Screenwriting terms I have to know? ... Planting & Payoff?

Question

'Back story' % 'Plot point' are also critical term apparently.
Can anybody help?

Thnx

Answer 1

Back story is a character's history before the main story you are telling begins. It's a good idea to flesh out a character's back story before writing the main story, even if it does not surface, because knowing that character's past will help flesh out how he or she reacts in certain situations.

Plot points are the turning points in your story. Usually in film, there are about 6 major plot points over the course of the story (some stories or other theories of story may have more or less, but this is the basic theory):

INCITE: The story starts out in balance, but something happens to upset that balance.

FIGHT: This is the scene in which the protagonist makes the decision to take action to solve the problem created by the incite. It starts the protagonist on the adventure.

MIDPOINT: Usually halfway through the story comes a turning point, which is usually a point of no return for the protagonist. The protagonist can no longer quit this adventure and must see it through.

CRISIS: The protagonist is forced into making a crucial decision at this point, which will ultimately affect the resolution of the story.

SHOWDOWN: This is the climax of the story, the point where the protagonist is in ultimate battle against the forces of opposition.

RESOLUTION: Here the problem has been solved, a higher balance has been restored, and all loose ends of the story have been tied up.

Planting (or setup) and payoff refer to the dynamic relationship between scenes. That means that story elements introduced earlier in a story must ultimately be used again later. If Q gives Bond a laser watch on page 12 of the script, you can be sure that laser will have been fired before we get to page 120. Keep an eye on your writing, and keep it economical. Don't plant any story elements that you aren't going to pay off later.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Back story- what happened to a character in the past but which may affect the current action and story outcome.
Plot point- an event that affects the way the story heads, gives info. on a character.
Planting and payoff are related. Sometimes called set-up and payoff. A seemingly irrelevant event or piece of dialogue turns out to be significant later on. The info. is planted and when its significance is revealed , that's the payoff.