Lecture 6: How do I put my script together?

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Lecture 6How do I put my script together?
Jules and Jim (1962) Written by
Henri-Pierre Roché (novel) and François Truffaut
Jean Gruault (screenplay)

• Professor Michael Green

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Previous Lesson

• Emotion and the Foundation of Dramatic Characters
• Creating the Character
• Representing the Character
• Important Characters
• Writing Exercise 3

Ray (2004)
Written by Taylor Hackford (story) and
James L. White (story and screenplay)
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In this Lesson

• Basic Three-part Structure
• The Set-Up
• The Rising Action (Developing the Conflict), the
  Climax and the Resolution
• Writing Exercise 4 Your Treatment

Monsters Ball (2001)
Written by Milo Addica Will Rokos
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Basic Three-Part Structure
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Written by
John Hughes

• Lesson 6 Part I

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Structure

• A script provides the structure for a story that
  is only truly complete when the actors,
  production design, cinematography, music,
  editing, etc., all come together to create a
  finished project.
• The script on paper has to be as close to a
  facsimile of the finished film as it can be. The
  screenwriter must imagine how to bring all the
  elements together so that they make sense, build
  tension and move the audience.

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Structure (Continued)

• Your basic materials revolve around the
  protagonists and other characters individual
  wants and needs. They are what forces the
  character to take action and that leads to
  conflict. Obstacles and complications the
  crises characters face are tools to be used in
  conjunctions with reversals, reveals, and
  surprises to construct a plot that conveys your
  ideas and satisfies the audience.

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The Two-Part Process

• Plot structure is a two-part process.
• First is the overall form the story takes.
• Second is the actual plotting of the scenes, the
  order and arrangement of specific events that
  creates specific meanings.
• The overall structure focuses on the relationship
  between beginnings and endings, on the
  development of conflicts in the middle, and how
  these parts hold all the elements of your story
  together.

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Basic Form

• The ultimate plot structure of the movie depends
  on many things genre, your point of view, your
  purpose for writing it.
• But even as we strive for originality, we must
  realize that good structure, whether in features
  or shorts, tends to follow basic rules.

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Basic Form (Continued)

• The beginning of the film must set up a dramatic
  problem that the audience understands.
• The middle builds the storys rising action.
• The rising action intensifies to the final
  climax and resolution.
• While this formula seems simple enough, keeping
  the characters on track, the story moving ahead,
  and the audience from becoming bored, is very
  challenging.

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Structuring the Short Film

• Short films and features share similar structure
  but length dictates where the aspects of form
  should fall in the story.
• If a film runs under three minutes, you must set
  up the problem quickly, develop the conflict and
  then hit the pay-off climax with no time to
  waste.
• In a 10-20 minute short film, the structure tends
  to be a little more complex.

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Act Structure

• Act I encompasses the setting up of the problem
  for the protagonist, and your inciting incident
  serves as an Act I climax.
• Act II develops the action and the conflict to a
  final crisis point.
• Act III builds from that final crisis to a main
  climax and resolution that resolves the story
  situation.
• In longer pieces, a strong midpoint often
  advances the action or conflict.

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Act Structure (Continued)

• These key points are where you play specific
  obstacles, complications, decisions, or choices
  actions that further your storyline or theme.

Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Written by Tom Clancy (novel) and Donald
Stewart and

Steven Zaillian and John Milius
(screenplay)
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The Set-Up
Reality Bites (1994)
Written by Helen Childress

• Lesson 6 Part II

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The Set-Up

• The goal of the set-up is to orient the audience
  to the characters, backdrop, time frame, and mood
  of the film, as well as give them a clue as to
  the direction of the film and the theme, and
  present the conflict.
• While the feature might take 10-15 pages (or
  minutes) to establish all of this, the short film
  must establish it all right away.

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The Set-Up (Continued)

• Many short films and scripts fail in establishing
  the set-up because their writers spend too much
  time setting up all the elements of the story.
• The audience can learn other important
  information as the story progresses. In the
  set-up, the writer should concentrate on
  providing the main exposition and the inciting
  incident so that the audience understands the
  basis for the conflict.

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The Main Exposition

• The main exposition grounds the audience in the
  basis for the story. Sometimes it is given in
  dialogue sometimes it is shown in action
  regardless the audience needs this information so
  that they can orient themselves to the plot and
  understand what is happening and what follows.
• Usually it takes a couple of scenes to present
  all this information in a short film, the more
  economical, the better.

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Example

• In Star Wars, the first few scenes are packed
  with exposition. We learn that
• There is a galactic war being fought.
• The Rebellion is in trouble, but that the Empire
  has a weakness.
• That Luke Skywalker is restless and craves
  adventure.
• That Lukes father was a great warrior.
• That something exists called the Force.
• We learn all of this before the inciting incident
  or the main action.

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Example (Continued)
Star Wars (1977) Written by George Lucas
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Economy of Form

• All of this exposition is focused on setting up
  the dramatic problem. In any screenplay but
  especially a short one every word, every line,
  must advance the action and reveal only what is
  necessary for us to understand the characters and
  the story. There is no time for incidental
  information. Other insights about characters can
  be revealed as the story advances.

