I have been reading screenwriting books and so on but have 1 specific question and that is about the protagonist of your script. Would i need to reveal my protagonist within say the first 10-20 pages in my script or could i have say for example two main characters but the protagonist not being revealed til the end of the script? Lmao if you don't get what i am saying i will rephrase. I want to make my protagonist not obvious until late on.

there is a difference between a protagonist and a hero. it seems like you're calling this character the protagonist because he is the hero, maybe saves the day somehow. the protagonist is the central character to the story, the one the audience gets to know. take the movie "monster," for instance, Charlize Theron plays a serial killer... but she's still the protagonist. your two main characters would be your protagonist, and this mystery character is just a supporting player, even if he does save the day.

All I have to say is, it's your script, you know what you want to do with it and the impression you want to make on your readers. So as long as you know all that and what you're going to do, then you can do whatever you want. Some scripts and films work best because they break the mould.

The protagonist of a film is the character that we follow throughout the narrative. Are you saying the script moves onward without a central character for the full length of the film? I'm sorry to say, but that's not really possible. You're going to have to have A character for the audience to follow. Whether this is the hero or not is your decision, but the "protagonist" is the one that experiences all the change and all the conflict that makes the drama happen. The protagonist is also the one to whom the conflict occurs. If you're trying to hide who is good and who is evil, that's fine. We like grey areas. But hide the "protagonist"? Can't be done without hiding the conflict and without the conflict, you got no story.

A protagonist is the one we follow, and an antagonist is the opposing force. What is your definition of protagonist?

I think in Fargo the protagonist isn't introduced until the second act.  That's the only one I can think of

Witness is one where the protagonist is introduced late as well. Harrison Ford is the one who gets all the conflict. The protagonist is the one that takes us into the second act, though, via a life changing event.

In Fargo, although Margie comes into the story later than normal, the story doesn't proceed without her. Thing is that her story can't go on until the bodies are found. That's her event and that leads us into her second act.

EDIT: Son of a- Jordan called me on my Fargo slip, so I went and fixed it. I knew it had been too long since I'd seen that movie.

Quoted from George Willson In Fargo, although Jean comes into the story later than normal, the story doesn't proceed without her. Thing is that her story can't go on until the bodies are found. That's her event and that leads us into her second act.

Jean is the wife who gets kidnapped. Margie is the police officer.  Just thought I'd point that out

Think of it this way - your protagonist must be the window into the story for the audience. Someone has to drive your story forward and that person has to be the protagonist.

Quoted from George Willson A protagonist is the one we follow, and an antagonist is the opposing force. What is your definition of protagonist?

George my definition of a protagonist is in essence the main character of your story. The character the audience most of all feel emotion towards, who is caught up in conflict, yes i know what a protagonist and an antagonist are.

What i was wanting to know was if i was writing a script, and i mean one that could be marketable, i have introduced characters, yes, but what if i want to introduce my main protagonist character outwith the first act so i am leaving it kind of ambiguous. My concern was that if there wasn't a clear protagonist within the first 10 pages that it wouldn't be as marketable because Hollywood want an easy character to relate to within the first say 10 minutes who is the protagonist. I am trying to break free of this formula, but keep the audience in tact with the real protagonist i am going to introduce, if that makes sense lol.

as long as there is a character with a focus on them... whether you intend for them to be the protagonist or not, the audience will connect them to be protagonist. even if your last 20 pages focus solely on the character you intend to be the protagonist, the audience will pick the two characters you introduced first, and used throughout the other 100 or so pages (you mentioned two other characters in your first post) as your protagonists.

you can try this thing, but it's not really up to you on who the audience feels the most emotion for... if wait until the very end to introduce your main character, you'll atleast have to spend the rest of the script creating this character through what the others feel and know about him/her.

What you need in the first ten pages is direction. Something significant needs to happen to give the story some motion and draw the audience in. This motion does not necessarily need to happen with the main character.

The main character of Star Wars (1977) is Luke Skywalker, and he doesn't show up for quite some time. That story is given motion by the exploits of R2-D2 and C-3PO and their involvement with these mysterious "plans" right from the beginning. We want to know about these plans and these droids and are curious to know why they're so important. R2-D2 and C-3PO are hardly the main characters (though there are jokes that they are the true stars of the saga), since they have no growth, conflict, or much of anything. Their lives change here and there, but they are not the driving force of the movie.

Witness was already mentioned. Harrison Ford's character does not show up until the end of the first act when the Amish boy points out his boss as the killer. That's Ford's life changing event that moves us forward, but it is the Amish boy's witness to the murder that gives that story direction in the earlier pages.

In Lord of the Rings, Frodo is introduced early, but he is not thrown into the ring (heh) of importance until we're 30 minutes into the film.

While it is the norm for the main character to have the opening scene, it is not of pivotal importance to tell a story. You can start elsewhere, but it will be that character's journey that we will follow throughout the film. What you would need to do to conceal your true main character is make the audience think these events are happening with someone else (but who is realtively unaffected by them) when they are more profoundly affecting the true protagonist.

My opinion, if I understood you correctly.

Thank you, i will take on board both these comments and yes George you hit the nail on the head. i also have another question but don't want to start a new thread as i think that would be a hassle. If you do treatments how long are they and do you have any examples that i could take a look at anybody?

Here's a good start: http://www.simplyscripts.com/treatments.html

And a treatment is just an outline of the story. It can be as long or as short as you need it to be to write the script. The only requirements that exist for treatments are going to come from someone who is requesting one. If you're writing a treatment for yourself, just write what you need. It's an intermediary step to writing the script.

I've heard of them being anywhere from 1-2 pages to upwards of 90 pages.

I'm working on a treatment right now that's three pages and growing. It includes the logline, in depth descriptions of all the main characters, and descriptions of each act, scene by scene, almost in their entirety.

I think as long as you have all the information you need to write your script without getting stuck or forgetting anything, it really doesn't matter how long the treatment is.

Thanks haha George the treatment section of SS was a good start, i must have over looked that. Thanks for all the advice and i think i know what i have to do.

Thanks