A great opening is essential for success in screenwriting.

My first article on how to start a screenplay covered beginning with an action sequence, a day in the life of your main character and a “real beginning,” such as the protagonist arriving at a new destination, starting a new aspect of their life or a new person coming into their life.

Here are three more great ways to open your screenplay:

MONTAGE – a montage is a series of brief scenes, usually without dialogue, that can indicate the passage of time or the state of affairs of something. For example, if the story is about a down and out baseball team, you could show a batter striking out, an outfielder dropping the ball, fans booing, a newspaper headline about the slump, and so on.

NARRATION – You might begin a screenplay with the hero or another character doing a voice over (V.O.) about the situation, how the protagonist arrived at this point in their life, etc. In the delightful “A Christmas Story,” about a 10-year-old boy who campaigns to get a BB gun for Christmas, the adult version of the main character is the narrator, speaking in the past tense.

The narrator could also be simply a narrator, not a character in the story. The narrator opening should be used sparingly, but it can work very well for some movies.

FORESHADOW – In some movies the opening scene is used to lay the groundwork for what is to happen in the story. In “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first movie in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, we learn of the creation of the Ring of Power and how it was used to entice then subdue the great kings of the time, turning them into specters, forced to do the bidding of the dark lord. When humans capture the ring but then lose it, memory of the ring and its evil powers is lost for thousands of years. Until it reappears in the hands of an unlikely hero – a hobbit.

Add these openings to your screenwriting bag of tricks, and you’re well on your way to writing successful screenplays.

Danek S. Kaus is a produced screenwriter with two more movies in development, one of them based on a book. Several of his original screenplays have been optioned by movie companies. He can adapt your book into a screenplay and also do a Professional Screenplay Analysis