Interview (Audio): Scott Frank

An in-depth conversation with the writer-director of the Netflix limited series The Queen’s Gambit.

The Queen’s Gambit is the best thing I have seen this year. Movie. TV series. What have you. This seven-episode limited series is excellent in all respects. Based on a 1983 Walter Tevis novel, Scott Frank (Little Man Tate, Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Marley & Me, Logan), not only adapted the book, writing each episode, he also directed it — beautifully, I might add. Here is a trailer for The Queen’s Gambit:

Scott Frank was a recent guest on the Scriptnotes podcast (Episode 476) hosted by John August and Craig Mazin. You can listen to that interview here.

The three have a fascinating conversation not only about The Queen’s Gambit, but also the screenwriting craft. For example, they delve into the subject of writing scenes and use the opening pages of the script for The Queen’s Gambit as an example:

Here is an excerpt of John and Craig’s comments about these scenes:

Craig: No, the thing that I love about these on the page is how dynamic they are. Meaning the way that we talk about dynamics in music. Soft. Loud. Quiet. Rest. Play. Fast. Slow. Things keep getting changed. So we’re in the dark and then we’re in the light. And then we’re in more light, because the curtains open. And then we go from disheveled and a mess to beautifully made up and gorgeous. We go from a small space into a large space. We go from silence to then cameras. And when I see, “And now we hear one sound,” and the word one is italicized, “THE WHIR OF CAMERAS. A DOZEN PHOTOGRAPHERS gathered at the entrance snap her picture.” I see it. I hear it.

Not only do I see and hear it. I know where everyone is standing. That’s the beautiful. If you write well it means you saw it and you heard it so clearly that the people reading it can see it and hear it so clearly. That’s the point. And I try as best as I can to emulate this basic method.

And, John, you and I have talked a lot about transitions. And here every single scene number, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, on page one and two, has a transition. Every single one. And it’s a transition — even like for instance the transition between 6 and 7 is not just from a hallway into a giant ballroom. But it’s punctuated by “a hundred heads turning toward her” in that ballroom silently when the doors open. That’s what I’m talking about.

John: But let’s also be clear what you’re not talking about. You’re not talking about literally cut to with a colon or a transition to with a colon.

Craig: You don’t need to.

John: We don’t see any of that on these two pages. Instead it’s just that naturally, logically as the action is flowing we can feel the transitions moving us from this moment to this moment. And it feels natural. Everything is falling forward in a good way.

Craig: Yeah, like cut to is actually not a transition. Cut to is simply an acknowledgment that a transition is about to occur. But the transition itself is defined by the difference of things. And so what Scott does really, really well here, we’ll keep talking about him like he’s not here —

Scott: Great.

Craig: Is constantly considering — because you’re not — is constantly considering the difference between things as he moves from scene to scene. And this is what I mean about completion. These are complete pages. Every single thing has been thought through. We do say specificity a lot. Sometimes I think that the word specificity becomes too generic in an ironic way because it can be applied in so many different ways. So to just zero in a little bit more on specificity, what he’s doing is thinking constantly about how big or small, how quiet or loud, how full of people, how not full of people. Power dynamics. She is at one moment bigger than a little girl, smaller than a room full of people. Every single moment is completed like this. This is how you write.

All you need to do if you want to be a good screenwriter is be as good as this. No problem.

Takeaway: Writing a scene is not just about nailing down its structure — Beginning, Middle, End. It’s not just about knowing why each character exists within the scene, what their respective goals are, what the central conflict or tension is, when to enter the scene and when to exit it.

All of that is important. However, to craft scenes which not only move the plot forward, but also move a script reader, you need to pay attention to tone… atmosphere… and emotion.

Here is another scene from The Queen’s Gambit:

Consider these lines of scene description:

• She comes closer, the shadow of her head falling on the board.
• Saying the word like he bit into something rotten.
• Beth watches as he stares at the pieces. Motionless. As if he hates them.
• …holds it for a moment as though holding a dead mouse by the tail…

Tone. Atmosphere. Emotion. In combination with the characters’ dialogue, the scene description invites us into the story universe and the psychological subtext of the moment.

I hope Netflix makes the script for these seven episodes available as part their For Your Consideration campaign.

If you have yet to watch The Queen’s Gambit, put it at the top of your To See list. It truly is wonderful storytelling.

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Note: The Queen’s Gambit script pages and interview transcript courtesy of Scriptnotes.