Vale's Technique of Screen and Television Writing

12

The Effect upon the Audience

We are not just telling a story — we are telling it to an. audience. It is therefore necessary to determine how the audience reacts to the manner in which the story is told. For the time being we shall confine ourselves to the effects of the dramatic construction upon the mind of the spectator, leaving the examination of the effects of the actual story content to the third part of the book.

The reactions of the audience are neither unpredictable nor uncertain. The public reacts to certain parts of the story in a certain manner. Knowing this, the writer is in a position to obtain the desired reactions from the audience at his choosing.

Only the novice writer believes that the reactions and moods of the actors in ...