[…] As you pound out the first draft of your original screenplay, put each scene you write to the test: Does it advance the story? If so, how? If it does, great. Press on. If it does not, make a note, and continue on. …read more […]

Sometimes the issue is that you've built an entire scene around the transmission of one or a few small pieces of information. The scene as a whole is dead weight but the information is necessary (or so you believe). The question then becomes, "If I delete this scene, where do I put that info?" And does the method of transmission change? Can it still be conveyed visually or must it now be delivered as dialogue -- or vice-versa?

Adam, you're talking about "exposition" and I've thought a lot about it, so much so I've created an entire week-long class called Handling Exposition. It's something we have to do multiple times in a script, convey data, information, backstory, so it just makes sense we should have a variety of tools at our disposal in effectively dealing with exposition. Hence my class. First thing is as you suggest: Is it absolutely necessary. If not, cut it. That's the BEST form of exposition!