SNAPSHOT
Andy (Anne Hathaway) is a recent college graduate with big dreams. Upon landing a job at prestigious Runway magazine, she finds herself the assistant to diabolical editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Andy questions her ability to survive her grim tour as Miranda’s whipping girl without getting scorched. (official synopsis via Google)
I believe it was Shakespeare who said “The beginning is everything my friends, it is all.”
Actually he didn’t say that all but how right would he have been if he did? One person who does talk about the importance of setting the scene and putting the narrative on a firm footing is Michael from Lessons from the Screenplay who in his latest instalment talks about the first 10 pages of The Devil Wears Prada is key to get the plot on its way:
“The Devil Wears Prada does a great job of setting up its story in a very fun and efficient way. This video goes on a tour of the first ten pages of the screenplay to see how it concisely sets the stage for the entire film.”
He makes the point that you have a short span of time to really draw people “deeper and deeper into the world of the story” and that The Devil Wears Prada gets going right from the get-go by showing who Andy is by showing us who she isn’t. It’s quick, its clever and sets the picture perfectly, revealing small elements of her character, interests and the point with whom she’ll be in contact through the film, including the all-important antagonist.
It’s fascinating and gives you brilliant insight into how important a finely-calibrated start is to successfully prosecuting on a film’s premise.