How to draw crowds to your story — creating a pull
When producing visual work, such as a movie or play, creativity is one, if not the most important tool at your disposal. To use one’s creativity isn’t just to create a story, it’s to create a reason to see the story in the first place. Every story needs a pull. Whether the pull is a twist towards the end or amazing cinematography, every story needs to be told in a way that gives viewers something to mention to their friends that will convince them to check it out for themselves.
For example, the 2019 World War 1 movie 1917 was shot and edited to create the illusion that you are watching the story unravel in real-time. The movie is cut at specific points to make it look like the entire 110-minute runtime was recorded in one nonstop shot. I’m willing to bet that if you heard about this movie from a friend, they definitely mentioned that technique. This unique method pulls people to the movie because it isn’t used very often, which also makes it worth mentioning when discussing the movie.
The factors of a story that pull in audiences are usually mentioned in passing, but everybody can think of one that’s been mentioned to them. “There’s this really great fight scene,” “The choreography in this one number is great,” “This actor really stepped up,” “There’s a dog.” Hearing about these small details greatly improves the chance of somebody deciding to watch the movie, even if they were on the fence about it before. These “pulls” also translate onto the stage, which can be much more impressive since they are performed live. It doesn’t get much better than a dog acting in front of an audience.
Another example, ironically another story that takes place during 1917, is a play called Not About Heroes. A pull to this story is that there are only two characters, which means that everything happening on stage is completely told through the acting, not fancy set pieces or special effects. That seemingly useless fact pulls in audience members because it challenges the idea of whether or not two actors can hold an audience’s attention and eventually win their applause by the end of the show. Fans of true acting will definitely come to see this solely because of how difficult it is for one person to carry an entire half of a story. This is proven by the fact that the show is still enjoying successful runs today, long after its world premiere in 1982.
When I write my scripts, usually plays, I think of what I could do to make my show unique. In my mind, I always try to figure out a way to tell the story that just gives it a little extra “oomph.” One play that I’m working on is a western that includes effects you would only expect from movies: lights flash whenever guns are shot, at one point the characters get pulled into a silent film, and so on and so forth. You don’t have to write your pull into the words of the story, you could just showcase it during the live performance. Another play I’m working on only has two characters, and in the end, it reveals that they are both the same person. It’s these simple things that viewers subconsciously latch onto and mention to their friends.
Some of these pulls take excellent performances by actors, professional-level experience from the crew or beautiful camera skills to work correctly, but if done right, you could end up with multiple facets for audiences to hear about, because any of those three things could pull audiences in themselves. Even if the story is bad or you receive negative reviews, any well-done part could convince viewers to check it out anyway. Then they might find something else they liked and that could be the part that they mention when suggesting your work to somebody else. But regardless, every story needs something for people to mention, instead of forcing them to suggest it to their friends by saying “it’s good.”