A few years ago I was given the opportunity of working with

the writer Joe Eszterhas in a complicated legal case. Called

as an expert witness, I was engaged to go through the entire
work of this noted screenwriter, analyze the material, and
then, in outline form, lay out "the structural essence" of his
screenplays. In other words, what was it that made Joe
Eszterhas's material so singular and unique; what made Joe
Eszterhas "Joe Eszterhas"?
It was a daunting and intriguing assignment. I didn't know
what to do or how to begin, except to begin at the beginning,
by reading his screenplays and noting the similarities and
distinctions in the creation of Eszterhas's style.
As I began reading and analyzing his work, I became
aware of several factors that seemed to make his scripts so
powerful, whether they were action-thrillers like Basic Instinct,
Jagged Edge, Jade, and Sliver, or dramatic and
contemporary pieces like Music Box, Flashdance, and even
the ill-wrought Showgirls.
In all his work I saw he was dealing with real people in real
situations, and his characters were interesting, tough, with a
sense of bravado that covered a deep well of insecurity and
sometimes a lack of self-respect. For instance, the Jennifer
Beals character in Flashdance had a sense of creative and
defiant confidence within her that engaged reader and
audience. And there was the music, of course, woven into
the story of the girl who overcame all oddsphysical,

The New World Dictionary

"Incident: A specific occurrence or event

that occurs in connection to something
else."

Two Incidents

SCREENPLAY

mental, and emotionalto achieve her dream. A steelworker

by day and a pole dancer by night, she had a visual appeal
to a vast moviegoing audience. The film was an enormous
hit.
As I began to get more familiar with Joe Eszterhas's
scripts, I noticed that he thrust the reader and audience into
the story line immediately. In most cases, he began his
stories with an action sequence that plunged the main
character directly into the story line.
In Basic Instinct, the first words of the script"It is dark;
we don't see clearly"set the tone. The visual directions
continue. "A man and woman make love on a brass bed.
There are mirrors on the walls and ceiling. On a side table,
atop a small mirror, lines of cocaine. A tape deck PLAYS the
Stones: 'Sympathy for the Devil.' "
It is a graphic, wild, and erotic sex scene, the tempo tight
and passion high; as it builds in rhythm, the words get
shorter and shorter. "He is inside her... arms tied above
him... on his back... eyes closed... she moves...
grinding... he strains for her... his head arches back... his
throat white... she arches her back... her hips grind... her
breasts are high..." and then, at the height of the sexual
frenzy, "Her back arches back... back... her head tilts
back... she extends her arms... her right arm comes down
suddenly. .. the steel flashes... his throat is white... he bucks,
writhes, bucks, convulses..." and the ice pick flashes up
and down, "and up... and down... and up... and...."
When I first read this opening scene I was totally riveted,
focused, eager to continue reading and see what happened.
The more I read, the more I was hooked. I had been
attracted, engaged, and totally captured by the visual action
of the first page.
It's a perfect example of what I call a visual "grabber," an
opening that grabs you by the throat and seizes your
attention. What better elements can you open a screenplay
with than intense passion, wild sex, horrific murder, and
visual mayhem, set to the music of The Stones, to boldly
establish the style and tone of an entire screenplay? It's just a
great opening.
The next morning, the main character, Nick Curran
(Michael Douglas), a tough, hard-nosed, cynical cop with too
many years on the force for his relatively youthful age,
investigates the crime scene

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