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Screenwriting structure Part 2

Tweening Your Structure

Some good comments about . Thanks for those. The POINT being that most outstanding screenplays and movies DO HAVE consistent structural elements that you really need to make sure you have AT A COMPLETE MINIMUM.

Let’s see what we all came up with:

Not a bad list generically speaking and again, the point being that most great movies do share common structural elements. It’s the HANDLING of those elements that can separate the men and women from the boys and girls.

Another really outstanding that I came across last month was something Laura wrote over at her blog, :

“Structure is the arrangement of a story’s elements into a particular shape, with the purpose of eliciting maximum emotion from an audience … or… The shape or design of a movie that is experienced by the audience.”

If you think about it, any time a movie fails to elicit maximum emotion from its audience, that fact TENDS to take us right out of the story… If and when THAT HAPPENS, the movie generally has to work even HARDER to get us BACK into the story…

Do you really want to have to do that?

I sure as hell DO NOT.

Which is why I tend to approach screenplay structure as an extension of character development i.e., my Protagonist goes through a series of MODES and within each mode, he or she must deal with conflict and through their decisions and resulting actions that deal with that conflict, we watch the Protagonist change, grow, and transform.

Of course screenplay structure ALONE, doesn’t guarantee this process but I will say that if you start out with a good SOLID structure that has your Protagonist’s transformational character arc BUILT-IN, you’re starting out way ahead of the pack.

So how the hell do we do that?

First, we start out with those common screenplay structural elements that we just gotta have no matter what… Just like building a house or a wall within a house, we’ve got to have some structural elements to get the job done, NO MATTER WHAT. Same with writing a screenplay.

Your list may or may not be similar or identical… Doesn’t matter. The point here is that YOU decide what structural elements YOU feel that you need to have in your own screenplay BEFORE you even begin to write.

I’m simply sharing mine:

  1. Introduce your Protagonist — set up your Protagonist’s ORDINARY WORLD.

  2. Thematic Message.

  3. Introduce the rest of your main characters.

  4. Inciting Incident.

  5. Protagonist’s CALL TO ACTION DILEMMA.

  6. Protagonist’s voluntary entrance into the NEW WORLD.

  7. Subplots.

  8. Mid-point — Your Protagonist’s point-of-no-return.

  9. Protagonist is HOPELESS.

  10. Protagonist is HOPELESS times 2 — he or she is at their lowest point in the story.

  11. Beginning of the END — Protagonist finally figures out how to beat the Antagonist.

  12. Beginning of the END times 2 — Protagonist has learned all lessons of this new world — transformation complete.

There you have it… A simple little list that I have memorized for any screenplay that I might write. Please take note that this is NOT the actual screenplay structure I use… These are simply plot points that “I FEEL” I really gotta have to even THINK about writing a screenplay. I guess you could call it a variation of the Hero’s Journey although I find the Hero’s Journey a little stiff for my taste.

The point here is knowing that you must, at an absolute minimum, have some absolute structural points before you start writing. I almost look at it a little like animation… i.e., once I have these main structural points figured out, I can now proceed to the stage where I can now generate even more structural elements to make the overall structure evolve in a realistic manner for my Protagonist and his or her story.

And yes, I have lots of “tweening stages.”

But that’s for next time…

Unk


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Thursday: 5 July 2007|1912|Under Structure

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20 Responses to “Screenwriting structure Part 2”

  1. Nick on Thursday: 5 July 2007|2004

    I like the “times 2″ parts of your list. I recently joined Triggerstreet, and of the scripts I’ve read thus far, no one seems to want to drag their protagonist through the mud.

    In movies, change can only truly come when your character is at his/her lowest point.

  2. Mystery Man on Thursday: 5 July 2007|2027

    Great post. Loved Laura’s definition of structure. So much of what you listed is very common. No complaints.

    Looking forward to this study,

    -MM

  3. adam on Friday: 6 July 2007|0448

    Hey, you bunch of in-medias-res mofos! What happened to the Ordinary World? You know, those 7 to 17 pages before the inciting incident? Oh wait, never mind, I see Unk has that covered.

    Personally, I live for “Dark Night of the Soul.” Now that’s some gangsta-ass shit, right there! Infinitely better than tweaking TPS reports at work.

    HHHAAAHAHAHA! Unk, I have a love/hate relationship with my three Gateways. When they work, I can fly the space shuttle with them. Otherwise, the best program that I’ve purchased is Wipe Drive, for when I reformat the suckers from scratch. And I love spending 72 hours with no sleep searching for drivers on the Net. Love it. Dark Night of the Soul back to back to back!

  4. Christian Howell on Friday: 6 July 2007|0905

    Excellent post UNK. Great start to a very important part of cinematic design.I have almost those same 12 points in my method.

