ARTICLE: Writing Page-Turners
by Hal Croasmun
A real "page-turner" causes the reader to wonder what will happen next. Each page is somehow connected to the future. In fact, each page creates a possible future.
It has us live the present and worry about the future.
Every scene should send a person into the future of the script or at least to the end of the scene. You may have heard this saying;
"In a script, it's not what's happening now, it's what's happening NEXT that matters."
You need to cause readers to worry, wonder, anticipate, and fret over what will happen next in your script. And, believe me, any script worth producing is going to be full of page-turner techniques.
EXAMPLE from the movie OUT OF SIGHT:
As you read this scene, watch how Scott Frank, the writer works to propel our minds into the future of the scene and the entire story
EXAMPLE from the movie OUT OF SIGHT:
http://www.screenwritingu.com/screenwriting-articles/36-general-articles/73-writing-page-turners-part1