Chaotic Continuity

Do you ever feel life is just chaotic? I do. Are you coming or going? Dreaming or not? Is it day or night? Chaos certainly makes life more interesting but not in writing.

For any writer of any format, it’s essential to have consistency in continuity. Huh?

In my beginning days of screenwriting long ago, after my friends (some in the biz, some not) read, reviewed, loved my second screenplay, I got a call that a director wanted to read it. Wow! It took me about a minute to drop it off. He called two days later.

“What’s the time-scheme of this story?” Time-scheme? I wondered. “Well, how many days does the story take place in?” he asked. “About three weeks,” I replied, unconvincingly. His reply: “Well, the timing is so chaotic. It’s all over the place. You need consistency in continuity.” He declined the project before I could ask him what he meant. Just as well.

I sat. For a long time. Gee, my friends didn’t say anything about inconsistencies in time-scheme or anything else. I just couldn’t understand it. I never even heard the term on studio productions I worked on. Then I realized that was because the timing has already been worked out before it got into production. My director couldn’t get past my chaotic time-scheme and that overrode his love of the story. I had a lot to learn.

I re-read my script only paying attention to time-scheme. That meant Sluglines. Night or Day. And, of course, the director was right. There was no continuity. I had one scene in the DAY, next scene NIGHT, next scene NIGHT (but it was the following night of the previous night). Now I’m confused. I just never really thought about it. But I’ve learned a lot since then.

Here’s the irony: To write scenes alternating one after the other as DAY, NIGHT, DAY, NIGHT is consistent in continuity but is chaotic when reading or watching. Life moves fast but not that fast. It’s just not realistic and smooth.

At a recent pitch I gave to another producer, he asked me about the time-scheme. “36 hours.” I quickly replied. The producer loved that because it meant few locations, few costumes, lower budget and still gets a high concept movie made).

Of course there are other types of continuity to think about when writing: story, costuming, locations, etc., but those are future writing tips.

So now, as an author and screenwriter, I pay attention to a key continuity issue:

-Time-scheme: The sensibility of DAY/NIGHT scenes (Smooth? Realistic? Cost effective?)

I hope you pay attention, too. Remember: Life may get chaotic at times but the sun and moon always rise and set with consistency in continuity.