Screenwriting Structure Part 14
Wow, not having a working “contact” page has been a nice vacation… LOL. Only people I “like” are sending me emails. What a fucking concept! I may have to ditch the contact page altogether.
I thought I would share a recent email communication I had with one of the usual visitors here because it really does go with screenwriting structure and to be honest, I haven’t seen it discussed like this in any books, articles, or blogs and it’s actually very relevant to the series.
I basically answered an email and for the fucking life of me, I can’t remember the actual question but if the visitor I wrote this to wants to speak up — go for it.
I hope this explains structure to those of you who worry so much about formula… LOL. I had to rewrite some of it because I had deleted the original email and a truncated version of popped up in my search results so I have taken some artistic license to bring it to you here.
Here it is:
LOL. To be honest, I kind of had the idea that this might be happening with you… Just a feeling but I generally go with my gut and it has served me well.
What you have to try and keep in mind is that your stuff IS already different. The stories are different. The characters are different. The way YOU write it is different from the way this shit is being written today.
KNOW THAT. Relish that.
Structure will pull it all together.
Remember the baseline?
This is the HARDEST thing I can get people who want to break in to the business to understand…
Now the following is SIMPLY an attempt to explain what I mean — I am not talking about you — per se.
I think you’re a really good writer. I think you definitely bring your “A” game to the game. So that aside, read the following and let it cook a few days…
Let’s say that the following are the current baselines…
———-Pro Writer Baseline———-
—-Highly Talented Writer Baseline—-
——–Talented Writer Baseline——-
————Newbie Baseline———–
Newbies and Talented writers have a ways to go…
Highly Talented Writer is almost there. Pro writers ARE at the top — “in the game.”
For newbies and talented writers, it’s often simply a matter of experience but having said that, I have read a shitload of newbie and talented writer screenplays that could have easily been elevated to Highly Talented Writer Baseline if ONLY they would have had some kind of applied structure. Now when I say that, you have to rise above the actual words that I’m using and not simply let the word or phrase, “structure” — pigeonhole you into meaning something formulaic.
We can talk for months and years about outstanding movies that break the mold. I have never argued that point but I think arguing about it online, forums, blah blah fucking blah does a disservice to newbies and talented writers because what they fucking need is structure to get them on the right path MOST OF THE TIME.
So many books talk about structure but really do NOT explain it in any real detail and show me a book, article, site, whatever that says not to use 3 Act Structure… And, for those that do, it’s almost as if the author IS IN FACT telling you to simply use the structure they give you as is.
See, the lines are extremely blurry. Anything can fit into a 3 Act Structure but I think when you call a kind of structure 3 Act Structure, it causes mass confusion because that’s what’s out there the most and if you’ve ever looked at the basic 3 Act Structure — there’s really not much to it. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. Of course it works but it was the 3 Act Structure with its SIMPLE BASIC explanation that allows those using it to be creative i.e., since it doesn’t list every possible fucking story element that could happen within the 3 Act Structure environment, you are free to be creative and do whatever you want because the 3 Act Structure is in fact so very fucking vague.
I don’t like vague.
So I started my research into structure and the first thing I found that I despised about 3 Act Structure is the twice as long 2nd act. I fucking hate that — but that’s just me.
With my background and the way I think and the way I do things — the way I was taught to take notes — blah blah blah — I like things to be nice and tidy. Meaning, I like 4 distinct acts of somewhat equal length. It just makes sense to me. It goes along with my mindset. Easy to understand. Easy to remember. It’s simply a process and a process that works for ME.
If it can work for others then ME HAPPY.
I am a non-linear thinker. I’m no less an artist than anyone writing but I realized early on that Society — at least the society that I live in and continue to live in does not lend itself toward an artist’s mentality. Nothing wrong with that but the problem is that as artists, we tend not to think like average society when it comes to the actual writing or THE ART.
