How to Write a ‘Mission Briefing’ Scene That Doesn’t Suck

James Cameron’s Aliens (1986) shows us how it’s done

There are certain types of scene that are just naturally boring. There’s no immediate conflict, no one trying to attack the focal character, fill them with lead, punch their lights out, or get to the finish line before them. In writer-speak, you might say the focal character’s line of action has no counter-action.

Maybe what one character wants is exactl…