Welcome to the “TFB Writers’ Group”

Lesson 1: Hiding Exposition in Dialogue

There are so many things I can touch on with dialogue. But remember, I want to deliver actionable tips for you to integrate immediately. Let’s get started.

Exposition is the most important and (sometimes) most boring thing you must do in your screenplay as it provides the backstory and necessary information the reader needs to understand past events and character relationships. It also helps create some impactful pay-offs later in your script.

The audience doesn’t want to be told things like a history lesson. They want it to be revealed. Or they want to figure it out on their own.

The trick is, to sneak exposition into our story without the audience catching on and getting bored. The main goal here is to keep it interesting. 

ex. In the Sandlot we need to know about the "demon dog" over the fence. How does the writer approach it? Did someone say "Hey by the way main character beware of dog". No, well not exactly. The writer turns it into an engaging scary story that leads the audience into a flash back.

We can't always create a new scene for every piece of exposition. Some things aren't as important to the plot as the Sandlot example. Exposition can be small facts and quirks we need to tell the audience. But if done wrong it can make your scene and dialogue clunky.

Say we have a scene with two characters (SISTER and BROTHER) and we need the audience to know they are siblings.
We can do this a million ways visually but we want to reveal it with their dialogue.

One way to easily do this is to have SISTER say, "Hey Brother." Which may only fly in a period piece. But that line only solves one thing. Their relationship. Which makes it stand out like a sore thumb. Not bad but not good either.

TIP #1

What if we can hide that exposition in a line thats main focus is something else. Kill two birds with one stone if you will.

ex.
SISTER: “I can't tell you. You won't understand.”
BROTHER: "Who could understand more than your own Brother? You can speak to me."

The DRAMA... BROTHER's main objective is to get SISTER to trust him. In this line, he uses the fact that they are family as a persuasive argument. It's not just a fact to tell but goes inline with the conflict currently happening in the scene. Now let's do it another way.

TIP #2

Let's use a common "thing" between them to divulge the information. Family.

ex.
SISTER: "I can't tell you. You won't understand."
BROTHER: "You can speak to me. I promise."
SISTER: "That's exactly what you said last time before you threatened to tell Father."

If they are siblings they probably have the same Father. Using this makes the audience infer the obvious without directly telling them.

But there is also another way. One of my favorites that is especially useful.

Tip #3

What we will do this time is hide the exposition with an insult. 
The audience will be more intrigued by the "burn" that they won't even recognize they were fed some valuable information. This could turn into banter revealing both of their deepest darkest secrets if you want. But for now we will keep it simple.

ex.
SISTER: "I can't tell you. You won't understand."
BROTHER: "You can speak to me. I promise."
SISTER: "That's exactly what you said last time."
BROTHER: "Only a fool would keep this to themselves and rid them of a helping hand."
SISTER: "A fool would make the same mistake twice... You hide morality underneath a mask of dishonestly. The insufferable bratty little Brother has yet to grow up. Only a man by appearance. Not nearly wise enough to wager between what's expedient and what's right.”

Man I really leaned into the period piece vibes there. I just saw Into the Heart of the Sea so I have the 1850's on my brain. But let's break this down.

I used an insult that delivers the same information with a bit of punch! Sister calls Brother out for not being a man and always taking the easy way out.

If you noticed we actually fed the reader way more information than what we set out to do. We established their relationship as siblings AND established the state of their relationship.  Which is rocky at best.

Like most things this is a good tool in your writers toolbox and should not be overused. But it sure is helpful and I guarantee you will notice this trick time and time again in the movies you watch.

Writing Exercise

Now it's your turn. Take a scene you're working on or create a new scene and choose a piece of exposition you need to get across. Do it by finding a common trait or by using an insult (this one is more fun). Then do it again in a different way. Then again.

Get creative and have fun with it!