When a Scene Falls Flat: How to Diagnose and Fix It Without Panicking

Murphy’s Law loves a film set. Whether it’s a missing permit, a surprise storm, or a broken prop, something always goes wrong. But sometimes, the problem isn’t so easy to identify. Sometimes, you’re doing your walk-through and suddenly realize:
This isn’t working! We rehearsed so what the..?

I’ve been there. You prepared, had a good pre-production but here you are. Sometimes things shift a bit when you’re on set and those little nuances can now rip everything now that you’re really in it. It happens so before you say all this should have been caught beforehand, shit happens, especially when your film is low budget and you didn’t have the luxury of a good long prep . And when I feel that gut drop, I go straight to these three questions:

1. Is it the script?

Does the dialogue feel natural? Is it too wordy or unclear? Are the character's actions serving the story, or distracting from it? Will the audience understand what’s going on? Does it make sense?Can it be cut or does something needed to be added? Is a question answered?

2. Is it the acting?

Are the performances emotionally connected? Are the lines delivered with intention and are they getting the subtext or missing it entirely? Is the actor’s energy aligned with the tone of the rest of the film? Will this performance somehow contradict another scene or another character? How does their attitude change in the scene if at all? Are they playing it the way you see it?

3. Is it the directing?

Are you communicating clearly? Did you lead the actors in the wrong direction, even if they followed my notes perfectly? Are you over-directing, under-directing?

Usually, the issue lies in one or more of these areas. And when you can name it, you can fix it.

Real Story #1: The Soap Star Who Couldn’t Handle Paragraphs

Fresh out of film school, I was directing a scene with an actor who had soap opera and stage credits. On paper, he was solid. But on set, he kept flubbing his lines and seemed lost. I realized he just couldn’t manage long stretches of dialogue naturally.

So I broke the scene into short bursts, about three lines at a time. I already knew I could cut to the son’s reaction in post, so I directed accordingly. That small tweak worked. Maybe he didn’t memorize his lines and while in the scene he was trying to remember instead of just saying the lines naturally, but the minute I had him do three lines at a time, the pressure was off and he was awesome. I’ll never hire him again but sometimes people aren’t prepared as much as you agreed on.

Real Story #2: Throwing Out My Own Direction on The Luring

During a walkthrough, an actress who had rehearsed deeply and even worked with a coach, performed a scene exactly how I’d asked. But it wasn’t landing on set. Not her fault, it was me. The direction I gave clashed with the film’s tone, and now since this was day five I could tell more clearly. So I asked her to try a completely different approach just for shits and giggles. Less cartoon, more grounded but still playful. It worked.

We both stayed cool, adjusted on the fly, and now it’s one of my favorite scenes in The Luring. Lesson learned: trust your gut and pivot fast, put your ego aside.

The Bottom Line:

Sometimes fixing a broken scene means identifying the blockage. Other times it means taking full responsibility and rewriting your own choices. It’s a process of compromises and figuring out alternatives when shit hits the wall. Stay cool, use humor instead of freaking out.

At Weird Short Films, we know how fast things can go wrong on set. We can relate because we’ve been there. Having said that, your audience won’t know the backstory to why something isn’t working, they’ll juts see a mistake. With more experience you’ll be able to indentify them sooner or at least won’t freakout when Murphy’s Law comes by and says hello.