Why the Wicker Writers Slug Every Scene Before They Write a Word

Writer-directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson outline every scene of a script, complete with sluglines, before drafting, they told Final Draft in an interview published this week ahead of the October 23 U.S. release of Wicker. ""We heavily outline, so we have every scene laid out, and that's a lot of the hard work,"" Wilson said. Knowing where each scene is headed keeps drafting fun and makes it easier to know where a scene should end.

Once the outline is done, the pair divide scenes based on which writer is most excited about each one. They write letters between characters and backstories for events that happened years before the story, one of which later became a scene in the film. They don't start with a thesis. Instead they find the theme after a full draft, then make sure every scene serves it in revision. For dialogue, they ask what each character could say to hurt the other most, then refine it so the point lands without being on the nose.

Wicker, adapted from Ursula Wills-Jones's short story The Wicker Husband, stars Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgard, Peter Dinklage and Elizabeth Debicki. It premiered at Sundance earlier this year, and Black Bear opens it in limited release October 23 before expanding nationwide October 30.