Spice up your screenplay with this plot device !!

As a screenwriter, an important question arises as to how to engage your audience. Today I am going to discuss a winning formula to spice up your screenplay. As a famous proverb goes - “You reap what you sow”, similarly in a screenplay, one of the very important device is ‘Plant and PayOff’, which simply means that you establish something earlier in the film that pays off later or is later used in the film. 

Some of famous ‘Plant & PayOff’ used in films are as follows:

1)        In James Bond films, the character Q introduces different gadgets, car and weapons to 007 which he uses toward the end to fight with villains (PayOff). 

2)        The term ‘Rosebud’ in Orson Welles’ classic ‘Citizen Kane’ is beautifully planted in initial few shots which remains a mystery throughout the film, only to be revealed in the last shot of the film (PayOff) and that too only to the audience (won’t reveal here- watch the film). 

3)        In ‘Do Dooni Chaar’, the plant is the question paper of a student (having roll no. 1393) that allures the school teacher into a money-making deal for the down payment of his dream car ‘Alto’ (PayOff). 

4)        In ‘Mom’, the plant is the shady detective guy (played by Nawazuddin) who helps the protagonist (payoff) to trace the rapists. 

5)        In Abbas Mastan’s ‘Race’, the plant is establishment of Saif Ali Khan’s character as a daredevil who loves racing and stunts. It pays off later in the film when his character is re-introduced doing gravity-defying stunts and saves Bipasha Basu. 

6)        In Shyamalan’s ‘The Sixth Sense’, well, the plant is so subtle that the payoff comes as a surprise (One of the best I have seen).

7)        In ‘Jaws’, it is the pressurized scuba tank which later helps in killing the shark (payoff). 

8)        In ‘Fukrey’, the plant is the character of the homeless drug-addict (who used to sell Lali’s motorbike parts) who later helps Lali by giving him the money to invest in the next dream (payoff).

9)        In Abbas Mastan’s ‘Aitraaz’, the plant is the mobile phone defect that is introduced later in the film and it finally helps Raj’s acquittal.  

10)     In ‘3 IDIOTS’, the plant is the ‘Viru S’ inverter that takes power from the car batteries, which is later used in the film to carry on a delivery (PayOff). 

In short, a dialogue, a character, a painting or a photograph, a prop or some piece of information or a combination of all these is introduced (planted) early in a film, is mentioned repeatedly in the film (depends) and finally pays off later in the film generally during a climax (not always during the climax). It can also be used during several scenes instead of the entire film. 

A good ‘plant & payoff’ engages audience and gives them a chance to be an active participant in the narrative rather than being a ‘sitting duck’. The best way to use it is to make sure that both plant and payoff are far away from each other in a narrative, otherwise both plant and payoff would appear deliberate and forced upon. For eg. Consider the above mentioned ‘3 IDIOTS’ scene. Now if Ranchho invents the inverter in one scene and in the next scene, the delivery happens with the help of the inverter… Sounds too superficial.. Isnt it?? 

We have to make sure that the plant is not too obvious otherwise the payoff will fall flat and becomes quite predictable. And, if the plant is too subtle, we might not even notice the payoff. 

So, a ‘plant & payoff’ is a vital element in feature and television writing. Next time you watch a film or a television series, try to identify one and try to use in your own productions as it not only develops your sense of story structure but also helps you to make your narrative unexpected.