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The Inciting Incident

• For most shorts, the set-up is complete once the
  inciting incident starts the storys forward
  motion in earnest.
• The inciting incident is a catalyst that forces
  the conflict into the open and demands the hero
  respond and take action. This action puts the
  hero on the path towards his goal.
• In Star Wars, several moments could be inciting
  incidents, but the true incident is probably when
  Lukes family is killed.

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The Off-screen Inciting Incident

• The inciting incident need not always be shown
  on-screen. Especially in a short film, where
  economy of length is crucial, the inciting
  incident may have happened before the beginning
  of the movie and the audience infers it from
  action and dialogue.
• In Black Button, the inciting incident the
  characters death not only happens before the
  start of the movie, but the way that this is
  structured creates the movies mystery.

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What to Set-up?

• What to set-up depends on your unique story. But
  whatever it is, it has to be set-up in a way that
  resonates throughout the rest of the story and
  pays off at the end. Never arbitrarily include
  story elements that dont have a purpose.
• As the old writers adage goes, if a gun is
  introduced somewhere in the first act, it must be
  used in the third act.

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Set-up and Payoff

• How do the elements set-up early in Star Wars pay
  off?
• The galactic war introduced pays off in a
  climactic space battle.
• The Empires weakness pays off when the Death
  Star is destroyed.
• Luke Skywalkers craving for adventure pays off
  ironically when he realizes the costs of war.
• That something exists called the Force pays off
  when Luke learns to use it to defeat the enemy.

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Revision

• Its impossible to foresee how everything will
  connect in the first draft. This is where
  multiple revisions come in. As you write, you go
  back and forth, refashioning your beginning so
  that everything throughout the screenplay ties
  together. The final story should seem natural -
  even inevitable - to the audience, even though
  the writer knows it was the result of painstaking
  craft.

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The Rising Action Developing the Conflict
The Wild Bunch (1967) Written by Roy N.
Sickner (story) and Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah
(story and screenplay)

• Lesson 6 Part III

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The Rising Action

• Once the set-up is complete, the main action
  begins. In dramatic terms, this is called the
  rising action.
• The protagonist has expressed his want, the goal
  is clear, and generally the conflict has been set
  up.
• The ensuing action is what the protagonist does
  to achieve her goal, the conflict she meets (as
  well as the support), and how this action affects
  her along the way.

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Tension

• By definition, the rising action requires an
  escalation of tension in the plot. The writer
  structures that escalation by having a variety of
  increasing conflicts confront the protagonist.
  This keeps the story building and provides new
  developments to help flesh out the characters and
  the plot. If conflict doesnt build, the
  audience loses interest in the story. If the
  conflict isnt varied, the story will feel
  repetitive.

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The Plan

• Once the problem has surfaced, the hero usually
  formulates a plan of action and starts
  implementing it.
• Often the characters actions give us an
  indication of the plan, but sometimes a simple
  declaration through dialogue of the characters
  intentions gives the audience enough information.
  

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The Nature of the Plan

• Protagonists plans may be conscious or
  unconscious, carefully thought out or
  spontaneous.
• The plan also allows the audience to see how the
  protagonist initially grasps the conflict and
  anticipates the results.
• As the story progresses, the gap between the
  anticipated results and reality produces story
  surprise and leads to greater struggle.

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Obstacles

• If the protagonist hasnt already encountered a
  true obstacle in the inciting incident, the
  rising action is where these obstacles come.
• An obstacle is the clearest form of conflict. It
  opposes the protagonist as she attempts to
  achieve her goals in the story.
• When obstacles are properly conceived and
  presented, they should force the major characters
  to make decisions and thus produce dramatic
  action.

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Types of Obstacles

• Traditionally, obstacles are man, society, nature
  and the character him or herself. Lets consider
  four specific areas
• The Antagonist
• Physical Obstructions
• Inner Obstacles
• Mystic Forces

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The Antagonist

• The clearest obstacle is the antagonist the
  character who opposes the protagonist, and holds
  opposing goals.
• Though not necessarily evil, this character
  personifies the protagonists difficulties.
• Frequently, the antagonist initiates the inciting
  incident.
• The antagonist represents a real break for the
  protagonist at last our hero will fight.

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The Antagonist (Continued)

• Though a film can exist with only an inner
  problem or physical barrier as the main conflict
  for the hero, a specific protagonist lends power
  and clarity to the dramatic structure. The
  opposition of these characters clearly defines
  the conflict for the audience.

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The Antagonist (Continued)
Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Written by Gene Roddenberry (characters) and
Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards and Samuel A.
Peeples (story) and Jack B. Sowards and
Nicholas Meyer (screenplay)
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Physical Obstructions

• Physical obstructions are anything that
  physically prevents the hero from reaching or
  moving closer to his goal. They can range from
  deserts, rivers and mountains to dead-end alleys
  and and dead car batteries.
• A good obstacle forced the protagonist to take
  action, either to confront the obstacle straight
  on or to take a different tack.

