Screenwriting structure Part 15

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Thought I forgot about ya? Naaah.

But I gotta tell ya… I went ahead and stuck a new contact page up and holy shit. All kinds of new thrills, chills, and spills…

Having said that… Can I just put this out there before I jump in with both steel-toe booted feet? Why in the hell are YOU sending me emails about the following:

There’s MORE but you get the idea.

No more of this shit, okay? On the other hand, if you’re a fairly regular visitor, you never know… I might be in the mood to answer you if you hit me at just the right time but I doubt it.

Let me split these questions in half…

The first half are obviously screenwriting questions… LOL. But not the kind of screenwriting questions to send me an email about. Go get a fuckin’ book and read about it because even IF I answer your question, that’s only ONE fucking question and because of the question you fucking asked me, I know you don’t know shit about even beginning to write a screenplay.

The very best FIRST BOOK I can possibly think of and can recommend to anyone who’s never written a screenplay before and is even remotely contemplating doing so is:

Buy this book and actually crack the fucking thing and guess what?

You’ll find answers! However, if you simply slide it under your pillow and hope that your brain will somehow absorb what’s inside…

Uh, no.

What I mean by cracking the book is opening it up and reading it through at least one time so that WHEN some kind of newbie question pops up, you’ll immediately know where to go to answer your own question!

YAY!

As for the other kinds of questions… Who gives a shit?

You gotta love the Internet…

Part 15 of screenwriting structure… Your Protagonist’s entrance into the new world…

Almost sounds like science fiction, huh? Nope. Remember, there’s the ordinary world and the new world. The new world being the world your Protagonist makes his or her journey through. It doesn’t have to be a new location. It doesn’t mean he or she has to go anwhere physically… It’s the entirely new set of circumstances, events, and obstacles that your Protagonist must now venture through to attain some kind of goal.

Yup.

Things to consider but are by no means rules of the game…

It must be your Protagonist’s decision to enter the new world. He or she should be a volunteer even if it means he or she made the wrong decision. Even if somebody else tricks or lures your Protagonist into the new world, the DECISION to enter should be theirs.

This comes hot off the trail of the Protagonist’s call to action dilemma. I just watched a screener of a fairly recent movie, 21 (yeah I’ve had it a year). Wasn’t bad — wasn’t great but I honestly think it could have been just a little better IF the Protagonist hadn’t just sat on a fucking bus thinking about becoming a player on Spacey’s blackjack team.

By the way… Card counters don’t flip over one card at a time to count… LOL. Fuck! Do some fuckin’ research! Card counters cancel groups of cards out. They see 2, 3, 4, or 5 cards and instantly see a plus or minus number, or hopefully a ZERO so they can simply IGNORE the group. When counting down a deck of cards, counters (depending on what hand they use) read the cards from left to right (if right handed) and from right to left if left handed again, cancelling out as many groups of cards as possible. In other words, we IGNORE the groups of cards that total fucking ZERO. We actually hold the cards in our hand and spread them from one hand to the other and count the deck down as fast as possible.

Got it?

I’m sure Vegas is thanking the hell out of the people behind 21. LOL.

I could go on but this is about structure… Sorry for the rant.

It’s okay if your Protagonist has doubts about entering the new world… It’s okay if he or she is scared or unsure what to do next. The point is that somewhere deep inside they know they have to make the journey.

The Protagonist’s call to action dilemma causes the Protagonist to question everything… He or she tries to figure the answers out to all those questions they ask themselves but something keeps pushing them toward the new world.

What’s pushing them?

A goal.

The means to an end. It may not be the CORRECT means to the end. It may not be the correct end. In fact, one or more goals might pop up along the way i.e., the initial goal can easily develop, change, and reveal itself as a totally new and different goal worth pursuing.

Remember… The new world is different from the ordinary world… Again, doesn’t necessarily mean location-wise but certainly can be… However, the location can be in the same exact location as the ordinary world but with new and threatening elements the Protagonist’s never seen or experienced before.

Make the new world different from the old world and we will feel the difference and not be bored.

This is also a decent time to consider tossing your Protagonist another dilemma. Remember — damned if you do — damned if you don’t dilemma.

Chew on it.

Unk

June 10, 2008 | Filed Under Structure

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