Cold Open

Structure

Definition: A cold open is a scene or sequence that plays before the title card or main credits, designed to hook the audience immediately. Common in television (especially procedurals and dramedies), cold opens drop the viewer into action, mystery, or an arresting image before the story formally begins.

Understanding Cold Open

Cold opens exist because audiences decide fast. In TV, a cold open gives you ninety seconds to make someone stay on the channel. In features, it can establish tone, drop a teaser of future events, or create a mystery. "Breaking Bad" used cold opens masterfully — flash-forwards that raised questions the episode then answered. "The Dark Knight" opens with the bank robbery before any title. The cold open is a promise: stick around, because this story is worth it. Structurally, a cold open can be chronological (the first event in the story) or non-linear (a flash-forward or scene from the middle). Both work. What matters is that it grabs.

Example in a Screenplay

COLD OPEN

EXT. DESERT ROAD - DAWN

An RV barrels down an empty highway. Inside, a man in
underwear and a gas mask drives with one hand and holds
a gun in the other.

Sirens in the distance.

                                        SMASH CUT TO:

TITLE CARD: "Three Weeks Earlier"

END COLD OPEN

Common Mistakes

Writing a cold open that has no connection to the main story — it feels like a bait-and-switch. Making it too long (cold opens should be one to three pages in TV, five max in features). Using a cold open when the actual first scene of your story is already compelling enough. Every pilot script has a cold open now whether it needs one or not.