The comedy genre was made apparent throughout the ten minutes, and it is important to note that the first line spoken in the film is in fact a joke, setting up what is to come.

Bobby Bowfinger (STEVE MARTIN) is obviously the protagonist. His goal is to make his film. Internally, he seeks importance apparent in this snippet of dialogue:

We see Bowfinger's flaw is more internal. Sure, he's not a good filmmaker. He's broke (can't make a living with filmmaking), his "crew" is ready to ditch him, he thinks "Chubby Rain" is a good title. So why does HE THINK HE'S A GOOD FILMMAKER? Because he's DELUSIONAL. (at least 1st 10) Inside. Internal. He has eternal hope, but still delusional if he thinks "Chubby Rain" is a great script. We know it's bad, AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN READ IT! His "crew" is STILL about to ditch him until Bobby convinces him that he's got a meeting w/Mr. Bigshot. AND EVEN THEN, they give him a deadline.

Other elements made apparent in the ten minutes include his financial state. He is broke and has a long history of debt. We also know he is an active character who immediately implements his plan to reach his goal. Even though his ethics are questionable, he is made likable to he viewer as we see him as loyal and passionate.

BOWFINGER is seen as a "small" film

With the first few minutes taking place in a pessimistic 2029 including laser fire and flying ships and the remainder of the ten minutes following two mysterious men in various conflicts, the Sci-Fi action genre is established. We also see THE TERMINATOR as a big film as it crosses many years and carries large stakes presented in the opening crawl:

Although the protagonist and antagonist are left unclear, we can make certain assumptions. The opening crawl suggests a comflict between the man and machine. Two men dominate the opening when they appear in a bright flash of light- later revealed to be the result of time travel. Each has a different reaction to their trip.

The first, played by ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER appears unaffected even as his naked body emits smoke. With the confidence of a man on a mission, he approaches three punks demanding their clothing, one of them portrayed by a young Bill Paxton (TWISTER) with a colorful Mohawk. His language repeats the wording of the punks, possibly suggesting a form of learning on his part. And after he aggressively attacks them, he takes a knife in his muscular stomach, which seems to have no effect. He kills without hesitation. Obviously something is different about this fellah… In fact, his movement and presence is very robotic.

The second time traveler is Kyle Reese, played by MICHAEL BIEHN (ALIENS). His arrival has his small physical frame slammed to the ground, and his pain is apparent. This guy is immediately more vulnerable and he travels more stealthily. And when he is faced with a human obstruction, he does not kill. That choice makes him more redeemable than the other. It shouyld be easy to tell who we should be rooting for...

Later on, this setup will be explained but for now, the screenplay setup takes a hold of you. The ten minutes culminates with Kyle locating the name "Sarah Connor" in the phone book, which setups the story..

Brian Helgeland's film PAYBACK accomplishes plenty in its first 10 minutes (approximately 10 properly formatted pages). In fact, this short list is delivered to the audience within the first 2 minutes: We knew the story's genre and direction AFTER THE FIRST SCENE. And BOOM! the story's off and running. Not just the first 10 minutes. We knew the world of the story (that's NOT a hospital!), the genre, the protag, protag's goal, and like you said... pretty big clue that the people who have his money will not just hand it over (and that's probably the Antagonist!)

Although the antagonist is unclear, we assume it is the person or persons who has his money. We see this as a crime genre from the anti-hero Porter's Noir voice over as he has bullets removed from his back using questionably sterile materials. In that voice over, Porter played by Mel Gibson (BRAVEHEART) states his simple goal to reacquire his money and the next 8 minutes gives you a good idea how he intends to go about it. He relentlessly steps on people on his way to his money. We see that he is good at what he does. This is evident when he waits to pickpocket someone that he bears a resemblance. We also get a sense of his talents as he manipulates a Magnum firearm like an expert. He is also a man of certain class choosing to use stolen credit cards to buy a nice suit, costly watches and a steak at an expensive restaurant.

Although his methods are consistently shady, we find his character redeemable when he takes steps in cleaning up his wife's drug addiction.