STORY VS. BACKSTORY: ANALYSIS OF THE SPACE BETWEEN US

When to begin your story? What is the story you want to tell vs. what's backstory? Backstory is what happens before our screenplay begins. I saw the film THE SPACE BETWEEN US last night and it illustrates the pitfall many writers fall into.

THE SPACE BETWEEN US is about a 16-year-old boy, Gardner Elliot. He's our protagonist. His backstory is his mother didn't tell NASA she was pregnant when she led a mission to colonize Mars. Gardner was born on Mars and has never been to Earth. NASA kept it a secret. His mother died in childbirth and he's never met his father.

What's Gardner's goal? The protagonist's goal is to get to Earth, meet up with a love interest he's met on the internet (a girl named Tulsa) and find his father. What's the obstacle? He might die as his organs aren't used to Earth's atmosphere and NASA wants to hold him for observation. So he escapes, finds Tulsa, and seeks out his father.

When does the film begin?

The movie opens with ... 20 minutes of backstory. Gary Oldman plans a scientist behind the mission. We meed Gardner's mother and they travel to Mars. We find out in flight that she's lied to NASA. Gardner is born. The mother dies. It takes twenty minutes into the film before the story starts.

All of this information, though extremely relevant to the story, is backstory. Our protagonist, Gardner, doesn't even show up until these twenty minutes have gone by.

How should it have been handled?

Handling exposition and setting up a story properly is one of the great challenges facing a writer. We could have opened with Gardner, gotten to know him, and through dialogue, images (a photograph), old video, etc. found out who he is and how he got there.

There are some scientific issues with the film. NASA spent a trillion dollars on a mission to Mars, but not the $20 to do a pregnancy test? Gardner does a real-time chat session with Tulsa. The speed of light distance to Mars from Earth is three minutes. So that was impossible. But these are minor issues compared to the glaring error of opening with twenty minutes of backstory.

Ask yourself a few questions:

1. Why start my story on this day?

2. Who is my real protagonist? If they aren't in the film the first few minutes, you've got a problem.

3. If I cut out this scene or this sequence of scenes, do I still tell my story? (Story = protagonist seeking a goal against obstacles faces a crisis and in the resolution either succeeds or fails.)

If you can cut it out and work it in while your story is actually taking place, do so.