When I write a scene ill lay out everything that needs to happen. When I REVISE: I find ways to reveal character, more obstacles & conflict, remove what’s not interesting enough or necessary, dig deeper into an emotional set up or pay off then hone a landing or end/point of it
Writing down a bunch of stuff that happens is not a scene. for the scene to be elevated everything has to be there not just because it could happen because it has to and because it’s furthering character story conflict emotion a set up or a pay off
I’ll also add visuals as if the sound were off but you could understand it and I’ll rewrite it psychologically —how can I enhance how it’s being told cinematically through the character’s point of view. Oh sometimes stuff can be cut that’s interesting but not necessary (research)
on a basic level— is the scene design arbitrary? Or does it answer why it has to exist, in that order, with those moves, with that design? Nothing more, nothing less. That’s kind of the fun of it —and the challenge of screenwriting as opposed to prose, etc
