Powerful character creation and backstory.

My girlfriend and I were watching Goodfellas over the weekend, a movie I'd seen at least a couple of times in the last few years, and Martin Scorsese's character development and background pacing reminded me why he has more than one great film to re-watch on a Saturday night. This early scene revolves around the main character Henry Hill and depicts how great of a job he has working for the mobsters across the street, making more money than kids his age, and being treated as one of the adults. This scene was brief - only 3 minutes for this clip - but it provided relevant back story for Henry, his family situation, and his importance in this new organization.

The film could have spent a lengthy time exposing Henry's upbringing and life before the mobsters were on his mind, but this freed up Scorsese's plot to focus on the characters where it really mattered such as in their daily conversations with each other, 'business' dealings, political factions within the organization, and personal shortcomings (mostly Tommy's lack of self restraint, and the group's lack of good judgement towards his actions, and their own, that destroys the organization). I believe there's something to gain in our writing from great movies like these and their structure.