Screenwriting structure Part 7 The Monomyth

The Hero's Journey or Monomyth

“a hero ventures forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” (30).

–Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Screenwriting structure REALLY is where … Why? Because sometimes, a very well structured screenplay can SELL. Sure, they might end up changin’ the shit out of it but if your structure is really, really outstanding, IT very likely WILL NOT CHANGE.

The , , , — doesn’t matter what you call it — is, in my opinion, where the rubber meets the road in screenwriting structure. Now before I move on, I’ve heard it all before…

The hero’s journey is formulaic!

I don’t want to write movies the way Hollywood does!

I don’t believe in the hero’s journey!

To me, just like knowing basic screenplay formatting, a screenwriter really should know the hero’s journey as a basic foundation on which to base his or her screenwriting structure.

Why?

Because in using some form of the hero’s journey in your own screenwriting structure, you will go a hell of a long way in communicating both the EXTERNAL and the INTERNAL story of your story.

The internal story?

Yup. Otherwise known as your Protagonist’s .

One of the reasons stories told with some version of the monomyth do so well at the boxoffice is because they hit us very hard. Especially on the INSIDE… Our psyche.

The monomyth is very likely the oldest form of storytelling there is… The Hero’s Journey, or monomyth, speaks to just about everyone on an level or in other words, a structure that is strategically put together in response to the collective wishes of a group — for our use, the group being the eventual audience of our film.

Through strategic use of metaphor and symbolism, the very best stories live on in perpetuity. This is why we’re still learning about today. This is why we pass these same myths down. Myths started out as sacred tales worthy of a tribe’s admiration, respect, and even fear. They often touched upon a tribe’s Gods and the mysteries of how life came to be so of course, tribespeople were mesmerized and passed these stories down to current day… Especially when these stories revolved around a central character…

The .

Stories and movies are no different. If a story or movie connects DEEP INSIDE of us, we will certainly turn right around and tell others about it. And no, not all our modern stories require a hero anymore… A fits quite well these days.

In other words, we keep evolving the monomyth… We push it — tweak it — as we and our audiences evolve — books and movies being OUR myths of today.

No longer does the hero of a story have to be an outright hero… We are obviously more sophisticated than the audiences that used to sit around the campfire and listen to the tales of how the world came to be so we can now HANDLE a hero with flaws… We can now handle a hero that isn’t all good yet using the monomyth in some form for your story will still HIT your audience on a deep level because these are events that should be so powerful that we are eager to swallow them whole… We are eager to jump on the Protagonist’s train and ride along with him or her to the very end.

The mythic journey structure, or some form of it, takes into account, your Protagonist’s transformational arc and if you strategically place your story events and obstacles in certain places for maximum impact on your audience — and DO IT WELL — you will be handsomely rewarded as a screenwriter.

That’s the very reason it’s called a . The journey of your Protagonist is two-fold:

  1. External – where and how you PHYSICALLY take your Protagonist through your story.
  2. Internal – where and how you INTERNALLY take your Protagonist through your story.

If done correctly, the events themselves will put your Protagonist into motion so that by the time he or she reaches the end of your story, he or she is internally transformed as well as having achieved his or her external goal (or not). The hero’s journey helps us to convey universal truths about one’s personal self-discovery and self-transcendence, one’s role in society, and the relationship between the two.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie or read a book that did NOT contain some aspect of the hero’s journey… No, the author or screenwriter may not have purposely written their story from the perspective of the hero’s journey but because this kind of storytelling is intrinsic in all of us in one way or another i.e., we all tend to touch upon specific aspects of STORY…

And not to discount ’s contribution but this was the way WE were telling stories from the beginning of time. Just like studied movies and came up with a road map of the three act structure, so did Joeseph Campbell research and study mythic storytelling and give us a basis of screenwriting structure.

Unk

EDIT: Somebody left a comment and asked if THIS is a good time to try and get an agent… Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted it because it got caught by the SPAM plugin and I forgot to DE-SPAM it. Yeah, that’s what they call it.

