Musings on story structure...

The other week I was talking with a writer friend about why solid story structure is always present if a script is going to work.

In trying to explain why this is so I said to imagine a hundred people standing in front of you in a long row.  And you're directed to walk by them slowly, engage in a short conversation with each person, and observe how strikingly unique every individual is in terms of physical appearance, personality, and general "presence."  Without question, you'd conclude when you finished the assignment that no two people were the same and that you'd just experienced one hundred different versions of what it means to be a unique one-of-a-kind human being.

Now imagine that all clothing, flesh, and life suddenly was removed from those hundred people and all you were left with was a long row of parched white skeletons lying on the ground in front of you.

Would you be able to see any difference between them?  Oh, variations in height, perhaps, and general size.  But what about personality, sex, unique physical features?  None--at least to the untrained eye.  The bone structure would look basically identical for all one hundred.

My writer friend laughed and understood.

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I'm the Program Director of the low-residency MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen being offered by the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  Our last residency ran January 3-11, 2016 and we are now considering applications for starting the program with our July 2016 residency that runs July 21-31.  I'm also a playwright and screenwriter, producing partner in my production company Either/Or Films (The Sensation of Sight and Only Daughter), a professional script consultant, and the author of The Playwrights Process.

The road map in screenwriting...getting it right

The other day I had the follow exchange with a script client that went something like this:

Client:  I'm desperate to get into draft, but I know I need to be dead sure I have a plot outline that
really holds together.

Me:  Absolutely.  Screenplays are so dependent on action, on story structure, on a plot that, as you say, really holds together.

Client:  Yeah, I know.  I need a clear vision of where I'm going.

Me:  Exactly.

Client:  But it's been such a struggle...

Me:  Welcome to the club.

A book on screenwriting worth a review...

This summer I'm spending some time taking another look at a number of classic screenwriting books. Last week I reread Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting That You'll Ever Need.  First published ten years ago, it's a quick and easy read and although some writers have objected to his more "commercial" approach to tackling the development of a story idea into a viable script, what he lays out in basic, no nonsense terms still pretty much holds up.
 
Snyder focuses on the common sense basic dramatic ingredients that one way or another need to be operating in your story if it's going to work.  He uses the Hollywood insider lingo and even has a long glossary of terms at the back of the book he's labelled "From A to Z, a review of every slangy expression and Hollywood-inside-the-310-area-code term."

In my opinion, his Chapter 4 is one of the most valuable.  It's titled "Let's Beat It Out," presenting a simple, easy to follow breakdown of how a story in one way or another needs to be structured for a screenplay.

You may find his overall approach too "Hollywood" for your own approach to the writing process, but the book still serves as a good and concise review of the basics--something I find useful from time to time.

p.s.  Snyder also has two companion books that have appeared since.  They are Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told (2007) that breaks down structurally fifty successful films of the last forty years and Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get into...and Out of (2009) that further refines his approach to developing viable stories for the screen.  Both are also well worth a look.

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I'm the Program Director of the low-residency MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen being offered by the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  Our next residency runs January 3-11, 2016 and we are now considering applications for starting the program in January.  I'm also a playwright and screenwriter, producing partner in my production company Either/Or Films (The Sensation of Sight and Only Daughter), and a professional script consultant.

 

Developing a script that’s “ready”: What it takes

            A pattern has emerged for the projects my production company is interested in putting into development. Not that what we do is any different than most other producers.  But I thought it would be interesting to detail the process our current top-listed project has gone through in terms of script development.

Designing story: a script consulting experience, part III

My last two blog posts have attempted to lay out a recent day-long script consulting experience I had with a client where we worked through his story scene by scene and engineered a solid structural framework.  Here’s how the session concluded: 

By the end of the day (actually it was relatively late that night), we were exhausted, but we had on the table four dozen cards divided into three distinct acts that represented a definite structural roadmap for a story that excited us.  We sensed that the script based on this outline would really deliver the goods and make the kind of statement that the writer wanted to make.

