Quoted from Kb679 This didn�t do it for me sorry.   the worst thing you could do is have flashbacks in a script because flashbacks are just exposition dumps.

I've told you before Kb...
Temper your reviews with some love.
Or, I will just remove your posts, and you.

Final warning.

Quoted from LC I've told you before Kb... Temper your reviews with some love. Or, I will just remove your posts, and you. Final warning.

I don’t think you have to go to that extreme Libby, just show a counteractive scenario where someone’s opinion is just that… an opinion.

For example. This is a FLASHBACK from the screenplay ‘Nice Guys’ written by Shane Black.

HEALY (v.o.)
Love. Grand, isn't it? (beat)
I was in love once. June Miller.

FLASH CUT TO: A POLYNESIAN RESTAURANT

HEALY sits across a table from a knockout BLONDE. They stare into each other's eyes.

A beat.

Healy starts to say something-- The blonde cuts him off:

BLONDE
Jack... I slept with your father.

The guy at the next table does a SPIT TAKE.

BACK TO SCENE

HEALY (v.o.)
Marriage is buying a house for someone
you hate... Remember that.


This scene is succinct and explains within seconds what a boring chunk of dialog might not even come close to achieving...


From screencraft.org Shane Black share’s some of his writing tips:

Keep Your Descriptions Short and Sharp

Description is all good and well, but is it stopping your screenplay from gathering the can’t-put-down momentum you need to really draw in readers? “[Sometimes] you open up a script to the first page and there’s a big block of text that says: meet So-and-So. Outside cars stream by in the City of Blah Blah Blah. A palm tree lazily wafts in the evening breeze…,” says Shane. “If you’re a development executive for a streamer or studio, and you have to read seven scripts over a weekend. That sucks.

If they read the first seven or eight pages and it's heavy, they'll just chuck it. They'll say it was overwritten and dense.” Here’s what Shane says you can do to stop that happening: “Break it up! It shouldn't be this way but unfortunately it fucking is. People don't want to see black print, ink all across the page they want to see blank space. The right side as you look at the page has to look blanker than ink-filled. Because that way, it flows. It's more friendly to the eye. They'll find themselves on page 15 before they know it.”

Written and produced screenplays by Shane Black that may or may not (but most likely do) incorporate FLASHBACKS to show exposition to the reader/viewer:

LETHALWEAPON (1986)
THE MONSTER SQUAD(1987)
LETHAL WEAPON 2 (1989)
THE LAST BOY SCOUT (1991)
LAST ACTION HERO (1993)
THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996)
KISS KISS BANG BANG (2005)
IRON MAN 3 (2013)
THE NICE GUYS (2016)
THE PREDATOR (201

Nothing wrong with a FLASHBACK if it sells the exposition in an entertaining way. This post, of course... is just another opinion.

Thank you L.C

Kb679, Barry John Terblanche - here. The screenwriter of Dead Dream. I'll not elaborate more than to say your comments are rude and disrespectful. As for the short film (That I optioned - free of charge) to a young Indian film student... His first-ever film production - not bad! But, I guess you don't understand the meaning of screenwriters and new/students helping each other to better improve themselves - to better collaborate. This is what this great forum site is about!!  

Furthermore... Mr, Kb. I joined SS around six years ago. What this forum/community has taught me, is invaluable - It's a foundation for new/aspiring screenwriters. And thanks to them, I'm now a successful produced screenwriter. And, a competition judge for high-end companies. Also, a film screener/reviewer/critic and interviewing directors and producers for two international film magazines.  

LC, I’m fairly certain this KB guy is being deliberately obtuse, based off his posting history. I cannot imagine not only having a hard-line “no flashbacks ever!” rule, but to say that it’s the WORST thing you can do - I can only assume he has never seen a movie?