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5 Big Things To Sweat About Author: Trevor Mayes May 30

Sweat The Big StuffSweat The Big Stuff

I’m sure you’ve all heard this inspiring set of rules before:

  1. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
  2. It’s all small stuff.

The truth of the matter, however, is that when it comes to screenwriting, that message couldn’t be further from the truth. While the devil may be in the details, your script lives or dies in its broad strokes.

Prom Date

Here’s a quick metaphor to illustrate what I’m trying to say…

STUDENT

Is my prom date’s dress hot or what?

CONCERNED FRIEND

I guess. But dude, your date is a chimp.

STUDENT

Okay now you’re just being rude.

CONCERNED FRIEND

No, I mean your date is literally a chimpanzee. Does your dad work for the circus or something?

STUDENT

The zoo.

CONCERNED FRIEND

Ah.

Awkward silence.

STUDENT

Smokin’ hot dress though, right?

It doesn’t matter how hot your scenes are, if your script is a chimp!

5 Things

Here are five BIG things you should sweat over, long before worrying about things like correct formatting, clever descriptions or upping the tension in a particular scene:

Concept

Concept is probably the most important aspect of your script. If you have a fantastic one, readers/producers will be more likely to forgive minor problems.

When you tell people about your concept, do they ooh and ahh? Do their eyes light up? If it’s a comedy, do they smile or laugh? Do they immediately connect with the material. Make sure you have a winning concept before you start writing your screenplay.

True story. I once had a woman pitch me the following sole movie concept: “It’s about a black Hollywood producer who has a small dick.” FAIL!

Character Motivations

By the time a reader reaches the second act of your script, he/she should be able to answer at least two fundamental questions. The first one is: “What does the protagonist want?” Make sure the answer to this question is clear and primal.

“My protagonist is just kinda going with the flow at this stage of the script.” FAIL!

Rooting Interest for Your Main Character

The second question a reader should be able to answer by the start of the second act is: “What do I want for the protagonist?” Depending on your story, this may, or may not, be the same thing as what the protagonist wants. But either way, at this stage, the reader should be rooting for your main character(s).

Moreover the reader should have an implicit understanding of where the story is going, and care about that direction.

READER: “I hate the protagonist, so I don’t care if he finds his lost doughnut… not that I would have been at all interested in that anyway.” FAIL!

Overarching Story

Have you provided a solid structure and an engaging plot?

Do cool or powerful things happen in your story? Have you fulfilled the promise of the premise? Have you executed a story that maximizes the potential of the concept? Thrilled the audience? Shown them something they’ve never seen before, or in a way they’ve never seen it?

“Yes, it’s a global apocalypse movie, but we learn what happens through first person accounts only. It takes place entirely in one interview room.” FAIL!

Theme

Is your movie about something? The movies that leave an impact on us are the ones that teach us something, or, at the very least, have something to say that will resonate with audiences. Something specific.

“The theme is danger.” FAIL!

***

Do you have all of these bases covered in your script? Or are you taking a chimp in a pretty dress to prom?

Any “big stuff” you would add to the list? Please post in the comments section.

Need someone to review your screenplay? Please take a look at my script services.

Category: Characters, Concept, Plot, Structure, Theme, Writing  | One Comment
Guest Post at ScriptXRay Author: Trevor Mayes Mar 10

Guest Post at ScriptXRayI’ve been a big fan of the web site ScriptXRay for a long time. So I was very excited by the opportunity to contribute today’s guest post for their site, on the subject of demystifying story structure.

Here’s an excerpt:

Hallowed or Hackneyed?

When it comes to mainstream Hollywood story structure, there tends to be two schools of thought.

1) Hallowed — “There is a mystical reason we humans respond to the same basic story told over and over again.”

2) Hackneyed — “Movies have become far too formulaic, with their clichéd heroes journeys and fill-in-the-blanks beat sheets.”

Both are slightly off.

Please read the rest of this article at ScriptXRay.com and let me know what you think!

Category: Structure  | Leave a Comment
The Unconventional Brilliance of “Rocky” Author: Trevor Mayes Jan 09

The Stuff of Legend

In this age of stock plots and by-the-numbers stories, I thought it would be nice to look back at Rocky [Amazon | IMDB] — a little spec script that broke the rules in 1976, became a box office sensation and won the Oscar for Best Picture.

