2026 OSCARS: Sinners (2025) - How to Explain Vampire Rules Without Explaining Them ("Show, Not Tell" in Reactions)

[Quick Summary: Troubled twins set up a juke joint in the South, but vampires stand in the way of its success.]

In this well written script, I particularly enjoyed how the writer built suspense with an uneasy feeling that something is wrong.

For example, in the scene below:
- Smoke and Stack are twins who have come back to the South, after fleeing Chicago. 
- They have decided to set up a juke joint and charge cover fees.
- They hire Annie to cook for the joint.
- Annie is a practitioner of the occult, and was once an item with Smoke.
- One of their employees, Cornbread, has been missing for awhile and returns. 
- Notice how the scene starts out with an argument and Cornbread's offer to help.
- Though viewers may not know the vampire rule (you have to be asked to enter a building), they sense that Annie is uneasy about something. 
- She does not say out loud what she suspects, but challenges Cornbread to act. 
- I thought it was clever how Cornbread avoids the question and throw the focus back on Annie.
- Also, it's unusual to create a reveal of this vampire rule without telling it, but showing in the reactions and other dialogue unrelated to what is being revealed.

 

INT. ENTRY HALLWAY - JUKE JOINT - LUMBER MILL - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

 ...Cornbread finally notices Smoke is covered in blood.

CORNBREAD: Goddamn Smoke...what happened to you?

SMOKE: What happened to me? Stack is dead. What the fuck happened to you? You was supposed to be watching the place. Not taking a hour long piss.

CORNBREAD: I'm sorry. Well let me come in and help.

Annie clocks this. [Annie is the first to have suspicions.]

She extends her hands to Smoke to stop him.

Smoke looks back at Annie confused. Delta Slim as well.

They stare at Cornbread, who stares back at them with an almost comically confused expression. 

CORNBREAD: What ya'll doing?

The three continue to stare without budging.

CORNBREAD (CONT'D): Smoke. Just step aside and let me on in. [He needs an invitation.]

ANNIE: Why you need him to do that? You big and strong enough to push past us. [Annie confronts him with a question that requires him to act first. This is, in essence, "showing, not telling" about the vampire rules, which the audience may or may not know about. ]

CORNBREAD: Because that wouldn't be very polite of me now, would it? I don't know why I'm even talking to you. Probably your fish sandwich that made me so sick. Using that old stale grease. [Cornbread knows she is suspicious, so he tries to distract her.] 

ANNIE: I ain't never used stale grease and you know it.  [His accusation puts her on the defensive about her food.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: One way to "show and not tell" the vampire rules is to require the vampire to violate the rule, i.e., to act.

"Show, not tell" usually means visuals and not dialogue.  The example above was a rare instance of using other dialogue and reactions, rather than what I expected, i.e., visuals alone.

Sinners (2025)(undated draft)
by Ryan Coogler /

2026 OSCARS: Sentimental Value (2025) - When a Location is Not Just a Metaphor, But a Participant/Witness

[Quick Summary: In the family home, a director and his two adult daughters try to bridge years of misunderstandings and absences.]

This is a film about family memories and how they get in the way of present relationships.   Here's a little background:

- The father, Gustav, is a film director, who hasn't made a film in 15 yrs.  
- Gustav left his wife when his daughters, Nora and Agnes, were young.
- The wife remained in the family home with the two daughters.  
- The wife was a psychologist and has recently died.  
- The daughters have returned to deal with her estate and the house. 
- Gustav also returns, with a role for his daughter Nora to act in.  
- He wants to shoot his film in the family house.

One of the things that impressed me in the script is how the writers indicated that this house will be important to this family's story.

It is used a metaphor, but also used literally as the structure in which the family has to wrestle with memories.  The house is a silent participant/witness to their lives.

In this early scene in the script (below), the writers use a montage of rapid images to establish how often the house is a participant in the family's daily life:

INT. FAMILY HOUSE (VARIOUS TIMES) - DAY

MONTAGE of rapid images of the house being used and abused as the voice continues:

NARRATOR: She remembered wondering if the house preferred to be light and empty or full and heavy...

High heels scrape the parquet of floor at a party (1965).

An eager dog's claws scratch the wooden floor in front of the door (1980).

NARRATOR (CONT'D): ...if it liked being trampled on, or that people crashed into its walls, that eager dog claws scratched the floorboards.

A chair scraping against the kitchen floor (1998).

Children's dirty fingers stick to the railing on the stairs (1994).

A wine glass falls to the floor and shatters (1965).

A milk glass topples over (1955).

A laptop falls corner-first, creating a deep gouge in the wooden floor (2000).

NARRATOR (CONT'D): ...and she thought yes, it liked being full, and that the marks were just scrapes like you get playing tag or soccer.

Gustav (35) is moving his hands behind the two small windows over the kitchen door. The shadowplay makes it seem to Nora (3) that they are two eyes looking toward her. (1990s). 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I'd never seen a house used as participant/witness/location/framework of the story like this. The memories make a house a home.

Sentimental Value (2025)(8/18/24 draft) 
by Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier

2026 OSCARS: Marty Supreme (2025) - One Key to a Hair Pin "Reversal of Fortune" Moment (Hope-Fear)

[Quick Summary A table tennis player is thwarted as he schemes, cons, and hustles friends and strangers to finance a trip to the World Championship.]

TWO THOUGHTS: 

1)  PROS:
- This is a well written, script and reads fast.
- The script attempts to capture a bold, foolhardy emotional roller coaster.   
- The protagonist is an audacious, confident, unpleasantly selfish young man. 

