Archive for the ‘screenplay plot’ tag

Understanding The Narrative Throughline

What’s driving your screenplay?  And why do you need to know?

Understanding what drives your script helps you determine the essential foundation of your story (or throughline) and allows you to strengthen the script by incorporating elements (scenes, sequences, and characters) that “serve” your story.

There are three-types of screenplays:
1. Character-Driven
2. Theme-Driven
3. Plot-Driven (also called Premise-Driven)

CHARACTER-DRIVEN
Character-Driven screenplays are essentially about the transformation of a character or a group of characters.  The natural throughline (or organizing principle) is the character arc of one or more of your characters.  Juno is a character-driven film.  There’s a theme and a premise, but the engine of the movie is Juno’s realization (transformation) that she’s not as mature as she thought, adults aren’t necessarily any more mature than teenagers, her parents are pretty wise and cool after all and, she’s actually in love with her best friend, her baby’s daddy, Paulie Bleeker.  If your script is character-driven your protagonist needs to have a compelling transformation.

PLOT-DRIVEN
Most action-adventure films are all about the premise.  Sometimes they have a vague underlining theme but few action protagonists experience any type of character transformation (James Bond is the same guy at the start of every film and the end of every film, from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace). If your script is plot-driven, you’ll need to have an exceptional premise – think Aliens, Ocean’s Eleven, Terminator, Jurassic Park, and Die Hard. An amusement park with dinosaurs– that start killing the tourists!  The most incredible Las Vegas casino heist ever – with escalating obstacles, complications, and life or death stakes!  Who needs character arcs?

THEME-DRIVEN
Theme-driven films are the hardest to pull-off successfully without sounding like you’re giving a lecture.  In a theme-driven film, the premise and characters are secondary to the message the screenwriter wants to convey.  If your script is primarily thematic, you must select elements that best illustrate your message but that also work on their own terms.  One such film that pulls this off brilliantly is the Oscar-winning western, Unforgiven.  The film Unforgiven has wonderful characters and a compelling plot, but every element in the script serves its central theme, which is:  violence doesn’t solve anything and actually makes things worse.  All of the elements in the film are carefully chosen to illustrate that point – the sheriff whose methods of “keeping the peace” are often more vicious than the crimes he prevents, the “eye-for-an-eye” vengeance that leads to suffering rather than justice, and the horror of wanna-be gunslinger when he’s faced with the reality of actually killing a man.

THE KID
That was… the first one.

MUNNY
First one what?

THE KID
First one I ever killed.

MUNNY
Yeah?

================

THE KID
(breaking down, crying)
Oh Ch-ch-christ… it don’t… it don’t seem… real… How he’s… DEAD… how he ain’t gonna breathe no more… n-n-never.  Or the other one neither… On account of… of just… pullin’ a trigger.

MUNNY
It’s a hell of a thing, ain’t it, killin’ a man.  You take everythin’ he’s got… an’ everythin’ he’s ever gonna have…

THE KID
(trying to pull him-self together)
Well, I gu-guess they had it… comin’.

MUNNY
We all got it comin’, Kid.

Story vs. Plot (…and what your plot needs to achieve)

The reason most moviegoers love a film is because the story has a great plot that affected them emotionally.

New writers sometimes confuse story and plot.  The terms story and plot are not synonymous.  Story is an account of incidents or events that convey a deeper understanding of the human condition. Plot is how those events are arranged to achieve an intended effect.

Plot is the tool you use to tell your story – it is how you present the story.  Your plot does not create the story.  Your story creation comes from concept, theme, premise, and character development.  The plot makes your story more emotionally satisfying to the reader or viewer. It provides the answers to the questions of who, what, where, when, how, and why, that are necessary to make sense of the meaning of the story.  Your plot must be carefully focused and mapped out to reach a specific goal or result.

PLOT IS MAPPING ACTION AND REACTION
A good plot is not episodic: A happens, then B happens, then C happens.  When you create an episodic plot, simply moving from incident to incident, the audience gets bored, there is no connection to the material.  Great plots tell a dramatic story and revolve around causality: A happens and causes B to result, which then causes C, and on and on.  A cause-and-effect plot creates conflict and action which gives the plot meaning and direction, engaging an audience and heightening their emotions and reaction to the story.

PLOT IS THE ORDERING OF EMOTIONS
Author Irwin Blacker famously wrote, “Plot is more than a pattern of events; it is the ordering of emotions”.  Emotion is how we connect to others.  Emotion unites us.  Emotion is what makes a film compelling.  And, indeed, how you arrange your plot affects the emotional impact the story has on an audience.  You could say plot is the management of information (through the use of scenes) to make a story more involving and satisfying for an audience.  It is the structuring of action and reaction to create a desired outcome.

And the outcome you want to achieve is emotionally affecting an audience – to laugh, to cry, to fear, to be excited, and to feel connected to the human experience.

What is High Concept? And Does That Mean My Little Character-Driven Script is Conceptually Low?

The term ‘high-concept’ may fall in and out of favor, but it remains the standard for what Hollywood looks for in a film premise. ‘High-concept’ basically means the concept is the highest appeal. It is easily understood and creates immediate excitement. If a film executive hears your idea and asks you what it’s about or has no emotional reaction, then your script is not high-concept.

Does that mean your little character-driven script will be ignored by studios or production companies because it’s ‘low-concept’? (Okay, I’m not sure that term actually exists, but you know what I mean.) An idea is irresistible because it is appealing (and, thereby, highly marketable). The key is to make your soft-concept seem high-concept:

EMPHASIZE THE UNIQUENESS OF THE STORY
A lonely, fatherless, young boy claims to see dead people (The Sixth Sense).

