10-minute play

  • HOW TO STRUCTURE A 10-MINUTE PLAY: SET-UP, ESCALATIONS AND THE PAY-OFF.

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    It’s important to check and refine your play’s structure. Although there are of course exceptions to the rule most ten-minute plays fall within the framework of a traditional “three act” structure often known as Beginning, Middle and End, which I like to call Set-Up, Escalation and Pay-Off.

    WHAT IS THE SET-UP ?

    The beginning of your play, when the lights come up – there may have been incidents before the lights come up but the Set-Up is where the audience joins the story. A play may begin with any number of events, incidents, entrances or exits.

    Possible Set-Ups:

    • A character enters
    • A stranger arrives
    • Two strangers meet
    • A character reveals something about themselves (i.e: “Dad, I’m gay !”)
    • A character wakes up – literally or metaphysically
    • A bus crashes
    • A character finds something
    • The lights come up

    WHAT IS AN ESCALATION?

    A twist, turn or progression that propels your story in another direction, to another level, raises stakes or intensity as you build towards the climax/end. A play may have any number of escalations or one main escalation around the middle of the play.

    Possible escalations:

    • A character makes a decision on a course of action
    • Another character enters
    • A character reveals a secret
    • The bus the characters are on crashes
    • A character makes a discovery about themselves, their situation or another character
    • A character reveals what they really want (i.e. I want you to marry me !)

    WHAT IS THE PAY-OFF ?

    The end of your play, which satisfactorily resolves the situation you are exploring or ends the story you began telling at the beginning. It may be open ended, neatly tied up, sudden, gentle, dramatic, subtle. A good Pay-Off often leaves the audience wanting more.

    Possible Pay-Offs:

    • A character exits
    • A decision is made
    • A character accedes to another character’s desires (e.g: Yes, I’ll marry you !)
    • The bus arrives at its destination
    • The lights go down
    • A character dies
    • A character accepts a decision or an event

    I hope you find this helpful and happy writing. Why not take a look how I use this structure in some of my 10-minute plays, downloadable on this website!

  • Top 12 Tips for writing a great 10-minute play

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    Alex Broun, one of the world’s leading experts in 10-minute plays, gives his top 12 tip s on what makes a great 10-minute play. You can read Alex’s plays at his new website – alexbroun.online.

    1. Dialogue and character are inextricably linked. If you know your characters you know how they speak. Good characters are the link to good dialogue, good dialogue is the link to good characters.
    2. There are no secrets – the secret to writing a good ten minute play is the same as writing a good play of any length. Strong characters, interesting story and good dialogue.
    3. You are writing for theatre, not film or TV – You need to ask yourself what makes your play theatrical. What makes it need to be performed on stage. Theatre is not just talking heads on stage. That is television. What makes the DOING interesting for the people WATCHING. Our whole challenge as a playwright is to make the DOING as interestring as possible for the people WATCHING.
    4. To write a good character you need two things – The character needs to WANT something AND the character needs to DO something to get what they want. Dramatic Tensionis caused by bringing characters into conflict. This happens when they both want opposing things.
    5. Why should I care ? – Ask yourself why the audience should CARE about your story, your characters and pay. What makes it special ? What makes it different ? What makes it stand out from the hundreds of plays, movies and TV shows the audience will see every year.
    6. Don’t submit your first draft – Like any good play, a ten minute play takes time to get right. Don’t think just cause it’s a ten minute play you can whip it up quickly and it will be perfect. Write a first draft – put it away for a week or two, get some feedback (from a number of sources), have a reading. Then write a second draft, then a third draft. Keep going until the play is as good as you can possibly make it – and every word is important – then you can submit it to Short+Sweet. Be flexible, listen to feedback. It might make your play better.
    7. Don’t give up – It’s very rare that you’ll write a play perfect the first time. An example of this is my play 10,000 cigarettes. Just because your first draft isn’t as good as you want it to be – the idea for the play may still be good. So keep working on the play. Don’t throw it away just because someone says – “I didn’t like it.” And remember – playwriting, like any skill, takes a while to develop – and the more you do it. The better you’ll get.
    8. You never know until you try – Many of us think of writing a play without ever picking up a pen to try. The first step to writing a good play is actually writing something.
    9. Remember : What is the story you are trying to tell – and just tell that story. It’s a ten-minute play. You don’t have time for anything that is unnecessary to the story you are telling.
    10. People like characters, story, dialogue – they are not interested in the message UNLESS you have all those three. If you want to write a thesis or dissertation then go and do that. Audiences don’t respond well to didactic theatre.
    11. Write what you want – don’t question yourself. If you have a play in your head just write it. If you love the story/situation – others might as well. Let your plays be your passion.
    12. The key to a really great ten minute play is a good middle – Once you have set up the situation and characters something needs to happen that does three things – takes the play in a different direction, raises the stakes and speeds up the tempo. It’s like the car has been crusing along a straight road at 60kmh then it suddenly speeds up to 100kmh and starts going around corners. Examples of this on alexbroun.online are Saturday Night Newtown Sunday Morning Enmore has a good middle, The First Fireworks doesn’t. Makes Saturday Night Newtown Sunday Morning Enmore a much better play.