CONS: 
- I appreciate the criticism that the story seems to be a scatter shot of events that aren't cohesive and build to something (episodic?).   
- Though life is very episodic, trying to connect events that are not "one of a whole" is distracting.  Also, the start-stop-start-stop rhythm is distracting.
- You'll either love its truthfulness, or hate the jerkiness of the flow.  

2) ALWAYS EMOTIONALLY TRUTHFUL.  Like its protagonist, the script takes big swings that may/may not work. For the most part, it works.

Why? I think it's because the writers were careful to be truthful with emotions, especially in the big moments.

For example, in the scene below:
- This is a hair pin, "reversal of fortune" moment.
- Milton Rockwell, a rich guy, offered to sponsor Marty in Japan.
- Marty turned Rockwell down because he had principles.
- Marty has slept with Milton's actress wife. Milton doesn't know.
- Now Marty is begging for that job back because he has no other options.
- Why would we believe Marty would change his mind now? Earlier, it was setup that there isn't anything he won't do - steal, bargain, con, etc.
- Then in this scene, emotions flip flop quickly between hope and fear, desperation and bravado. 
- Note that the audience can stick to these hair pin emotional turns because they're always truthful. Marty is really that fast - a fast speaker, a fast hustler, a fast opportunist.

EXT. MOROSCO THEATER - CONTINUOUS 

...MILTON steps into the car. The Chauffeur heads around to the driver's side. MARTY raps his knuckles on the window.

MARTY: Mr. Rockwell...(knock knock) Please.... (knock knock) Mr. Rockwell... [Fear. Descending. Desperation. He's at rock bottom.]

MILTON (voice muffled through the glass): What!

MARTY: Look, let's be pragmatists for a second. Put your personal feelings about me aside. You and I both know the kind of value I'd bring to an event with Endo on his home turf. You said so yourself. I'm like a stick of dynamite over there. Whatever other plans you've made, they're going to pale in comparison... [Hope. Ascending. There's hope, a crack in the door.]

A pause.

MARTY (CONT'D): Can we just sit and talk about this reasonably for 2 minutes? There's more than enough common ground here. [Hope. Ascending. He's widening the door.]

Another pause. 

MILTON: Fine, get in the car.

MARTY: Thank you!

MARTY runs around to the passenger side. MILTON motions to the driver and the car takes off. MARTY runs alongside it, banging on the window, until he can't keep up.  [Fear. Descending. The door is slammed.]

MARTY (CONT'D): SON OF A BITCH! YOU WOULDN'T EVEN HAVE THE IDEA IF IT WASN'T FOR ME!! [Fear. Descending fast into the ground.]

The car continues down the street. [Fear. Hits rock bottom again.]

Hold a few beats on MARTY, stewing. He steps back on the curb and realizes that Kay's ASSISTANT has been standing there, uncomfortable, waiting to speak to him. [Hair pin turn into hope. Ascending.]

MARTY (CONT'D): What!

ASSISTANT: Um, Ms. Stone would like to have lunch with you. [Hope. Ascending fast.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: One key to staying on the rails, even in a hair pin "reversal of fortune" moment, is staying emotionally true to the character. 

I would've been pulled out of the story if Marty, who is a self-absorbed, fast talking, opportunistic person, suddenly grew a conscience, or slowed down to think. 

Marty Supreme (2025)(dated 2/2/25)
by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie

2026 OSCARS: It Was Just an Accident (2025) - One Example of Economically Dropping Thriller Clues (Show Not Tell)

[Quick Summary: When formerly tortured prisoners catch the guard who tortured them, the group is uncertain if it's the same man and fights within itself.]

How can this thriller be so full of suspense at only 63 pgs. in length!?

One key was how carefully the writer chose his clues.  They had to be clear, but result in questions that would make the reader want to turn the page. 

For example, in the scene below:
- A man's car breaks down with his pregnant wife and daughter Niloufar inside.
- They come to a random repair shop.
- Vahid is the mechanic.
- Note that the first clue is an AUDIBLE one.
- Also note that it is Vahid's reaction that makes the audience realize something is wrong. 
- Thus the audience begins to realize danger is afoot without being told (show not tell).

 I./E. CAR ON COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT

...Vahid hangs up and lights a cigarette.
In the meantime, the woman comes out of the bathroom.
Vahid looks at her through the gap in the door. The woman sits down, apparently overcome by stomach pains. Niloufar helps her.
We hear the workshop door open. Vahid goes to the far end of the room but the sound of the man's artificial leg on the concrete floor makes him freeze, as if this unusual noise seemed familiar. He pricks up his ears. Vahid tries to spot the man, but he can't. He discreetly steps over to the door again.

He sees the man come into the workshop, then go over to his wife and daughter. Vahid looks devastated. He quickly steps back and presses against the cupboard so as not to be seen. he takes a deep breath and tries to pull himself together. All of a sudden, the man calls out to him. 

MAN: Vahid...Vahind...

Vahid doesn't reply. 

MAN: Mister Vahid...

Vahid is cornered. He coughs and then answers, but without showing himself. He alters his voice to reply.

VAHID: Yes?!

MAN: Mister Omid needs the old toolbox.

Vahid heaves a sign of relief.

VAHID: It's next to the big machine! 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The choice of an auditory clue here was brilliant because:
- It is suspenseful because it has meaning that the audience doesn't know yet (as we learn from Vahid's reactions).
- It made me wonder what the characters knew, thus I wanted to turn the page.
- It is showing, but not telling the story.

It Was Just an Accident (2025)
by  Jafar Panahi