As storytellers we need to constantly make choices about what to show an audience and what to leave out. It's all about steering the associations we make with the information provided. An underrated scenarist from the second half of the 20th century, Jacqueline (Jay) Presson Allen, is quoted in the March 21, 1999 issue of the San Francisco Examiner Magazine, as saying about her experience working with Alfred Hitchcock on the initial drafts of the script for his film, Marnie:
"When Hitch hired me for Marnie, I had never even read a screenplay. My approach to narrative was totally linear, so when it came time to getting Sean (Connery) and Tippi (Hedren) from the altar to the reception to the honeymoon cabin on the ocean liner, I wrote three plodding scenes.
Hitch gently suggested that we might pick up the pace by doing this all in one scene, i.e.:
CLOSE UP
A large vase of roses with attached card saying 'Congratulations.' In the vase the water is sloshing, sloshing, sloshing."
Bingo! This, for me, epitomises the efforts needed to distill down a scenario to its most elegant form. It respects the intelligence of the audience, allowing them to experience the subconscious satisfaction of piecing together some of the story points.
