Screenwriting Structure Part 17 The Midpoint

midpoint-screenplay

Wow… Took long enough to get here… LOL.

What’s the midpoint in a screenplay? Take a gander:

The above is not an all-inclusive list of course… This is just off the top of my head but hopefully you get the IDEA. The IDEA being that any of the above can work as the midpoint of a screenplay.

Probably one of the most asked questions I get is the midpoint being the POINT OF NO RETURN. Lots of confusion here… Let me see if I might be able to shed some light on the point of no return.

Some screenwriters argue that the entire screenplay should be a point of no return because hey… If the Protagonist doesn’t move forward or simply goes back home, we have no story.

True.

And even if we write a Protagonist that defies this strategy and goes back home — he or she is very likely to find that the problem has simply followed them back. LOL.

I personally like to think of the midpoint as the point in the story where the Protagonist has just a spark of what it’s going to take to go on. Before this however, he or she’s been letting the river carry them forward while they tread water — maybe even trying to swim back in the other fucking direction… LOL.

Get it?

Or how about this… LOL. I can’t fucking tell you how many fucking times I’ve actually seen this IN A MOVIE…

The protagonist heads down a river — straight for a waterfall. The biggest waterfall the world has ever seen. Or not. But a big one. The protagonist does everything in his or her power to thwart going over the waterfall.

Think about that for a second… You’re thinking fast. You’re paddling like fucking crazy. You tell anyone else with you to work harder. You do not want to go over that waterfall.

Right.

But you do.

There is that point at the edge of the falls where by God you just have to GUT IT OUT BABY because you’re going the fuck over no matter what you do. You can either have a heart attack NOW and die or PREPARE for the plunge of death.

You decide to prepare.

And you go over… Down, down, down you go… KERSPLASH!

We’re sitting in the audience. Of course the Protagonist made it. He or she HAS to make it, right? Or else there would be no story. But still… Even though we’ve seen this a hundred times before — even RECENTLY (LOL) — we still have that tension and uncertainty of not knowing whether or not the Protagonist is going to survive the fall.

Maybe the boat explodes — maybe it doesn’t. Everything and everybody disappears for just a couple of seconds… Cuz they’re underwater, right?

And here they come… Bouncing to the surface. Our fear(s) laid to rest. Don’t you kind of get the idea that if the Protagonist can survive a fucking huge waterfall like that, then they can probably just about survive ANYTHING?

Sure… We think so… But more importantly, the Protagonist thinks so. He or she may not know WHY they think so. It’s all association. Before the waterfall, the worst thing that ever happened to him or her was being arrested. A car wreck. A divorce. Loss of a job.

Get it?

Eveything makes you stronger but you don’t consciously think of it in those terms — YOU JUST FEEL FUCKING STRONGER.

And even if the midpoint is a LOW POINT — like a waterfall, the survival makes you stronger.

Having said that… Don’t feel like you have to actually USE a WATERFALL to get your midpoint across. It’s old and tired yet we still see it.

Why?

Because it works.

Unk

August 1, 2008 | Filed Under Structure

55 Comments 

British Feature Screenplay Competition

BFSCSay what? A screenplay competition? That’s right… Not just any screenplay competition but .

Why this competition you ask?

Because the winning Screenplay goes into production with a budget of up to $2 million U.S. Let me say that again… The winning screenplay GETS MADE INTO A FILM.

And that’s what we’re here for, right?

As their web site also says, this is the BIGGEST PRIZE of ANY screenwriting competition — EVER. You also know that I’m not very fond of screenwriting competitions. I get it but I don’t get it. I certainly understand it with the bigger competitions but that really leaves a hell of a lot of other screenwriting competitions existing to simply take your money and have some idiot MAYBE review your screenplay.

I have a friend who wrote a screenplay a year ago and his plan was to enter it into the big competitions as well as many of the smaller ones that — HOLD ON TO YOUR FUCKING HAT — offered analysis or critique.

One of the IN-DEPTH critiques he received contained FOUR FUCKING WORDS: I DIDN’T GET IT.

