The Expanded Ultimate Story Checklist: Are the characters cagy or in denial about their own feelings?

Another problem with direct confrontation is that it turns every scene into a “big scene.” Your story gets buried in sturm und drang, with everybody yelling too much. The trick is to learn to write “small scenes” that pack in even more conflict than you might find in a big scene. 

Let’s look at a randomly selected example from Breaking Bad from the second season episode “Down.” Mild-mannered meth dealer Walter White has recently been kidnapped by a rival, and when he finally returns to his family, he gives an unconvincing lie about where he’s been. No one wants to confront him directly, but roiling suspicions are tightening the tension in every scene.

This is a seemingly inconsequential scene, but it contains four confrontations, each of which could have been its own “big scene”:

1. Walt Jr. tells his dad he now wants a new name and separate identity. 
2. Walt and his wife argue about supporting the name change. 
3. Walt’s wife confronts him with her hurt feelings about his disappearances and lies. 
4. Walt’s meth partner, Jesse, reaches out to him for help, but Walt refuses him. 

Instead of presenting these confrontations as separate scenes, the show layers all four on top of each other in one fluid, small scene: A friend comes to pick up Walt Jr. in the morning and accidentally calls him by his new name. Walt asks his son about this, and the son meekly confirms the new name on his way out the door. Walt, shocked, heads to the bathroom to ask his wife if she knew about this. She says she did, and explains it by saying, “He wants his own identity,” and “Your disappearance really hurt him.” Walt realizes that she’s talking about herself, not their son, and so he’s about to say something, but just then the phone rings. Jesse, his drug-dealing partner, is calling about yet another crisis. Walt lies to his wife about who is on the phone and tells Jesse to buzz off. But by the time Walt is off the phone, his wife is already angrily leaving the house.

All of these confrontations can happen at the same time because they’re more subtle:

1. The first confrontation is replaced by symbolism: The name change says it all, relieving the need for an “I want my own identity” confrontation. The friend’s slip of the tongue allows the information to come out indirectly without forcing Walt Jr. to confront his dad at all. 
2. Walt’s larger confrontation with his wife about his lies hides as subtext within the smaller confrontation about their son’s name change. 
3. Walt doesn’t need to tell his wife, “There are things I can’t tell you,” because Jesse calls and she sees that he’s still lying. 
4. Walt doesn’t need to tell Jesse, “You’re messing up my life,” because we see that happen. 

Four potentially melodramatic confrontations all happen at once, but the way it plays out, none of them feels melodramatic. Indirect confrontations are less upsetting to the characters than direct confrontations, which means that you get to have more of them.

For this Scenework series, we’re examining these scenes:

The 40 Year Old Virgin	Andy goes home with a drunk woman from a Bachelorette party.
Alien	After the deaths of Kane, Brett and Dallas, Ripley becomes captain, so she has a meeting with the other survivors, Ash, Parker, and Lambert, to decide what to do next.
An Education	Jenny is amazed as David gets permission from her parents to take her on a weekend trip to Oxford by claiming to know C.S. Lewis.
The Babadook	Amelia chases her son Sam down to the basement, where he knocks her out, ties her up, and drives the Babadook out of her, temporarily.
Blazing Saddles	Bart arrives in town, then takes himself hostage to save himself from hostile townspeople
Blue Velvet	Jeffrey spies on Dorothy and Frank, then Dorothy catches Jeffrey in her apartment and has sex with him at knifepoint.
The Bourne Identity	Jason and Marie are attacked at her family’s farm by the assassin known as The Professor. Jason blows up a propane tank to distract him and kills him, but as the Professor dies he convinces Jason to come back.
Bridesmaids	Annie is driving angry after feuding with Helen when she gets pulled over by a cute cop, who gives her his number under the pretense of recommending a place to get her tail light fixed.
Casablanca	Sketchy crook Ugarte asks cool club owner Rick to hold onto the letters of transit for him.
Chinatown	Jake confronts Noah Cross with the glasses
Donnie Brasco	Lefty seeks to go behind Sonny Black’s back to set up his own meeting in Florida with Trifficante. He has Donnie borrow a boat for this purpose, but Sonny Black knows everything, and he crashes the party.  Lefty bitterly assumes that Donnie has betrayed him, and shuns him.  Sonny takes Donnie aside and elevates him above Lefty.
Do the Right Thing	Buggin’ Out notices that there are no brothers on the wall of Sal’s Pizzeria and decides to organize a boycott.
The Farewell	Billi finds out about Nai Nai’s diagnosis from her parents.
The Fighter	Micky and Charlene confront Micky’s family about his career.
Frozen	Anna confront Elsa in her ice palace
The Fugitive	Gerard confronts Kimble atop a dam, but Kimble leaps off.
Get Out	Chris sneaks out for a smoke in the night, has creepy encounters with Georgina and Walter, then finds Missy drinking tea.  She implores him to sit down, he repeats that he doesn’t want to be hypnotized, but she does it anyway with her teacup.  She gets him to admit the facts of his mother’s death, then sends him to a “sunken place” in his mind.
Groundhog Day	Phil takes Rita to a cafe and tries to convince her that he’s living the same day over and over. He convinces her by predicting what Larry will say.
How to Train Your Dragon	Hiccup and his students are in an arena competing to defeat a dragon, but Hiccup is quizzing their instructor to find out how to better commune with his own dragon, Toothless. Along the way, he uses what he learned from Toothless to peacefully subdue the dragon they’re fighting, infuriating the others.
In a Lonely Place	Laurel has made secret plans to leave town, but Dix makes her go to his favorite restaurant to celebrate their engagement with his agent, his alcoholic friend, and others.
Iron Man	Tony has built a better chest-device to keep shrapnel out of his heart, so he calls Pepper in to reach into his chest and replace the old one with a new one.
Lady Bird	Lady Bird flirts with Kyle in the parking lot.
Raising Arizona	During Hi and Ed’s first night with Junior, brothers Gale and Evelle show up having just escaped from jail, and begin to suspect the truth.
Rushmore	Max introduces himself to Ms. Cross on the bleachers.
Selma	King meets with Johnson in the Oval Office to try to get him to commit to a new Voting Rights Act
The Shining	Jack finally takes a drink from the ghosts in the ballroom. A waiter spills a drink on him, and takes him to the bathroom to clean it off.  While he does so, Jack realizes that the waiter is actually Grady, the former caretaker that killed his family.  Grady encourages him to do the same, but Jack is uncertain.
Sideways	Miles has struck out with Maya, but Jack comes back to the motel after a wild night with Steph, intending to go back out. Miles tries to get Jack to stay by forcing him to call his fiancé, but she doesn’t answer and Jack takes off with Steph after getting Miles to return his unused condom from the night before.
The Silence of the Lambs	Clarice first meets Lecter in his cell, under the pretense of getting him to fill out a questionnaire, but he quickly figures out that it’s really about Buffalo Bill, and that Clarice is hiding other things as well.
Star Wars	The gang takes over the Death Star command office.
Sunset Boulevard	Joe discovers Norma, who assumes that he’s there to plan her monkey’s funeral, but when he explains that he’s a screenwriter, she hires him to rewrite her screenplay for Salome instead.

