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The INCITING INCIDENT…

Also called the CATALYST, INCITING EVENT, TRAUMATIC EVENT, HOOK, etc.

What the hell is it?

From my perspective, it seems to be one of the major things LACKING from many screenwriters attempting to break into the industry and start getting paid.

The INCITING INCIDENT is the LIFE-CHANGING EVENT that PROPELS the Protagonist out of his or her Ordinary World and into the New World which eventually leads him or her to finding both mental and physical happiness.

Your inciting incident needs to GRAB the audience. Even if we’ve seen this event before, give it a twist so the audience’s prediction is turned upside down and is dead wrong!

It’s that one thing that happens to your Hero that throws his or her life completely off balance thereby creating instant conflict and tension.

It’s that one thing that happens to your Hero that makes him or her TAKE ACTION.

It’s that one thing that happens to your Hero that makes him or her come up with a goal.

The inciting incident can even be a new opportunity presented to the Protagonist. A trip. A new job. Whatever.

The inciting incident… However appealing it may be to your Protagonist, should be an immediate source of conflict thereby making your Protagonist want to RESOLVE this conflict but the only way to resolve the conflict is for your Hero to take ACTION.

The inciting incident you come up with for your screenplay should cause your Hero to transition from NEED to DESIRE.

Need?

Sure. At the beginning of your story, your Protagonist is in dire NEED of something. Maybe it’s love. Maybe it’s money. Maybe it’s a job. Maybe it’s to get off drugs. Maybe maybe maybe. Just make sure it’s a good need. If it is something tangible like money, make sure you create a damn good reason for that need. We don’t NEED to see your Protagonist jumping through obstacles throughout your entire screenplay so he can get enough money for the cigarette machine. Although on second thought, that might actually be funny if handled correctly. See Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. I normally don’t like movies like these but this one had what it takes to actually make me laugh.

Desire?

Sure. After you’ve identified your Protagonist’s need, that very need should transition into desire. The inciting incident should be like a LURE to your Protagonist to quench that desire and, just like that elusive brown trout (yeah, I fly fish) that splits as soon as he sees your shadow hit the water, your Protagonist should swim around that lure or fly trying to decide whether or not he should take a bite.

Your Protagonist must then attempt to satisfy his or her desire by taking action but of course this action is futile at first.

Make no mistake… When your Protagonist does decide to take that bite… AND HE SHOULD, it needs to be his decision to do so.

I see a lot of screenplays with really weak inciting incidents but pretty good 2nd Acts (assuming 3 Act Structure). Somehow, we’ve been lulled into thinking that the 1st Act doesn’t have to be as great as the successive acts… Especially, Act 2.

I’m here to tell you that setting up your Protagonist for his or her journey ahead is worth doing well. If you do it well enough, we will want to read through the rest of your screenplay. We will want to sit through the rest of your movie.

Coming up with the perfect INCITING INCIDENT should be reasonably easy to to develop IF YOU KNOW YOUR PROTAGONIST! The better you know him or her, the easier it should be to create the perfect inciting incident that propels him or her into action.

I plead with you to give your inciting incident some deep conscious thought. The better it is, the better your screenplay will be and the easier it will be for us to read through it and watch your movie.

Unk




Wednesday: 28 June 2006|1952|Under Structure

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Comments

5 Responses to “The INCITING INCIDENT…”

  1. Screenwriting structure Part 1 » The Unknown Screenwriter on Sunday: 1 July 2007|1432

    [...] Inciting incident. [...]

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    [...] just to let you know (in case you’re interested), I’ve discussed the inciting incident here and here awhile back so you might want to read up on these as well… Here, we’re [...]

  3. Screenwriting structure Part 12 The Inciting Incident : The Unknown Screenwriter on Saturday: 3 May 2008|1613

    [...] just to let you know (in case you’re interested), I’ve discussed the inciting incident here and here awhile back so you might want to read up on these as well… Here, we’re [...]

  4. Screenwriting structure Part 1 : The Unknown Screenwriter on Saturday: 3 May 2008|1618

    [...] Inciting incident. [...]

  5. Susan P. on Monday: 14 July 2008|0123

    I’m interested to know how you view refusal of the call that can follow an inciting incident. So, someone has a new opportunity placed before them and they initially refuse but eventually agree to pursue the opportunity (for whatever reason).

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