I read the script and it has potential but for some fucking backwater screenwriting competition to even bother writing I DIDN’T GET IT as their in-depth critique makes me wanna puke.

So here you go… You want to enter a competition? This is IT. This is the BIG ONE. I have it on very good authority that the winning film will in fact get made even if it takes a couple of years to bring it off.

In other words — it AIN’T no different than Hollywood, Baby…

The British Feature Screenplay competition is actually being brought to you by and .

Who can enter? ANYONE from ANYWHERE.

How does the prize work? The winning writer will be required to sign an assignment (writers agreement) which offers the writer a purchase price (rights fee) of not less than 1% of the budget with a floor of $15,000 Dollars (U.S.) and a ceiling of $40,000 Dollars (U.S.) less any sums paid — payable on the first day of principal photography of the film. The fee will be pro-rated downwards if a credit were to be shared with any other writer.

When’s the DEADLINE? EARLY DEADLINE is 12 September 2008 while FINAL DEADLINE is 14 November 2008.

Hmmm. That’s over three months to finish, tweak, rewrite, or begin and finish a screenplay of any genre.

Get it?

Some important notes:

The judges:

Links:

Suffice to say, visit their site and read EVERYTHING until you completely UNDERSTAND it. If there’s something YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND, contact them. Their email address is located right there on their web site.

If you enter only one screenplay competition in 2008 — I believe this is the ONE.

Unk

July 30, 2008 | Filed Under Competition

38 Comments 

The Central Question Part 2

central-question-chart

I was reasonably sure Josh’s question would get a lot of play and it certainly did… Time to throw a little more fuel on the fire.

I think we’ve comfortably established that the central question is capable of change.

Cool.

Why does it change? When does it change? Think about it… Methinks it’s reasonable to assume that the central question changes because the want or desire of the Protagonist changes. And WHEN the Protagonist’s want or desire changes, that can and often does change the central question of the story.

There, I said it twice.

There’s still something we’ve not yet discussed that is definitely worth discussing as part of the central question.

The Protagonist’s overall want or desire…

In the previous post, we more or less danced around the Protagonist’s immediate want or desire and how it changes and when it changes, so MIGHT the central question.

In what I consider some of the best stories and movies, the central question does keep changing… The Protagonist searches for an answer and in conducting that search, discovers his or her overall want or desire. They more or less SHED the immediate want or desire as they make their way on their journey into the new world and as they explore and learn what they need to learn in the new world, their immediate want or desire develops and grows to an overall want or desire that drives them through the rest of the story or movie.

This is another reason why we want to keep all these changing central questions related… The overall want or desire is usually directly related to the story’s theme — i.e., the overall want or desire that divulges your truth… One of life’s questions you want this story and movie to explore.

And whether you have a story or movie with a Protagonist that doesn’t actually transform but transforms the story OR a Protagonist that does in fact transform — this works very nicely. Even with Protagonists that do not necessarily arc — per se — we still usually see their noble philosophy become even stronger than it was in the beginning. That’s growth — and to me, that’s still a KIND OF CHANGE they go through.

Whew…

No emails, please… LOL.

But with stories and movies containing Protagonists that DO undergo a , this works even better. For lack of a better phrase — a kind of internal structure for your Protagonist if you will.

A requirement? Not at all. But does it make for a great story? Of course, as long as it’s done correctly.

At some point, the new and now defined overall desire can be your Protagonist’s . Not only does it offer him or her the ability and opportunity to resolve the story — whether he or she succeeds or not — it brings up theme and affords us the opportunity to ponder the question and or truth you want to let us in on.

It’s almost as if our Protagonist begins our story bleeding profusely…

Without stopping the bleeding, he or she will die (NOT change enough to resolve the story).

Each wound (if more than one) being one of his or her flaws… They move through the story trying to figure out how to stop the bleeding so they can heal and be whole again (change) — achieve their goal — ANSWER THE CENTRAL QUESTION.

Just thought I’d throw that in…

Unk

July 24, 2008 | Filed Under Questions

78 Comments 

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