Screenwriting Updated

Foreword = xi Preface = xiii Part Ⅰ: Getting ideas 1. Creativity and general problem-solving = 1 Understanding the writing process = 1 De Bono’s creativity theories and screenwriting = 2 What causes weak writing = 3 How to use vertical and lateral thinking = 5 The Development Strategies method = 7 Development Strategies 1 and 2: diagnosis and general problem-solving = 9 2. Getting good ideas fast from screen models = 13 Writing to a screen model = 14 Getting ideas for a film (for example, a low-budget romance) = 15 Genre and audience expectations = 18 Pitfalls of genre = 21 Combining genres = 21 Inventing genres = 22 3. Getting good ideas fast from fairytale9 myth and fable = 24 Getting story ideas from Cinderella = 24 Fairytales as templates for thrillers = 26 Myth, fable and literature = 27 4. Getting good ideas fast from non-narrative triggers = 31 The outside world = 31 Social roles or behaviors = 32 Events = 32 Photographs, music, art works and other sensory stimuli = 33 Concepts and themes = 33 Finding other triggers = 35 Part Ⅱ: Narrative structure 5. Overview of traditional narrative structure = 39 Parallel storytelling is driven by the three-act structure = 40 Structure ＝ good timing = 40 Visualizing the three-act structure = 41 The importance of the protagonist = 43 Assembling the fragments = 43 Making a structure chart = 44 Nine steps to a three-act structure = 45 Subplot／background story／relationship line = 49 Index cards = 50 6. Development Strategies for a traditional three-act film = 51 Parallel storytelling = 51 Getting a good setup = 52 Finding the action line = 54 Conflict and the chain of events = 55 Action line and relationship line = 56 Three-act structure in the relationship line = 59 Protagonist and antagonist = 60 Relationship line antagonists and action line antagonists = 64 Getting into character = 72 Laying the foundations for suspense and surprise = 73 Second-act complications = 75 The second-act turning point = 77 Finding the climax = 77 Resolution and ending = 80 Final steps before the first draft = 81 Finding the story sentence (advanced form) = 83 Checking that the relationship line is moving = 83 Close planning = 83 Opening scenes = 85 Symbolism and myth = 87 Specific plotting problems: adaptation = 88 Specific plotting problems: comedy and satire = 90 Specific plotting problems: the short film = 91 Specific plotting problems: the journey film = 95 Rewrites and problem-solving generally = 96 Using criticism to best advantage = 98 Structural analysis of The Piano = 100 7. Alternative narrative structures: flashback = 105 Varieties of parallel narrative = 106 Narrative told in flashbacks = 107 What is flashback narrative? = 107 Other versions of flashback = 108 Flashback as illustration = 108 Flashback as life-changing incident = 108 Autobiographical flashback narrative = 109 Plot requirements in flashback narrative = 109 Requirements of the story in the past and the story in the present = 109 Three-act structure in flashback narrative = 110 Full circle, chronologically = 111 The hook／triggering crisis = 111 8. Varieties of flashback narrative = 117 Differences between thwarted dream and case history = 117 Protagonist and antagonist = 118 When to use flashback as case history = 118 The investigator = 119 Climax twist = 119 When to use flashback as thwarted dream = 120 Protagonist and antagonist = 120 Pursuit of the dream = 121 New understanding in the third act = 122 Living the dream = 122 The ticking clock = 122 Restoring the balance = 123 Thwarted dream becoming case history = 123 Autobiographical flashback = 124 Flashback as life-changing incident = 125 Other flashback uses in Catch-22 = 126 Recurrent flashback as moment of calm = 127 9. Quick reference guide to using flashback narrative = 129 Plot material = 130 The past = 130 Detective element = 130 The enigmatic outsider = 131 Thwarted dream or case history = 131 Protagonists and antagonists = 131 Hunt, quest, or journey = 133 Structure in flashback narrative = 133 Length = 133 Three-act structure = 133 Flashbacks appear chronologically = 133 Placing and content = 133 Protagonist and antagonist = 134 The story in the present = 134 The story in the past = 134 Triggering crisis = 135 Contents of triggering crisis = 