So how do those scenes answer this question?

The 40 Year Old Virgin	YES. He’s pretending to be comfortable, she’s pretending that she’s not furious at her friend and ex.
Alien	YES. Ash and Ripley don’t directly confront each other.
An Education	YES. David and Jenny are lying, and dad doesn’t want to admit how scared he is of leaving home.
The Babadook	YES. He seems to be totally open at this point, but we suspect that even here he’s masking his emotions somewhat to get what he wants.  “I won’t leave you.  You said we’d protect each other.” She refuses to speak.
Blazing Saddles	YES. His dialogue brings out their conflicted feelings about race (and his own.)
Blue Velvet	YES.
The Bourne Identity	NO. Not really, it’s all out in the open here.
Bridesmaids	YES. He won’t admit he’s asking her out, she won’t admit her pain about losing the bakery.
Casablanca	YES. Rick doesn’t betray his interest in the letter, tries to hide his disgust for Ugarte until the end, Ugarte tries to hide his fear of the Germans.
Chinatown	YES. They’re both suprisingly cool customers given what they’re discussing.
Donnie Brasco	YES.
Do the Right Thing	YES. Mookie, as always, keeps his feelings on this issue hidden and/or suppressed.
The Farewell	YES. The parents pretend not to be too upset.
The Fighter	YES. All except Charlene.
Frozen	NO. they’re pretty open about it.
The Fugitive	YES. Kimble no, Gerard yes.  Does he really care?
Get Out	YES. He’s very reluctant to talk about his mom.
Groundhog Day	NO. Not really. They’re pretty up front.
How to Train Your Dragon	YES. Hiccup pretends to still hate dragons,  Snortlout is cagy about his crush on Astrid, Astrid might have feelings for Hiccup.
In a Lonely Place	YES. Laurel is lying that she still loves Dix, the agent lies about his feelings about the script.  Dix is in denial about his suspicion that Laurel is about to flee.
Iron Man	YES. He finally admits “I don’t have anyone but you.” But she doesn’t respond and he quickly says “Anyway.”
Lady Bird	YES. She’s pretending to be blasé but she’s asdaf anything but.
Raising Arizona	YES. Ed uses the baby as an excuse to kick them out.
Rushmore	YES. Very much so on his part.
Selma	YES. As two southerners, they were raised to repel and fear each other, but they each suppress that.
The Shining	YES. both.
Sideways	YES. Miles doesn’t say Jack shouldn’t cheat, he just says to check his messages.
The Silence of the Lambs	YES. Very much so, but they each call each on various things the other is hiding.
Star Wars	YES. Luke sells Han by mentioning the princess’s money, not her beauty, because he’s fallen in love with her himself.
Sunset Boulevard	NO. they’re pretty open about them.