However, for me — I am not speaking for you — for me — everything leading UP to the art is fairly linear to me. Preparation. Research. Notes. Whatever. It’s the actual ART that I DEVIATE from linear thinking and I have observed this with a lot of people.
But at the same time, I also know a few artists who were brought up by artists. Raised in an artist family. Lived in areas dominated by artists. Not a lot of them because there’s NOT a lot of them but they do exist. While these people usually have to find their own way to their art, they do seem to have a little easier time of it because they are not bound by the same society to which I am certainly bound…
They have evolved in a completely different way than us linear thinkers so they devise their own process.
Neither is more right than the other. Neither works better.
It’s simply what works BEST for YOU.
The 4 Act Structure I came up with works best for me and as it turns out, I would say that 98% of those people I share it with also FEEL like it would work better for them and guess what, when they write their screenplays using it, they usually end up a hell of a lot better. Having said that however, EVERYONE WILL USE IT DIFFERENTLY. You get out of it whatever you get out of it.
Some people look at it and jump to the conclusion that it’s some kind of list that you go down and simply cross off as you write that particular element into your story… The dreaded formula… LOL.
And for THOSE that want to use it that way — fine. I can explain it all I want but in the end, people do whatever the fuck they want to do.
I’ve never promoted it as some kind of end all one structure fits all structure. As I said previously, it’s simply a starting point.
It’s a “compass.”
With a compass, you are at point “A” and you know that you must head due north to eventually get to point “B,” right? But if you’re going over mountains and through rivers, and whatever, you have to take detours. You might have to go west for a few days before you can start heading north again. You then find out that there’s no way for you get over that mountain because it’s straight the fuck up and down. So now you have to turn around and head south until you find a passage… A valley, a trail, whatever… Something that allows you to eventually start heading north again.
That’s all a really good structure is… A starting point. Every writer is different but hopefully, many writers will simply let their characters take those passages… Those valleys and trails until they stumble back on the trail i.e., structure.
And although the books, articles, and even SOME of the gurus advocate using their structure in such a way that you simply follow and connect the dots, I think they do that because it’s easy to advocate.
Where I break off from that mindset is that I think every writer owes it to US to divert and let the story evolve until it has literally created its very own structure… One that is perfect for that story. Organic and germane to the story you’re creating.
In order to DO THAT however, you gotta be IN SHAPE! You have to be prepared! You have to be running the 100 yard dash in a competitive time otherwise, you have no fucking business even being at the race.
Not yet anyway.
Structure does that for you. You start off with a great structure as your compass… Your roadmap. But somewhere along the way, other adventures pop up and you go after them with a vengeance and the story goes into a different direction — hopefully a direction you never even considered before. This is growth. This is organic structure. This is YOU writing YOUR story differently from everyone else even though you may have started off with a structure similar to other movies.
On the other hand… When you don’t start off with a valid structure to point you in the right direction, you can easily miss adventures and landmarks that you should definitely not have missed and you owe it to us — your eventual audience to, at the very least, be aware that these adventures and landmarks exist.
It will be up to you and your characters to decide whether or not they really do fit in the grand scheme of things but you at least want to know about them up front so you can make that educated decision somewhere down the line.
A good solid structure is your jacklight .
But you can do it any way you like… Everybody gets to dance .
Unk
What’s up with The Unknown Screenwriter…
Okay… Here’s the scoop. Too many hackers trying to infiltrate my server. The server’s only a couple of years old but because some of the modules on the server are old, some of the things I’ve attempted to do with the server to upgrade the security haven’t worked.
Got a new server with all kinds of bells and whistles and a hell of a lot more security.
Tried migrating the site over and the database was not only way too large but the new version of WordPress wouldn’t take all the tables.
So I am having to download each table to my computer and then upload it to the new server. But wow, WordPress 2.5.1 is a huge improvement. My spam has gone down from literally a couple of thousand comments a day to several and I haven’t even entered any blacklist info.
