Flashbacks in a script

[aspring86]

I am looking for some advice regarding a screenplay I am currently writing. I have read that agents/producers hate to see scripts with too many flashbacks. However, the story I'm writing is about a homeless drug addict, and it jumps back and forth between the present, and to the past, showing scenes of his life being much happier. Would the flashback rule be exempt for a plot like this?

 

[FantasySciFi]

It depends on your story. Flashback by itself is not bad. It's about the amount and use. If half the story is flashback, then why not just tell the story straight through? Especially if it's simply to provide backstory.

The film "Usual Suspects" is beautiful example of story told through flashbacks. The primary story is an interrogation. The flashbacks give glimpses that create a beguiling story. The flashback story and the ongoing story then collide.

A good reader or agent will read the story on a case by case basis. It's hard to say from your description. If I have to keep jumping back and forth in time, I get lost. That's not a sensation you want to create in a producer, director or reader. Good luck.

 

[Sweetie]

What FantasySciFi said is right on the money.

I'm writing is about a homeless drug addict, and it jumps back and forth between the present, and to the past, showing scenes of his life being much happier.

It can work, it can ruin it. It could show contrast between each life. It could confuse. It could clarify. I've done it before. Whether it worked well depends on your point of view.