Where to start the story? Take a look at TOP GUN: MAVERICK.

The options for where to start and end your story are limitless. That decision is vital. It's easy to make a mistake, think you've done the right thing and be thrown off track and deep into months of rewriting. So how do you choose the correct place to begin and end? 

We see a lot of our writing clients start their stories too early, and occasionally, too late. Make sure you’re telling the exact story you need to tell… and nothing extra. (Hint: The story you need to tell is about the main character’s character change.) 

Studying a successful script like TOP GUN: MAVERICK gives you insight into how to decide what part of your character’s life should be covered. It's hard to imagine those writers starting any place other than where they actually begin… but, let’s try. (Warning: Spoilers Ahead. If you’re not familiar with the plot of TOP GUN: MAVERICK, you can read a synopsis here.) 

Below, we’ve drawn a horizontal line. That line represents Maverick’s total timeline. Anywhere along the way, 30 years after the original TOP GUN, are potential places to begin and end his story. 

So, where to start? 

The TOP GUN: MAVERICK writers chose to open with Maverick, now a test pilot and still a hot-head, destroying a prototype aircraft. He barely avoids being grounded and is reassigned to be an instructor at Top Gun. Those events set the story in motion. 

Okay. That’s where they began.

Next, identify your character’s moment of transformation. After what point on their timeline will their life never be the same? 

For Maverick, it’s almost at the end of the movie, when he builds his team for the coming attack on the enemy. When he's asked who his wing man will be, everyone expects him to pick Hangman, a hell-for-leather carbon copy of Maverick. But, to everyone's surprise, Maverick chooses Goose's son, Rooster. 

Maverick tells Hangman that he's one of the most fearless pilots he's ever seen and Hangman says, "but you need someone who'll put the team first."

Four pages later, F-18s on the carrier deck, ready to be catapulted into battle, Maverick tells his team, "I want to thank you all for trusting me to lead you. You're the best of the best. It's an honor to be flying with you. All of you." 

The whole story has been building toward this character change. Maverick is no longer the guy he was at the beginning. This is a gigantic change. We see he's forgiven Rooster's animosity, thus leaving behind his past, and he believes the team is more important than any single pilot.

But, the writers could have started in a different place…

Consider Maverick's entire timeline. Before the movie opens, Maverick already has all kinds of problems – he’s never gotten over his guilt about Goose’s death and he’s never been a team player. These problems have persisted for decades, so the potential timeline is very long. There're plenty of fascinating conflict-filled events they might have shown us.

Years ago, Maverick was involved with Penny. Some of that could be on screen. How did they break up? Why? Now, Penny's fervent desire is to have nothing to do with him. It would be tempting to start the story there and look into their history.

What about starting when his old rival/friend Iceman is promoted to Admiral? That could profoundly affect Maverick, who never got to flag rank. 

We also learn Maverick promised Goose’s dying wife that her son Rooster would never become a pilot. That opens up a lot of story doors. We could be there when Rooster learns how his father died or finds out Maverick pulled his application to the Naval Academy. The birth of Rooster's hatred would be a possible place to start. 

We could open the story with Maverick getting his test pilot job. We could show Maverick's years of being a test pilot and his constant insubordination before he gets assigned to the mission at Top Gun. 

But remember, you want to try to make the timeline as tight as possible without losing anything crucial. For TOP GUN: MAVERICK, starting earlier with any of the options mentioned above would take too long to get to the essential story of the mission at Top Gun. Sure, they might be interesting to see, but it lets some of the intensity out of the story by starting too early. We get all the backstory we need from dialogue while not losing the pressure of the mission and Maverick’s resulting character change.

Any set up or backstory must aim us at the character change. If anything in your timeline is not pushing us to that crucible moment, it has no place in your screenplay, and easily falls away.

Once the character has gone through their character change and defeated their opponent, the story is over. We know, because they’ve gone through this experience, that the rest of their life will never be the same. In TOP GUN: MAVERICK, Maverick and Rooster escape the bad guys - and the movie wraps up fast. We don’t see months of rekindled romance with Penny, or what Rooster does in the Air Force, or if Maverick is promoted to Admiral. Maybe that stuff happens. Maybe it doesn’t. But it’s not part of this story so it doesn’t belong in the script. 

Choosing a story's beginning and end sure looks easy, but, trust us, it isn't. Drawing a timeline of your character’s problems will help.