Flashbacks in TV

I come down pretty hard on flashbacks, not the fun and sometimes scary flashbacks from doing too many psychedelics in college, the flashbacks we see in TV shows and movies. I don't feel they are necessary to tell a good story. Start the story at the beginning and finish at the end. When your story is finished, if the narrative allows, it's possible to move suspenseful moments forward to catch viewer's attention or foreshadow upcoming events.

I've already finished Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season 2, it's funny, cute and easy to watch so it flows like water, and the first image is a flash forward cold open that goes into a flashback of three months earlier. This sets up the first story arc for the first seven episodes. This is an example of good flashback, it frames the series in such a way that creates mystery and intrigue. Much like the first episode of Breaking Bad and many of the episodes throughout the series.

The main trouble with new screen writers and flashbacks is that they start their story at one point, then when conversation comes up about a certain topic or event, they flashback to that event, then when it's over flash forward back to the present. What did that do for our story? What information did it give us about the characters? Maybe this works for a highlights show in season six to frame funny moments that happened in the past, Friends did this a lot, but should never happen in your pilot. For Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt it's the first episode of season 2, we have already been introduced to the characters and are familiar with the main plot. It also occurs in the cold open or teaser, which ever you prefer to call it. If you bring a flashback in Act 2, you have already failed. (Remember, this is my opinion and the opinion of some successful writers and producers I've heard on Podcasts such as Harmontown, Scriptnotes and The Nerdist Writers Panel.)

I recently watched Spy Game (2001) written by Michael Frost Beckner and David Arata, directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. A nice little CIA thriller that uses flashbacks in a very awesome way that breaks the Act 2 rule, yet this is a movie which has somewhat different rules than television. (Again, my opinion shared with professionals in the business. I am not in the business as of writing this.) The story starts at the beginning and weaved throughout the main plot is the story of two men who worked together, the master and his student, on covert missions and how eventually mistakes and ruthlessness broke the student and the master apart. But forged a friendship that in the student's time of need the master honored by helping in the only way he knows how, covert CIA operations. Watch it if you have time, it's good.

In television, you need to catch their attention. An exciting, mysterious teaser/cold open is what you want. In most crime shows, that's seeing the murder and then watching the rest of the show to see 'who done it.' In a drama, they show you a piece of the rising action then take you back to the start to show you how all the character arrived at that point. Comedy uses that technique also. You could Memento the whole thing by starting at the end then showing piece by piece getting all the way to the beginning which now is the end.

Some people get confused with how to use flashbacks because of Pulp Fiction. Tarantino made a film that does something similar to Memento. He has a story that has a beginning, middle and end, except he shows it out of order. They aren't flashbacks! The movie is just out of order, it's experimental, and at the time made lots of people very excited (myself included) and still does. No one else has, to my knowledge, attempted to make a movie like that except Tarantino himself with Kill Bill!.

Going back to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, did something that maybe you can only do when sending an series to air on a network like Netflix that gives you all 13 episodes on one day. It's possible that they didn't write it that way, I would actually bet money that they didn't. But, after or during filming they saw the opportunity to frame the story arc in that way. And, it only foreshadows the first half of the series, I said that at the beginning, but it bears repeating because that's the genius part. After the resolution of that story it begins a new story arc that takes us to the end of the season. Awesome.

Now to wait another year until season 3.

Goodnight.