    I am finishing a really difficult script this week and I can say that I would hate to be my protag. I just can’t get enough of sending her to hell and back.

    I have found a few really emotional moments and the “defeat” of the antag just makes me scream. The setup is rather subtle and it kind of comes out of left field (at least I hope) but the flow seems perfect – to me.

    It may suck.

    I noticed on this that yes, the 3 Act Structure is not set in stone as my “times 2″ at the end comes at page 94. And subplot resolutions are started at page 85 or so. My act 3 is also only 15-20 pages.

    It’s actually a pacing thing as Act 3 is really fast-paced.

    Anyway, I await more.

    keep up the good work.

  5. Dante Kleinberg on Friday: 6 July 2007|0950

    Unk, when you say “mid-point,” how literal are you being here? Do you feel that point-of-no-return should come AROUND the middle of the story, or is it just an expression?

    I was reflecting on my own project as I was reading through that list, and I realized my protag has two moments where he makes a decision that at least doubles his commitment — At around 1/3rd of the way through, and at around 3/4 of the way through

  6. Christian Howell on Friday: 6 July 2007|1709

    Dante,
    That one was mine. It’s basically an upbeat point in the story right before the push to Act3 and the low point. This could be a “point of no return,” but an excellent text by Laura Seger says that it can be a high point or low point but is usually a high point.

    In my latest spec, the midway plot point is the protag receiving a plaque.

  7. Moviequill on Saturday: 7 July 2007|0932

    I just watched Alpha Dog last night so I am going to add “Resolve All Major Character Storylines.” The main protag was Jake, the skinhead maniac who kept going off on people, yet he completely disppears for the last act and is not even mentioned… I kept waiting to see him

  8. Unk on Saturday: 7 July 2007|1151

    Nick,

    As you already know, it’s really called:

    HOPLESSNESS and HOPLESSNESS SQUARED but that’s a little later down the line…

    MM,

    Hehehe.

    Dante,

    I’m NEVER literal when it comes to page counts, plot points, shit like that because I think given the right story and the right structure, just about anything CAN work IF it’s done correctly.

    Can it make money?

    That’s a whole ‘nother story.

    In other words, if you’re keeping me entertained and more importantly… IN YOUR STORY, it doesn’t matter if you’re not quite on the money… These are all just simple guidelines.

    Unfortunately, the same industry that we’re all trying to write spec scripts for has had a tendency to fuck us all over with their bullshit movies.

    WHY?

    Because many of these movies TEND to REWIRE the story sense that’s already hardwired into our brains. And, when you’re a newbie, someone that needs validation, blah blah blah, you MIGHT be thwarted by what you see in the theaters…

    Hopefully not.

    I think the worst thing we can do is to fall for the rewiring. It simply doesn’t work CONSISTENTLY. These movies simply do not live forever and RESONATE with generations of audience members. And while some could care less about that — I’m all about that.

    And making money.

    Adam,

    Your Dark night of the soul is very likely similar to my HOPELESSNESS and or HOPELESSNESS SQUARED.

    Moviequill,

    And just like you pointed out in your comment… They didn’t mention that character, right? They didn’t tie up that subplot.

    Which is WHY it’s not part of my list of GOTTA HAVE structural elements.

    Why? Because many movies — even outstanding movies do not often tie up the subplots.

    Is tying up subplots in my TWEENS?

    You betchya. You just don’t GOTTA HAVE IT. However, that’s what this is all about… For YOU, it might just be on YOUR OWN GOTTA HAVE list.

    That’s good!

    Unk

  9. MaryAn on Sunday: 8 July 2007|0946

    Looks like we’ll have to send your “tweening” to Wikipedia when it’s posted.

  10. Laura Reyna on Monday: 9 July 2007|2228

    Thanks for the mention, Unk!

    And MM, too! :-)

    Wanna make a couple of points–

    – We’ve been fed this stuff about the 3 Act (blah blah blah…) structure for so long a lot of people think this is the only way to to go about designing a movie. It’s NOT. There are many approaches to structuring. I think we as a community of screenwriters are just beginning to figure that out.

    (And we as a community need to keep talking about these different approaches, and keep EXPANDING our knowledge and techniques.)

    There is no “right” way to structure a movie.

    Shit, we can’t even agree on what “structure” (or much of anything else concerning screenwriting) IS, how the hell are we gonna agree on the right way to go about it???

    – Each of us as a creator has to figure out what approach/method is best for us as individuals, and what approach is best for each of our scripts. We all have to figure it out for ourselves. And it’s best that writers stop looking for ONE source to give them the secret formula or potion or whatever. There is none. No guru has the answer… at least not for ALL of us.

    Don’t look for someone else to tell you what the answer is. Figure it out for yourself.