My answer: Hell yeah! Anytime is a good time except around Christmas and New Years… So if you’re gonna do it — get cracking!

Unk out.

November 29, 2007 | Filed Under Structure

16 Comments 

Don’t Kill the Messenger 4

Wow… My inbox is literally overflowing with questions about the and what you, as a non-WGA member can and cannot do during this strike… Well considering that I belong to a NON-WGA Signatory prodco, I may or may not be the best person to answer these questions but what the hell… If it means less emails about this stuff, I will try to wade through and tell you what I know…

First of all, let me reiterate that the Writers do OF COURSE deserve what they are asking for… More if you ask me. Everyone worth a shit KNOWS without a doubt that within the next decade, damn near all movies are going to be streamed and or downloaded from the Internet and if you don’t think studios are gearing up for this, then you don’t know the studios.

That being said…

Come 26 November 2007, let us HOPE that the pulls its head out of its ass because let’s face it — no way you’re going to find enough material without writers.

Here are the top questions I keep getting asked:

  • Unk, I’m not a WGA writer but I want to show my support during this strike. Should I stop writing?

Hmmm. Are you already an outstanding writer? My guess is NOT YET. If this is true, then WHY on earth would you stop writing? I know WGA writers who haven’t stopped writing so WHY would YOU? Let me explain… While it might be a nice show of support, as long as you’re writing for YOU and NOT a WGA signatory or struck company, why not keep improving? When I say that I know WGA writers who haven’t stopped writing, I’m talking strictly writing for themselves and NOT for a studio… Not for a prodco… Not for anyone but themselves. It’s okay to keep writing that spec you’ve been hard at work on so keep working on it! If you want to support the strike, get on a picket line with the writers or .

  • Unk, I’m not in the WGA but hope to be someday. Anyway, I have a producer that is interested in one of my scripts. Would I be considered a scab if I sell my script to him during the strike?

You don’t say whether or not the producer that’s interested in your script is with a or not. If the producer IS with a signatory then YES, you will be considered a if you proceed during the strike. However, if (as I suspect) this producer is an Indie producer or with a non-signatory prodco, then NO, you would not be considered a scab if you proceed with a sale during this strike. To reiterate… To be considered a scab during this strike, you would either have to sell or write a script for a WGA Signatory.

On the other hand… If you were a WGA writer, the clearly state that you cannot sell, write, deliver written materials, negotiate, or engage in discussions regarding present or future writing projects with a WGA Signatory company.

  • Unk, should I be querying and sending out my scripts to producers since there’s a strike going on?

I’m assuming (once again) that you’re talking about producers with struck companies since it sounds to me as though you’re hoping this strike will somehow open a door for you. If so, the answer is an emphatic NO! Nobody likes a scab. If, however, you’re talking about non-signatory prodcos… Let me copy and paste Rule 13 of the 2007 Writer’s Guild West Strike Rules:

13. Rules pertaining to non-members

The Guild does not have the authority to discipline non-members for strike breaking and/or scab writing. However, the Guild can and will bar that writer from future Guild membership. This policy has been strictly enforced in the past and has resulted in convincing many would-be strike breakers to refrain from seriously harming the Guild and its members during a strike. Therefore, it is important for you to report to the Guild the name of any non-member whom you believe has performed any writing services for a struck company and as much information as possible about the non-member’s services.

I’d say that pretty much spells it out if you plan on becoming a WGAw member one day…

Read the

Read the

Read the

Unk out.

November 23, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized

11 Comments 

Hacked again…

Okay, just found out that we got hacked again. We caught them red handed this time but there isn’t anything we can do since they hail from Russia… LOL.

It looks like we’re going to have to take the site down completely and rebuild from scratch and I have no idea how long it’s going to take because first, we have to make sure we don’t lose any posts or comments…

So if you see the site down here and there, rest assured that it’s ONLY because we’re working on plugging up all the holes. Hopefully, it will be a seamless task and not have the site down too long…

Sorry for the inconvenience…

Unk

November 17, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized

17 Comments 

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