Unfortuntely, the OLD theme design wouldn’t work with 2.5.1 and the ONLY reason the site looks like this now is because I already had this theme laying around. Never really liked it that much so it could definitely change.
For those of you with feed readers… Apparently, some or all of you are receiving information from completely different sites i.e., NOT The Unknown Screenwriter.
I also subscribe to my own feed so I can see what happens and as it turns out some of the sites that showed up were sites I am hosting for a friend of mine while a couple of others must be sharing my IP address because I sure as hell don’t know where they’re coming from.
I’m sure once the site is fully migrated over and everything is working, all that should subside.
I’m also considering taking the site PRIVATE. I’m just in the “thinking about it” mode. I don’t have the time nor the inclination to deal with all the email and the bullshit. The site was simply supposed to help those fledgling screenwriters that felt they needed it.
Now… If I take it private, what the FUCK does that mean?
It means exactly this… It means I have to approve you for you to get inside and poke around. It means I will have a HELL of a lot more stuff to share with you that I don’t here and I do have my reasons.
No… It ain’t gonna cost anything. LOL. I’m not in this to make money. I truly am in this to get people to write better screenplays and NOT my way but to help you find YOUR WAY.
If that sounds interesting to you… Let me know. If you hate the idea, let me know. If you have suggestions, let me know. My intention was never to let this site grow traffic-wise as much as it has. In fact, I just figured it would be a cool place to talk about what I like to talk about the most.
Screenwriting.
Unk
Screenwriting structure Part 13 The Protagonist’s call to action dilemma
You may or may not have heard about this… Most of us have heard about the Protagonist’s “call to action” which is followed by “refusal of the call.” And I personally believe in the Protagonist’s call to action — refusal of the call but what about right before the call to action? Remember the inciting incident? Remember how it totally kicks the Protagonist off that balance beam we call his or her ordinary world?
Well right after we make him or her lose their balance and take that fall, they’re stunned. They weren’t expecting this to happen to them. Their ordinary world is now disrupted to the point that they’ve got to stand back and take a breath… They don’t know what the fuck to do…
Time to regroup.
The Protagonist is going through a call to action dilemma. No, this ain’t the big dilemma that you might want to throw at your Protagonist later on down the line… This is a small one but to me, it’s really important. In fact, I look for it in every script and guess what?
I rarely see it.
Most books and gurus never seem to mention it but don’t let that keep you from understanding it. Most scripts that I read definitely have the call to action — refusal of the call and wow… They seem to slap that right in our face, don’t they? It’s almost like the screenwriter is saying, “Look Ma, I’m using the Hero’s Journey!”
In other words — it ain’t too subtle. No it doesn’t have to be but it just happens to be one of my pet peeves.
Oh well.
The Protagonist’s call to action dilemma is your chance — early on in your story to show us how fucked up your Protagonist is… Or maybe how fucked up your Protagonist, ain’t. That all depends on you and your Protagonist.
But make no mistake, showing us how your Protagonist handles this dilemma is important stuff. It helps clarify what kind of person your protagonist is. It’s okay to show us how fucked up your Protagonist is before the call to action dilemma because now you can redeem him or her if you’ve a mind to.
Or not.
Sure, we almost always see the Protagonist refuse to get involved in a new adventure… Geez… At this point in our lives and with all these movies — haven’t we pretty much come to expect it? They can’t get involved because they’re needed at home. They can’t get involved because it’s not their job. They can’t get involved because their pee-pee hurts.
Ho hum. Fine. Then all of a sudden their pee-pee doesn’t hurt anymore OR what the hell… Even though it still hurts like a motherfucker, they’re gonna go.
Sever that predictability by concentrating a little more on the actual dilemma that the inciting incident brings to the game. Take this opportunity to let us learn more about your Protagonist. His or her real fears and flaws. Now’s the time to show us. Now’s the time to tell us if this guy or girl is worth our investment of time, popcorn, and soda.
Don’t pass it up.
Unk