  11. Ryan Rasmussen on Thursday: 12 July 2007|0621

    Hey Unk, good stuff. Question for you, though. Since all these structural elements presume a conventional _transformative_ character arc, how would you define the required elements for a _revelatory_ character arc? John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey dropped this hint in a great post from a couple of years ago: http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2005/05/writing-plot-and-story.html. I’m thinking about the journeys of characters like Maximus in _Gladiator_ or Hawkeye in _The Last of the Mohicans_.

  12. Unk on Thursday: 12 July 2007|1146

    Ryan,

    To my way of thinking, a revelatory character arc would be no different than creating a transformational character arc. They may be different in that one is revelatory and one is transformational but in both kinds of structured screenplays/movies, you still have the arc.

    The arc is what you’re after… What you call it or what it actually does to the Protagonist is up to YOU, the writer…

    I haven’t read the post you mention and I probably don’t have to (but I probably will… LOL) but my point is simply this…

    Don’t get too caught up in the terminology especially the LITERAL MEANING of what I might call any of these structural elements. I simply try to call a duck a duck…

    Sometimes I miss… LOL.

    What is KEY here is CHANGE! The Protagonist somehow changing by the end of the movie is a good thing if it’s done right.

    Whether that’s a transformation into a different kind of person OR simply a higher commitment to an already established philosophy…

    It’s still some kind of a change.

    Unk

  13. jess on Sunday: 15 July 2007|1556

    Structure is important.

    I just wish it wasn’t so damn boring.

  14. Screenwriting structure Part 9 your first 10 pages » The Unknown Screenwriter on Sunday: 23 December 2007|1844

    [...] let’s go back to the common screenwriting structual elements and flesh them out just a bit more so that we understand why they are so fucking important to have [...]

  15. Screenwriting structure Part 9 your first 10 pages : The Unknown Screenwriter on Saturday: 3 May 2008|1614

    [...] let’s go back to the common screenwriting structual elements and flesh them out just a bit more so that we understand why they are so fucking important to have [...]

  16. Chris J. Scurria on Thursday: 16 October 2008|1940

    How about a character’s beliefs?
    Should that be in a story? I think so.
    The person could go through something that affects their life and then. . . the faith they had shows up and they remember.
    Wow. The person may have forgotten about God in sixteen weeks. The one has, though, not forgotten about him/her.
    Is there a plot to all of our lives? I think so (just not a movie).
    God has a plan and it is much DIFFERENT from ours.
    Jesus says at it says in John 10:30: “The Father and I are one.”
    What could that mean. . . that God is also Christ?
    Yes.

  17. Chris J. Scurria on Monday: 20 October 2008|0751

    Has anyone tried writerofmoviescripts.blog? It is linked here at this site at the Scribosphere: Me.

    The person who created the blog is NOT me fyi. One thing I love about the writing of a film is the set-up and the aftereffects that are like an urban legend. There is some tape or a cell phone call and then the mystery begins. There are many thrillers and smart horrors; sadly, the latter has been condensed and watered down by the latest October American REMAKES and the new material is flat. . . until the actual plot unfolds.

    Wouldn’t we like to see something remade in a good way? Better yet, how about something new and SMART. Intelligence is what the theaters need, especially this month and the one that involves who will be leader of the country.

    Here is an old legend: Anyone hear of the WELL TO HELL. It is one people have talked about many years ago and people even reported on it as if it was real news. I first read of it from a writer who made a book of “stories that happened to a friend, of a friend, of a friend.”

    Eat healthy and have fun this month people.
    At this very unfortunate time to tell of stories, may we tell the ones that are more important.

    John 3:16

  18. Chris J. Scurria on Monday: 20 October 2008|0754

    Movie. Movie. Movie.

    See the BOURNE IDENTITY (it is PG-13 for some questionable content, tense scenes, and violence).

    Best of all, it was based off of a BOOK. AWESOME.
    I don’t know about the sequels (I fell asleep during the second follow-up).

    God BLESS!

  19. Chris J. Scurria on Monday: 20 October 2008|0758

    Ideas for screenwriting:

    The concept and study of MADNESS.

    People who live with each other and yet don’t know each other (at all).

    Unk, my ideas are running non-stop.
    One story takes place in N.Y. (and it is a short-story, not a screenplay). It deals with people who live with and near each other; they are so close and yet “far away.” How can so many people on one block alone not say “Hi.”?

    I wonder. . .

  20. Chris J. Scurria on Monday: 20 October 2008|0803

    Unk,

    I should read into Part 3 part 4. . . and on.
    Writers are good. Doers are better. So far I am mostly a writer (who speaks but needs to talk to people outside of my neighbors).

    Still have a VHS; it just ain’t hooked up (ha ha ha).

    GB writers who want to tell of a world much better (or worse depending on genre).

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