i'm working on a script that follows four main characters, a husband and wife, their son and a seemingly unrelated woman. the seemingly unrelated woman doesn't interact with the other three until about 70 to 80 pages into the script, when she attempts to commit suicide by plowing her car into a baptist church, and in so doing, paralyzes the husband/father. i know its sounds reminiscent of amores perros, but i promise it will come off completely different. my question is this: do you think the audience will feel frustrated trying to figure out how these characters relate if i wait so long to connect this woman? any comments would be appreciated!
We would have to see the whole thing first to make an opinion. As for me, I don't really have any problems with that (it reminds me Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemenors", for instance. And I love that film).
But I always say this... first write it, not caring about audiences and stuff like that. Just let it out (and I'd be here to read it)
I agree completely. Instinctively, though, it feels like it would work fine to me. I like movies that aren't 100% obvious, so waiting a good 80 minutes to make the connection would only make those 80 minutes that much more intriguing.
I watched The Bank recently with my mom, and in that movie there's a storyline that isn't directly related to the rest of the movie for about 45 minutes, and it was pretty confusing, but I didn't really have a problem with it... my mom was annoyed by it though, she kept saying "what does this have to do with anything?!" etc
moms are like that.
It all depends on execution. Be careful to make sure that the audience ends up caring what happens in both storylines or you'll run the risk of the collective groan every time you go back to the one no gives two shits about. You want the moment in the church to be a payoff, not a "okay fine, the two stories merge" moment. Be careful not to foreshadow the event too much (or at all).
both the father/husband storyline and the woman's are very strong i think, i just wasn't sure how long i wanted to keep them separated before making the connection.