episode 5 uses flashbacks as a means of advancing the story in each episode.

[@cjpreach]

"Never use 'this' method. Never use 'that' method." (Flashbacks, or voice-over, etc) Typically bad advice. The issue is, "Which method best communicates the narrative?" Then execute the method with excellence.

[@QualityVideoService]

Flashback will always be used.

[@ExplicitPublishing]

Feel, don't flash!

[@filmcourage]

When you think of a flashback from a movie or TV show which one comes to mind first?

[@mattburns7286]

Courage under fire

[@cjpreach]

Casablanca - Rick's Paris recollections.

[@daledearing4399]

Jason Bourne series

[@t.c.s.7724]

Thank you for this interview. Very helpful. I did need to speed this video up to 1.5 speed. Seems like everyone was speaking incredibly slow.

[@idattagupta]

Can you have the entire Act ll as a flash back?

[@abdomen9038]

I would say no if it’s one big flash back because act 2 is the majority of the story if it’s broken up like forest gump then yeah otherwise act 1 would feel more like a flash forward than act 2 a flash back

[@sammyjohn.production4783]

I am writter I know how to do flash back very well