ABSTRACT
The screenwriter interested in constructing a narrative in the thriller genre is setting out on a more complex task than simply following a generic impulse 'to thrill'. The screenwriter interested in writing in the classic thriller genre actually has quite a few guideposts to follow during the constructive process. The flawed cop or flawed private investigator, partly due to the 1940s film noir narratives, soon became a staple in the thriller genre. Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen are masters of the thriller genre, they have brought a personal uniqueness to its structure. In the mid-1930s and into the 1940s, as Europe began to feel the growing heartbeat of Nazism and Fascism and very real threats to personal and ethnic freedoms, the popular spy thriller subgenre became firmly cemented. One of the most striking thrillers of the silent era is Suspense, written and directed by Lois Weber.