135 Full circle = 135 Third-act quest = 135 Stories in tandem = 136 No pursuit of the dream = 136 Method for constructing flashback narrative = 136 Exercise in creating flashback narrative = 137 Standard Cinderella story = 137 Cinderella as thwarted dream = 138 Cinderella as case history = 140 Using other sorts of flashback = 141 Turning Cinderella into flashback as life-changing incident = 141 Turning Cinderella into autobiographical flashback = 141 Incorporating flashback as memory into Cinderella = 141 Incorporating alternative versions of events via flashback = 142 Starting flashbacks at the disturbance and ending just after the first-act turning point = 142 10. Structure charts of flashback narrative = 143 Shine = 144 The Remains of the Day = 152 The Usual Suspects = 156 Citizen Kane = 164 The Sweet Hereafter = 174 11. Tandem narrative and sequential narrative = 185 Advantages and problems = 186 Closure and meaning = 186 Pace and jeopardy = 187 Length = 188 Problems with closure, meaning, and pace: case studies = 188 Magnolia = 188 Short Cuts = 190 Go = 191 Sliding Doors = 192 Techniques to handle closure, pace, jeopardy, and length = 192 Three films that solve the problems = 194 City of Hope = 194 Facilitating characters = 195 Meaning, connection, pace, and closure = 196 Close weave = 199 Crimes and Misdemeanors and Pulp Fiction = 199 Pace = 199 Structure = 200 Tandem narrative in Crimes and Misdemeanors = 205 Pulp Fiction: closure by portmanteau plot = 209 City of Hope, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and Pulp Fiction as models = 219 Actor improvisation and the macro = 220 12. Multiple protagonists and antagonists = 221 How all the narratives fit together = 222 Group action line or survival macro = 223 Responses by individuals to the common problem (macro plot) 223 Relationships between individuals = 224 The dominant character = 225 The outsider = 226 The traitor within = 227 Creating a strong multiple protagonist／antagonist structure = 227 Group action line (survival macro) = 227 The group as a family = 227 The threat to the group = 227 Steps in the action line = 228 The disturbance and "whose film is it?" = 228 Normality = 229 Skeletal structure of the macro／action line = 229 Relationship lines = 229 Quest films = 229 Relationship lines = 230 Reunion films = 230 A macro that leads to closure = 231 The group on the cusp of change = 231 Siege films = 231 Siege structure in American Beauty = 232 13. Lost in the telling: films with structural flaws = 237 Prelude to a Kiss = 237 Falling in Love = 238 Wedlock = 239 Jaws 3 = 240 Jack and Sarah = 242 Guarding Tess = 243 Mr. Saturday Night = 245 Parallel Lives = 248 Common script problems = 250 Why a script might feel slow = 250 Why a script might feel boring = 250 Why a script might fizzle = 251 Part Ⅲ: Getting it onto paper 14. Dialogue = 255 Different dialogue skills = 255 Dialogue and structure = 255 Writing dialogue = 256 Visuals and sound = 256 Real time = 256 Getting information across (exposition) = 256 Talking heads and poor exposition = 257 Keeping to the point = 258 Pace = 259 Character and emotions behind the words (subtext) = 259 To get into character for the scene = 259 Productive conflict and redundant conflict = 260 Self-control = 260 Acting and camera directions = 260 Writing well for the camera = 262 15. Examples of flawed dialogue writing = 365 "Going on holiday" (Version 1) = 265 "Going on holiday" (Version 2) = 268 "The Breakup" (Version 1) = 270 "The Breakup" (Version 2) = 272 "The Breakup" (Version 3) = 274 16. Treatment writing and the script as instruction manual = 279 What is a treatment? = 279 What distracts readers from the film in their heads? = 280 What is the sequence about? = 280 1. Action = 280 2. Emotional state of the characters = 280 3. New details that will be important later = 280 4. Position = 281 5. Mood = 281 Going to cards before writing the treatment = 281 Exercise in treatment technique = 281 Poor treatment writing = 282 Better treatment writing — alternative versions = 283 Points to remember = 284 Scene breakdowns and stage directions = 284 17 Strategy for writing under pressure = 385 Filmography = 289 Bibliography = 291 Index = 295 About the Author = 301

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