_(a) Marking the passage of time._ In the amateur script previously
discussed, we found the need for this use of the leader. The
introduction, between scenes 8 and 9, of a leader telling the
spectator that the events in Scene 9 were supposed to happen "Two
weeks later" than those taking place in Scene 8, would have gone a
long way toward clearing up the plot of the story. In this case, of
course, it would have been necessary to add to the statement
concerning the passage of time another statement as to what had
happened in the interval, the complete leader reading: "Two weeks
later, Mary returns home after failing to get work in the city." Or,
better still: "After two weeks of fruitless search for work in the
city, Mary returns to her old home."
Try to get away from the monotonous use of the "Next day," "The next
day," and "Two years later," style of leader. Say: "The following
afternoon," "After five years," "Later in the evening," or "Six months
have passed." Even though you find when your story is produced that
the director has seen fit to omit altogether the leader that you
"wrote in" at a certain point of the action, you have the satisfaction
of knowing that, _had_ he used one there, he could not have improved
upon the one you wrote.
_(b) Clearing up a point in the action_ is too obvious a use of the
leader to require much discussion.
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