The story behind the script itself is the stuff of Hollywood legend. An unknown screenwriter (and virtually unknown actor), Sylvester Stallone, writes a spec script so amazing that he is able to insist on starring in the movie’s title role.

The script itself, in addition to being nominated for Best Screenplay honors in 1977, is later hailed by the Writers Guild of America, West, as one of the 101 greatest screenplays of all time.

Thar Be Spoilers

If you’re young enough that you’ve never seen, or heard of (cringe), Rocky, then I suggest you stop reading now and simply go rent or buy the movie. While its sequels eventually became formulaic and over-the-top, the original Rocky is a masterpiece of low-budget filmmaking, that tugs at your heart-strings and gives you a unique character you can’t resist rooting for.

A Late Catalyst

What’s really amazing is that the movie does not follow conventional wisdom about screenplay structure. Most movies these days adhere to the rule that the Catalyst or Call to Adventure1 must happen within the first 10 to 15 minutes.

Incredibly, in Rocky, the Catalyst/Call to Adventure doesn’t arrive until the 53 minute mark! That’s when Rocky gets notified that Apollo Creed’s promoter is looking to talk with him.

How is it possible that the catalyst doesn’t arrive until the 53 minute mark? What happens for that extra 40 minutes or so to keep the audience engaged?

Why We Don’t Mind a Long Set Up

Rocky’s dreams of being a heavyweight champion are like my dreams of dating a supermodel who’s made of dark chocolate — it’s something too fantastical to even consider. What Rocky really dreams of is being respected. He also wants Adrian — the shy but cute pet store worker — to like him.

The first half of the movie spends its time on five things:

  • Showing Rocky’s challenging life
    A partial list: He gets called a “bum” at a boxing match, his gym locker taken away, the cold shoulder from Adrian and grief from her co-worker, yelled at by boxing coach Mickey, heckled by his boss’s driver, told to screw off by a little girl… All things to earn Rocky sympathy with the audience.
  • Showing us that Rocky’s a great guy
    There are so many Save the Cat2 moments. A partial list: Rocky says hi to a puppy in a pet store window, he looks after his turtles, let’s a guy off the hook for not having enough money to pay back his loan shark boss, brings a drunk inside who’s passed out on the street, tries to help a young girl avoid a bad rep, spends 10 bucks to take Adrian ice skating after hours…
  • Developing Rocky’s Character
    This is a big one. Without this one, the above two points don’t mean anything. All of the above mentioned items are done in ways that develop one of the most original and engaging characters to ever appear in film. He’s the bruiser with a heart of gold and the dialogue is absolutely priceless. There’s never a dull moment because you can’t wait to hear what’s going to come out of his mouth next. 15 minutes in, you don’t need a catalyst because you simply love watching this guy’s life.
  • The romance with Adrian
    Of course even the most compelling characters need a goal; something the audience can track. For the first half of the film, Rocky’s goal is to get Adrian. Everything else in Rocky’s life is so crappy that you hope against hope that he’ll at least find some happiness with Adrian. They have their first kiss at minute 52 — just before the catalyst scene.
  • Setting Up the Eventual Heavyweight Fight
    The prospect of a prize fight is only sprinkled in for flavor a couple of times in the first half of the movie (the first time is at minute 30). Rocky doesn’t know his fate is going to change, but the audience does. That creates dramatic tension. An anticipation and excitement in the audience that something big is going to happen in Rocky’s life.

The All Is Lost Moment

In almost all movies the hero reaches a point of extreme crisis where they believe that all is lost. Usually that happens late in the second act. The hero then summons his/her courage and decides to push forward into the third act.

In Rocky, the “All is Lost” moment comes at the beginning of the third act. After one of the best training montages of all time (which carries us into the third act), at minute 93, Rocky goes to the arena where the fight is going to take place. The poster they’ve created for Rocky has the wrong color shorts. The boxing promoter tells Rocky that it doesn’t really matter. He knows Rocky’s going to give them a great show.