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Physical Obstructions (Continued)
Cast Away (2000) Written by William
Broyles, Jr.
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Inner Obstacles

• Inner obstacles are intellectual, emotional, or
  psychological problems the protagonist must
  overcome before being able to achieve her goal.
• Some inner obstacles might include fear, pride or
  jealousy. Others might include class snobbery,
  racism, or mental illness.
• These inner obstacles are often connected to what
  the character needs and oppose what the character
  wants.

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Inner Obstacles (Continued)
Boys Dont Cry (1999) Written by Kimberly
Peirce Andy Bienen
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Mystic Forces

• Mystic forces were once seen as a way of
  describing appearances in theater of gods and
  goddesses who controlled the fates of man from
  above.
• Today we use this category for obstacles coming
  from the paranormal and supernatural worlds
  because these cant be fully defined under the
  other headings.
• These might include ghosts, demons and cosmic
  entities.

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Mystic Forces (Continued)
The Grudge (2004) Written by Takashi Shimizu
(story) and Stephen Susco (screenplay)
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Crisis

• Each time a protagonist confronts an obstacle, he
  encounters a crisis, or definite point of
  conflict in the action.
• The action may be an attempt to reach a goal or
  capture a stake, but because there is an
  obstruction, the hero cannot prevail at least
  for the moment.
• Because the outcome remains uncertain, the viewer
  should be uncertain whether or not the
  protagonist will prevail, and be drawn deeper
  into the story.

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Crisis

• Dramatizing a crisis and how the characters
  respond to it helps define them as well as
  demonstrate their commitment to their goals.
• Crises involve a combination of physical, verbal,
  emotional, and intellectual activity on the part
  of one or more of the characters.
• Crises build crises, and these escalate and
  intensify the action until the climax is reached.
  Crises should put the outcome of the climax in
  doubt.

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Complications

• Complications are factors that enter the world of
  the story and make things tougher for the
  protagonist. The strongest complications cause a
  change in the action.
• Complications differ from obstacles in that they
  dont pose an immediate threat to the protagonist
  achieving his goal, but they can make it more
  difficult to attain by temporarily diverting him.
  A great complication can become an obstacle later
  in the story.

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Complications (Continued)

• They work best when theyre unexpected, and add
  tension because we know theyre taking the hero
  away from his real concern.
• Typically, complications arise in the form of
  character, circumstance, event, mistake,
  misunderstanding or discovery.
• In short film, plot is usually more developed
  around obstacles than complications because of
  time.

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The Midpoint

• The period of rising action Act II can be the
  longest segment of the film and consequently it
  is liable to drag.
• A strong midpoint can make this section easier to
  manage and keep it moving by focusing the action
  on the first half at whatever happens at this
  point.
• At the midpoint, something significant happens
  that affects the protagonist.

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The Midpoint (Continued)

• He might confront an obstacle he cant get around
  or encounter a complication that turns the action
  in a new direction.
• Whatever happens at the midpoint must have dire
  consequences, and these consequences will drive
  the action toward the main climax in the second
  half.

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The Main Crisis

• In order to reach the climax, the conflict must
  intensify and increase, causing the action to
  rise for the last time. The struggle between the
  protagonist and the antagonist comes out into the
  open. Now there must be a definite solution to
  the problem that will sort itself out in the
  climax of the film.

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The Climax

• The climax is the highest, most exciting point in
  the drama. Here the conflict must finally be
  resolved, one way or another.
• The climax involves a discovery or realization
  for the characters, or at least the audience.
• In film, the best climax is visual and emotional,
  not internal. In other words, the audience must
  see the climax unfold.

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The Resolution

• At the end of the film is the resolution or
  falling action.
• This final part of the structure realigns the
  screenplays world as a result of the climax,
  fixing the fates of the characters involved in
  the struggle.
• The best resolution bestows a final insight or
  revelation to the story, which puts everything
  into context by elucidating the theme.

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Assignments

Beverly Hills Cop (1984) Written by
Danilo Bach (story) and Daniel Petrie, Jr. (story
and screenplay)
Lesson 6 Part IV
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E-Board Post 1

• Watch the short film from the lesson, Powder Keg,
  and analyze the set-up. What kind of exposition
  does the film provide about the situation? What
  is the inciting incident? Who are the main
  characters and what are their goals? Refer back
  to the lecture and the book to help you identify
  these concepts within the film.

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E-Board Post 2

• Once you have analyzed the set-up of Powder Keg,
  analyze the rising action. What are the
  obstacles and complications faced by the
  protagonist(s)? Does the story have a midpoint?
  Finally, identify the climax and resolution.

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Writing Exercise

• For this lesson, you need to finish writing you
  treatment. It will be due before the beginning of
  lesson 8. See the syllabus for what the
  treatment consists of and check out the sample
  treatment as well.
• You have already fleshed out a basic scenario and
  main character now you need to write a page of
  prose outlining your story in act structure. It
  should include the basic concepts we have hit on
  so far.

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End of Lecture 6

• Next Lecture How do I Move My Story?