International intrigue. Secret agencies. Clandestine operations. Who doesn’t love a spy movie? From big action blockbusters like the Mission: Impossible and the Bourne Identity series, to smaller scale arthouse films like The Imitation Game and even family movies like Spy Kids, there always seems to be a market for the spy movie, and they often attract top talent.

But when spy movies are so prevalent and have been in fashion since the 1920s, how do you create one that’s original, or has a new angle that will intrigue audiences? This brings us to the new spy thriller Black Bag, which shows us that spy movies don’t need to fit into the same mold. 

Black Bag

Black Bag is the second Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, Ocean’s Eleven) film released in 2025 and was written by famed screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Stir of Echoes). It follows George (Michael Fassbender), a British intelligence agent tasked with finding another agent inside the agency who is suspected of betraying the country. The key suspect: his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). This being a spy movie, there is more than meets the eye, and it will take all the skills he’s acquired to reveal the true rat in the agency.

This new spy drama has all the hallmarks of a solid tale of espionage, duplicity and betrayal that comes with this subgenre. Writing a good spy movie is hard and takes some outlining, planning and patience, but Black Bag offers some great lessons for screenwriters.

1. Open with a Bang

It doesn’t have to be a literal bang, but spy movies open with something that engages the audience almost immediately. Whether it’s the villains of the story stealing something important, the hero of the movie holding onto the outside of an airplane as it takes off, or a sinister plan being discussed, that first scene is critical in setting the pace of the story.

In Black Bag, in the first scene, the very first line is a man telling George that Kathryn is a traitor. The thing is, George is trustworthy enough to put the task above any relationship in his life and find the truth about the supposed rat.

Within moments of the film starting, the story is thrust into motion and the intrigue begins. Screenwriters can see how it’s not always a major action set piece that needs to get the movie going. Sometimes all you need is a line of dialogue to get the viewer engaged. In the case of Black Bag, the audience is asking any number of questions: How is he going to find out if his wife is a traitor? What will he do if he believes she betrayed their country? And what would I do in that situation?

Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender in 'Black Bag'

2. Subtext, or what are they really saying?

For a lesson in subtext, screenwriters can take note of the dialogue in Black Bag. When two spies talk to one another, it’s not about what they’re saying but what the meaning behind the words are. Conversations between George and Kathryn seem normal at the surface, but the audience knows that George is trying to gather intelligence, whereas the truth behind Kathryn’s words is hard to decipher.

Even in real life, people don’t always mean what they say. One spouse can ask the other if they’re okay and the response could be, “yes.” But the subtext behind that word can be anything from sheer happiness to utter contempt toward the person who asked it.

On the nose dialogue in a spy movie isn’t good. For instance, in Black Bag, at one point George asks if Kathryn wants to see a movie – but there is so much behind that question and the audience leans forward wondering how Kathryn will answer. The reason: subtext.

3. Red Herrings

A Red Herring is a piece of information that is designed to be misleading, and spy movies are filled with them. They are NOT plot twists; they are deliberate mis-directions.

You’ll find any number of these in spy stories because the point of the movie is to constantly trick the protagonist and the audience into thinking in one direction when the plan is unfolding another way. I’ll use an example from Black Bag but I’ll try to be vague about it.

[SPOILER: At one point, George finds a movie ticket stub in the trash for a date when Kathryn was supposed to be on assignment somewhere else. In the next scene, he asks if she wants to see that movie and she says yes. George is gauging her reactions, does she suspect he knows something? When they’re at the movie, George is scrutinizing all her actions (and so are the viewers). But, alas, this is a Red Herring. This is all misleading the audience and George into thinking it’s something when it’s really not. However, the movie ticket loosely has to do with how George solves the rat problem – just not how we think.]

Remember, one of the key attributes to spy movies is deception, so Red Herrings are a must.

Michael Fassbender in 'Black Bag'

4. Planting Seeds

The focus of dialogue and a character’s actions are critical in spy movies. When you write a good spy thriller, the thought is that people will revisit and analyze parts for clues to the end they already know. Think about the second time you may have watched The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects or Memento. There are subtle clues dropped everywhere. For instance, in Black Bag, a question regarding someone’s religion initially feels off-hand, but is a clue that the audience knows was dropped when it’s brought up again at the end.

Planting these seeds makes the final conclusion of the film more exciting, as these things will pop up as the situation gets solved. The movie ticket I referenced in the previous section – even though it’s a Red Herring, it does have a small part to play in the reveal.

The good news is that planting seeds doesn’t have to take place in the first drafts of your script. When your script is in a good spot, go back and start planting seeds. You already know how it ends, now you can start dropping clues.

5. Problem Solving

What makes spy movies so intriguing and why they are always popular both in TV and movies, is that the audience is actively participating in it. The viewer might think they’re kicking back and watching the latest spy thriller but their mind is active because they’re constantly trying to think ahead and be smarter than the movie. It’s the writer’s job to throw as much deception as possible to keep them engaged, but not quite giving them the answer.

For the most part, we know that the hero spy will live (or at least succeed). That’s no surprise. What matters is how they solve the puzzle and how they bring the audience along for the ride.

--

Black Bag provides a different angle than many spy films. It’s more talk than action, and has fewer characters than many other spy movies. Because of this, the movie feels smaller and more intimate while still holding all the elements of a spy movie which includes deception, betrayal, counter-espionage and duplicity. It does what spy movies do best: keeps you guessing until the end.