And that’s when it hits Rocky — at minute 96 — he can’t beat Apollo Creed. It then leads into the poignant scene with Adrian where he summarizes his real dream:

“All I want to do is go the distance. If that bell rings and I’m still standing, I’m gonna know for the first time in my life you see, that I’m not just another bum from the neighborhood.”

It’s worth noting that the early third act “All Is Lost”/”Dark Night of the Soul”3 sequence is not super uncommon. I’ll provide some more examples of such movies in a future post.

Summary

There are many other wonderful and unique touches in this film:

  • Gazzo, the gangster boss who’s a really nice guy
  • Paulie, the alcoholic loose-cannon brother of Adrian
  • Mickey, the crotchety old boxing coach who gets one last chance at glory
  • Apollo Creed’s concerned trainer (“He doesn’t know it’s a damn show. He thinks it’s a damn fight!”)
  • The fact that Rocky loses the fight at the end of the movie
  • Bill Conti’s powerful music

The bottom line though is that it’s okay to break the rules (of structure or anything else for that matter) as long as you know the reasons behind the rules in the first place, and can keep the reader/audience engaged in your story.

  1. the Catalyst/Call to Adventure is the opportunity or incident that shakes up the hero’s regular world ↩
  2. Save the Cat moments are those scenes where a hero does something like saving a cat to make the audience like him or her. The expression was coined by Blake Snyder. ↩
  3. “All Is Lost”/”Dark Night of the Soul” — More Blake Snyderisms ↩
Category: Structure  | Leave a Comment
Pocahontavatar Author: Trevor Mayes Jan 05

Halfhearted Spoiler Alert

This article discusses the plot/structure of Avatar. However, since most of the joy of Avatar comes from the jaw-dropping visuals, it’s unlikely reading this article prior to seeing the movie will have any spoiling effect. Consider yourself halfheartedly warned.

Comparable Structures

Joseph Campbell popularized the concept of the hero’s journey or “monomyth” — which argues that numerous myths from disparate times and regions share fundamental structures and stages.

While current scholars may question the validity and usefulness of that claim, one thing’s for sure: Hollywood churns out a lot of movies that are structurally identical.

Pocahontavatar

A number of recent articles in the blogosphere have compared the structure of Avatar to Disney’s 1995 movie, Pocahontas. A quick look at the image below will tell you that the similarities are striking.

Click for larger image

There are similar images for other movies (this guy has a bunch of them), such as Harry Potter vs. Star Wars, but in my opinion the Avatar/Pocahontas parallels take the cake.

Justifiable Criticism?

Most critics have hailed Avatar as a stunning achievement in special effects. Most of those same critics have also complained about the predictability of the story.

Is this criticism justified?

Yes and no. The story structure is very similar to any number of other movies, from Lawrence of Arabia to The Last Samurai to Dances with Wolves… that’s not a crime. It’s the old Hollywood mantra: “Give me the same only different.”

And that’s exactly what James Cameron did. He set Pocahontas on an alien world (where the aliens were blue and ginormous), crafted the concept of the “dreamwalkers,” added some flying dragons, floating mountain ranges and some bioluminescent flora, sprinkled in a Tree of Life, and many more original touches.

Why wasn’t the movie’s plot more original?

James Cameron is a creative genius and an encyclopedia of film knowledge. Of course he knew about all of these movie precedents while writing Avatar. His motivation for making this movie was to showcase visuals that would blow people to the back of the theatre.

You have to imagine that you’re James Cameron. You’re about to create the most expensive movie ever (again). Your movie relies on your ability to produce realistic 9 foot tall blue aliens in an impossible junglescape with technology that doesn’t currently exist or has never been proven.

Do you really want to take a chance with an experimental story? Probably not so much.1

By wrapping the stunning effects around a storyline that’s been proven to pack a punch, he knew that he could focus on creating the amazing world of Pandora and its inhabitants.

Of course that’s just my opinion, but it makes sense to me. What’s your take?

  1. Boing Boing has a great article which poses the question: “What storytelling risks could Avatar have taken?” ↩
Category: Movie Reviews, Structure  | Leave a Comment
Edgy Screenwriting (2B): 13 Ways To Kill Your Hero Author: Trevor Mayes Dec 08

Skull TombstoneMore Edgy Screenwriting

In Part 2A of the Edgy Screenwriting series, I discussed why killing your hero is not a great idea for a spec script. But if you’re afflicted with the stubborn gene, and determined to kill your hero/protagonist anyway, this article explores some ways to do it right.