HIGHLIGHT THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF YOUR CHARACTER(S)
A sassy, confident, independent-minded teenager takes control of a challenging situation when she faces an unwanted pregnancy (Juno). A failing success coach, a renowned, gay, suicidal professor, a pot-smoking grandfather, a self-imposed mute teenager, and a scattered mom take a road-trip to get an 8-year-old, overweight, beauty queen wanna-be to a pageant (Little Miss Sunshine).

SHOWCASE AN INTRIGUING DILEMMA
An apprehended outlaw is given only nine days to kill his older brother or else his younger brother will be executed (The Proposition).

AVOID A PREDICTABLE PLOT (REVERSE WHAT IS EXPECTED)
A beautiful American tourist falls in love and moves-in with a charming Spaniard and then stays when his crazy ex-lover returns to the house… and their bed (Vicki Cristina Barcelona).

CREATE AN UNKNOWN WORLD
A simulated reality created by sentient machines (The Matrix). The ancient Roman Empire (Gladiator). The rise of an organized crime family (The Godfather).

PUT YOUR CHARACTERS IN AN UNEXPECTED ENVIRONMENT
An uneducated, single-mom, blonde-bombshell goes to work in a corporate law firm investigating a complicated case of industrial poisoning (Erin Brockovich).

CONTRAST YOUR CHARACTERS
A Chinese Imperial Guard hooks up with a dim-witted cowboy/train robber to rescue a princess (Shanghai Noon).

INCLUDE A TICKING TIME-CLOCK SCENARIO
A Civil War veteran must deliver a vicious outlaw alive to the train that will take him to trial (3:10 to Yuma).

ADD ANOTHER LAYER (OR TWIST) TO THE IDEA
An FBI trainee hunts a serial killer with the assistance of a deadly psychopath who becomes her mentor (Silence of the Lambs).

So, You’ve Got An Idea For A Movie

A new writer recently pitched me an idea for a horror film: “A sexy high-school senior is pursued through a never-ending labyrinth by an escaped psychopath after witnessing the gruesome deaths of a group of her friends on Halloween night.”

Ummm… that’s not a feature film idea. That’s maybe a couple of scenes at the most (and I’m not even going to address the cliché, been-there-done-that, problems of this script concept. By the way, can we use another holiday besides Halloween for horror films? I’m thinking maybe President’s Day, the killer can dress-up as Washington or Lincoln and wreak havoc on car dealerships who don’t honor the traditional President’s Day store-wide sale.)

Before you run off to your keyboard and spend the next three months writing your screenplay masterpiece, make sure your film idea is fully developed and viable. Ask yourself:

- Do I have “enough” story to fill up a full 90-120 minute film?
- Does my story have a beginning, middle, and end (the blueprint of a First, Second, and Third Act)?
- Who is the main character?
- What does he or she want to achieve?
- What obstacles are preventing the protagonist from achieving his/her goal?
- Do I have an inciting incident, turning points, and a resolution?
- Do I have supporting characters and subplots?
- By the end of the story, how have my characters changed?
- What elements of the story will attract an audience?

COMPELLING IDEAS

What does “Hollywood” want? A compelling concept with emotional impact. Appealing ideas have two components:

1) A unique hook

2) A promise of conflict

A unique hook (or gimmick, or twist) transports the viewer to new worlds and experiences – the adventures of a fighter pilot-in-training (Top Gun), the exploits of a group of unemployed men learning to strip (The Full Monty), two female friends on a road trip trying to outrun the law (Thelma and Louise), three backpackers attempting to survive their trip to Slovakia (Hostel). Conflict creates interest. A story without conflict is boring. Never bore your audience. Your script will be in the trash before the reader makes it through the first ten pages if you don’t engage him/her with rising tension.

IDEAS THAT SELL

No one knows what’s going to sell. A year ago, no one could have predicted a book about a young, impoverished man in India, who becomes a contestant on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, would be adapted into a film that not only won the hearts of mainstream movie-goers but the Academy Award for Best Picture. In the famous words of screenwriter William Goldman, “Nobody knows anything”. So, don’t try to write the next “Wedding Crashers”, the next “Saw” or the next “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Write what you’re passionate about.
If you don’t care about your subject, who will?

Say what you gotta say.
Whether you’re writing a zombie-horror-buddy-comedy film or a historical drama-musical, have something to say. Every film (no matter the genre) has an underlying philosophy – “good conquers evil”, “love is all you need”, “there’s no place like home”. When you convey a universal theme it resonates with the audience.

Write what you know… sort of.
John Grisham, an ex-attorney, writes legal thrillers, Michael Crichton was a physician who often wrote about biotechnology, and Oliver Stone, a Vietnam vet, wrote about war in the film “Platoon”. I’m not a proponent of the common advice to ‘write what you know’. It makes sense, and can add a compelling component to your screenplay, when you can authentically include elements of a “world” unknown to most viewers. But if all you write about is what you know, you’re limiting your growth as a writer. (And a writer can research any unknown world and sound authentic, anyway). The first script I wrote was an adaptation of a true crime story revolving around the world of hitmen and a ‘civilian’ witness. What did I know about the mafia (other than “The Godfather” and a plethora of Martin Scorcese films), or what it felt like to kill someone or to spend years in prison or on-the-run in the witness protection program? What I did know about was courage, fear, responsibility, honesty, the toll of doing ‘the right thing’, and family love; all relatable, universal elements and feelings that allow an audience to connect with the story. In the end, I wrote what I knew… sort of.

Stay-Tuned: In the next post I will be providing tips for writing your Logline.