Fincher's Script Rule: Every Scene Must Explain Why It Exists

"Gillian Flynn says one of David Fincher's key lessons to her as a screenwriter was to justify every scene. Speaking with David Perell on the How I Write podcast, as reported by No Film School, Flynn said Fincher asked her to explain why each scene in her Gone Girl adaptation existed, and that a scene she could not defend usually did not belong. She had delivered a draft of exactly 120 pages to avoid looking like a novelist who could not cut; Fincher's first note was to put more of the book back. The awards-season script ran 163 pages.

Flynn also argued against the likability test. The question she asks is whether the audience wants to know more about a character, and she said a slow opening works only if it is earned: ""If you're doing a slow burn, you have to earn it."" On hard days, she aims for three good pages.

The same principle shaped Fincher's Cliff Booth, written by Quentin Tarantino. In an interview with Empire, Fincher said the first draft ran 230 pages and was ""essentially two movies."" He cut about 60 pages by focusing on the overlap between what he, Tarantino and Brad Pitt each wanted, favoring character interaction over plot. Tarantino said, ""I don't think there's a scene that I wrote that's not in the film""; Fincher put the running time at about two hours and 20 minutes."