I always find the best approach is to look at movies where edgy screenwriting works and then reverse engineer them. But always keep in mind there are many variables at play in Hollywood.

The death of your hero requires not only perfect execution (no pun intended), but requires sympathetic readers, producers, studio executives, directors, actors and test audiences. There are  a lot of links in the chain that be easily be broken at any time. So kill your protagonist at your own risk.

13 ways your hero can get away with dying

Note: Often times a satisfying hero’s death will simultaneously incorporate many of these methods (listed in no particular order). These types of deaths are not just limited to main characters either. Beloved secondary characters will often exit utilizing these methods.

  1. The death is foretold or shown
    We see or are told about the hero’s death up front, so that when the death comes we’ve already accepted it as an inevitable tragic outcome. It imbues the film with dramatic tension where we wonder throughout: How is it going to happen? Who is going to kill him? Why are they going to kill him?
  2. The hero was already dead
    We either find out that the hero was dead the entire time, or we see his death early on and enjoy the hero’s supernatural exploits.
  3. The hero sacrifices himself for another
    When the hero performs this noble act (for another character or characters we care about), we respect and admire the decision — if it’s necessitated.
  4. The hero’s death reinforces the theme
    This one is required for almost all hero deaths. The death must support and reinforce the argument the movie is trying to make, and teach us something.
  5. There’s a brilliant twist involved
    Sometimes, if a twist that involves the hero’s death is spectacular, it can trump our desire to see the hero make it out alive.
  6. The hero achieves peace
    If the hero is a troubled soul, sometimes dying can bring about more peace than living can.
  7. The hero wins by dying on their terms
    Death makes the hero untouchable. Sometimes the only way to win is to journey to the other side willingly, usually for an ideal or cause.
  8. The hero is on his last legs
    If the hero has lived a long, full life, it’s sometimes easier to let them go.
  9. The hero flirts with death
    If the hero has a death wish, or lives by the sword… their death can certainly feel like an inevitable outcome to their lifestyle. Typically their death comes about because they can’t overcome their fatal/tragic flaw.
  10. It’s an historical event
    If your hero is a real life figure, odds are we’ve already accepted their death during history class.
  11. It’s a religious experience
    If your hero dies, but we see that they are going to a better place, it’s an up-ending.
  12. The hero’s a monster
    If your hero is a monstrous killing machine, it’s much easier to accept their eventual demise.
  13. We don’t see the actual death
    If we don’t actually have to see their death (either because the movie ends before the moment, or it happens off-screen), it’s easier to swallow. And who knows, there’s a small chance they even survived.

13 ways — see I told you it was unlucky1 to write that kind of ending!

Now let’s look at some examples.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

This article discusses the ends of a number of movies. I can’t even post the names of the movies as a heads-up because that, coupled with the title of this article, would still spoil the ending of the movie. It’s likely you already know the endings of these famous movies, but all the same, you have been warned.

Examples of movies where the hero/protagonist dies

Again, a quick reminder that most movies (wisely) employ a number of these methods. Therefore, many of the movies cited could easily have been listed in multiple places. I’ve only listed a couple of examples but, yes, I’m aware there are probably more obvious ones.

1. The death is foretold or shown

2. The hero was already dead

3. The hero sacrifices himself for another

4. The hero’s death reinforces the theme

  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Theme: Authority oppresses the individual) [Amazon | IMDB]
  • Braveheart (Theme:  “… our enemies… may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!” [Amazon | IMDB]

5. There’s a brilliant twist involved

6. The hero achieves peace

7. The hero wins by dying on their terms

8. The hero is on his last legs

9. The hero flirts with death

10. It’s an historical event

11. It’s a religious experience

12. The hero’s a monster

13. We don’t see the actual death

Do you have a satisfying way for your hero to die that isn’t listed? Please post it below.

  1. A number of movies where the hero dies have won awards, or are some of the most beloved movies of all time, or both. However, keep in mind that statistically speaking, you’re better off writing a spec that doesn’t involve your hero’s death. ↩
Category: Characters, Structure  | 4 Comments
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