Designing story: a script consulting experience, part II

    My last post introduced a day-long script consulting session I recently had with a client.  Here is how it unfolded:

    Basically what we spent the day doing was a very hands-on working through of the story scene by scene and crafting a structure that would fit into the basic three act framework.  I started by writing “Act I” on a card, then “Act II” on another, and “Act III” on a third and placing them on the table, a couple of feet apart.  This gave us from the start a simple structural design to build on—dividing the story into these three time-honored parts of setup, struggle, and solution.  (I’ve posted several blogs on these structural story components—see, for example this one from last month.)

The negative and positive premise

     If you've been following this series of posts on premise, I hope you're starting to get a sense of why it's important to add this tool to your toolbox.  Here's yet another consideration.

     There are basically two kinds of workable dramatic premises. The first conveys a lesson by showing the negative consequences of a certain mode of behavior or action.  It leaves the audience wiser about what not to do if they want to avoid the central character's fate:  ruthless ambition leads to destruction, jealousy leads to ruin, suspicion leads to disaster, chasing after worldly success leads to disillusionment.  A good number of classic plays and films contain this type of premise.  The best of them are enormously powerful and have the potential to affect audiences profoundly.

More thoughts on premise...

            In all my years working with playwrights and screenwriters, the one thing that’s helped the most in getting to the heart of a script’s problems is focusing in on what the writer really wants to say.  Without a clear sense of where you want to land with your story it’s almost impossible to proceed in figuring out how to put it together or rearrange it so it will arrive there.  Successful invention happens because the inventor has a passion for creating a specific thing that, once made, functions in a specific way.  It’s no different with a successful script.  This is why giving some serious thought to your dramatic premise early in your writing process is worth the effort.  

            Here are some further tips to keep in mind as you work at formulating your premise.

Why think about your premise early on?

     There’s a somewhat silly argument swirling around out there about the importance of thinking about what you’re trying to say with your piece as you start developing a new story idea.  Silly because it’s obvious that there’s an interrelatedness between theme and structure.  That it’s important early on in the development of any story idea to attempt to come up with—as accurately and as simply and clearly as possible—the universal truth you think you ultimately want to communicate.  In scriptwriting this is generally referred to as the dramatic premise.

It's all in the story

Recently there’s been a lively discussion on my production company’s Facebook page about the scriptwriting process and the order in which writers should learn the elements of the craft. 

 

Of course, the difficulty in learning the skills necessary to write a good play or screenplay is determining where to start.  All the basics are important.   However, towering over everything else is the story you want to tell and how you want to tell it.  It all starts here.

One-day Scriptwriting Workshop

I’m offering a special workshop on Saturday, May 21 in Keene, New Hampshire.  Here’s the basic information: 

SCRIPTWRITING MASTER CLASS / WORKSHOP

                  WITH BUZZ McLAUGHLIN

An intensive and lively one-day scriptwriting workshop for playwrights and screenwriters that will take participants through the A to Z process of writing a play or screenplay:

·        laying down the basics and formulating your dramatic idea

·        In-depth character exploration

·        Analyzing and charting out dramatic structure

·        Format and techniques of good dialogue

·        Writing the first draft and beyond

Utilizing numerous exercises and handouts to guide you through the writing process as it unfolds, the day is designed for both beginners and more experienced writers looking for a solid review of the basics. 

WHEN:  SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2011  10am - 5pm

               (with 1 hour lunch break in downtown Keene)

WHERE:  EITHER/OR FILMS OFFICES

                 7 MAIN STREET, KEENE, NH

                 #11, THIRD FLOOR

COST:  $125

TO REGISTER:  CALL 603-313-4872

                           or email buzz@eitherorfilms.com 

Join us if you can! 

those hidden I-beams

     I’m amazed when I hear of writers who say they don’t draw up a structural framework before plunging into writing a first draft.  More power to them, but I don’t know how they do it.  And I privately wonder how many hundreds (or thousands)of pages of exploration they have staggered through to come up with their workable draft.  I believe (as do most folks working in this business of writing plays and screenplays)that drawing up a set of plans or charting out a road map before the actual writing begins is a much more beneficial, efficient and practical approach and I can think of no better way to get a grasp of the importance of this than to look at the process involved in constructing a large building...