Damian Chazelle’s opening is simple, economical, bursting with information. In short: powerful. Andrew, the story’s teenaged hero, is practicing alone at night at the world’s top music school. Enter Fletcher, the sole decision-maker on who gets to be a great jazz musician (a goal that is clearly and painfully central to our hero’s life). From the first scene, we know who our hero is, what his goal is, what he must do to get it

A member of FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) who has attended the Cannes and Berlin Festivals Selin Sevinç Bertero is a California-based screenwriting expert, what's known in the industry as a "script doctor." This article was taken from her blog "The Magic of Story.") To all screenwriters out there who’ve studied screenwriters handbooks, manuals and guidebooks I don't think I am alone in