Beckett and April are American tourists enjoying a romantic vacation in Greece when a tragic car accident turns this relatively tame trip into a Hitchcockian nightmare. Alone, Beckett must navigate the unfamiliar territory as he tries to make it to the U.S. consulate, while hunted by corrupt law enforcement determined to kill him. But why? Beckett finds himself in a mystery that he barely has time to solve as he tries to outrun those trying to silence him.

Greece is at the crossroads of a political revolution, but what role Beckett plays is the mystery driving the narrative. He not only must constantly run in a country where he doesn’t speak the language, or know who to trust, but also figure out why people want him dead.

Beckett stars John David Washington and is based on a story by Ferdinando Cito Filomarino (who also directs the film) and was written by Kevin A. Rice.

Here are five screenwriting takeaways from the Hitchcockian thriller Beckett.

1. Always on the run

Once Beckett is running from the villains, the movie becomes a constant wave of ups and downs. The first example is when two people start shooting at him causing him to run for his life and escape into the rural countryside. Successfully escaping, the movie then slows down so Beckett can take a breather, that is until a group of hunters finds him sleeping in the bed of an abandoned piece of machinery. One helps him until a  catalyst sparks him to run for his life once again.

Writers can pull up the stopwatches on their phones and see how long of a breather the character gets before they are forced to run again. And since a page in a script is about a minute on-screen, they can determine how much time to dedicate to each scene before the character is propelled into action.

2. The audience and character must rest

Along with being on the run, a character can’t consistently run throughout the entire film (the exception maybe being Tom Cruise). Both the character and the viewer need time to breathe — too much action and the viewer loses interest in the story, too much breathing time and their expectations of an action-thriller won’t be met.

This breather also means that when the character stops running, they must learn something new to drive their mission and to solve the mystery. When building the outline, writers can add red herrings or disinformation to increase conflict, confuse the characters, and shove them in the wrong direction.

The Fugitive is another example of a character constantly on the run who must outwit his pursuers while trying to get answers.

3. Perfection is the enemy

On a recent episode of Final Draft’s Write On podcast, writer Kevin A. Rice and director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino discuss putting the film together. It was a collaboration that started in 2015 and continued until the release of the movie six years later.

Filomarino admits that the script never felt like it was perfect. There was no point that he believed they nailed it. He says, “I always feel that there is more to fine-tune. Then when you cast the roles, there is more to do depending on the title character, emotionally speaking. Even the locations, there’s always something in reality that will change things.”

Writers can learn from this perspective and realize that no matter how perfect they try to make their script, that filmmaking is a collaborative art form. While there is the chance that a whole lot may not change, actors, producers, directors and available locations and budgets can alter your perfect script.

Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good.

4. Before the inciting incident

The short time between the start of the story and the inciting incident is the time that the writer can build out who the main character is. Every scene and piece of dialogue in Beckett is used to define who Beckett is and how the audience can expect him to react to the challenges ahead.

Based on these scenes, we can’t expect Beckett to be a former army ranger who knows how to murder with his bare hands. But rather, an average man who doesn’t know his way around a foreign country and doesn’t have the means to fight those who are attacking him unless absolutely necessary.

Writers can study the way both Beckett and April engage with each other and the environment, and how it sets up the main character’s action for the rest of the film.

5. We know what he knows

Why is Beckett being chased? Who’s after him? Who can he trust?

The viewers are on the journey with Beckett and his appearance in every scene means any information he receives, the audience receives it, too. Therefore the viewer doesn’t know any more or less than the lead character. This creates an investment of the audience as they ask themselves, “What would I do in this situation?”

Writers can see how Rice and Filomarino create a dangerous puzzle for both the lead character and the audience to solve.

Listen to the Final Draft Write On podcast with Ferdinando Cito Filomarino and Kevin A. Rice for more on their process. Then, stream Beckett on Netflix.