Screenplay Writing

1. Screenplay Writing Lecture#3

2. Overview of the Screenplay’s Core Story According to Trottier, your core story should be divided into three acts which consist of: • Setting Up the Situation (Act 1); • Developing the Rising Conflict Between Your Central & Oppositional Characters (Act 2); & • Resolving the Conflict Between Your Characters (Act 3) Further, each act should contain a series of Critical Events that will lead to the inevitable Showdown between your Hero and Villain.

3. The Screenplay’s Core Story: Act 1 Act 1 to the screenplay has these Critical Events: • The Opening Scene (or “Hook”) which should capture the reader’s interest & attention. • The Catalyst which should occur early on; it is intended to upset the initial balance of the Hero, giving him/her a new problem, need, goal or mission to accomplish. • And finally, the Big Event, which should close Act 1. The Big Event is something “that changes your character’s life in a monumentalway.”

4. Act 1 to Movie Screenplays • The Opening Scenes to Planet of the Apes and The Shining have Colonel Taylor delivering his soliloquy aboard his spacecraft and Jack Torrance interviewing for the position of caretaker at the Overlook. • The Catalysts are when Taylor’s ship crashes into the waters of an unknown planet and when Jack accepts the job offer and drives his family (Wendy and Danny) to their new home.

5. Act 1 to Movie Screenplays • The Big Event to Planet of the Apes is the Hunting Sequence: the savage humans on the planet, including Taylor’s party, are shot and rounded up by gorillas on horseback. This is the first image of the apes- and it is a frighteningly intense moment! • The Big Event to The Shining is Jack telling his wife Wendy never to disturb him when he is typing in the study- thus leaving him vulnerable to the ghostly residents of the Overlook.

6. Act 1 to The Vidbond Screenplay The Opening Scene to The VidbondConnection involves Derek Sullivan recovering from his most recent breakup; The Catalyst is when Derek reluctantly pays 500 dollars to become a life-long member of the video-dating service; And the Big Event is Derek’s first date with Karen Sloman: it goes badly with Derek nearly passing out, experiencing a nightmarish dream sequence, and discovering a strange black growth on his forehead.

7. The Screenplay’s Core Story:Act 2 Act 2 to the screenplay has these Critical Events: • The Escalating Conflict between your Hero and Villain. • The Pinch which occurs about half-way through Act 2; it is “the point of no return for the Hero, when his/her motivation becomes crystal clear.” • And the Crisis which ends Act 2. The Conflict has become so intense that it has reached life-or-death proportions for the Hero.

8. Act 2 to Movie Screenplays • The Escalating Conflict between Taylor and Zaius becomes magnified when he regains his voice; now the head orangutan must find a means of permanently silencing him. • The Escalating Conflict between Jack Torrance and his family rises when he starts drinking again. • The Pinch for Taylor is when he finds his astronaut friend Landon lobotomized; he never ever wants the same fate to befall him, yelling “You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon!”

9. Act 2 to Movie Screenplays • The Pinch is when Jack physically goes after Wendy, threatening her in typical stalker fashion. • The Crisis for Taylor is fleeing Ape City with his simian friends Cornelius & Zira. But Zaius’s gorilla army is right behind him ready to execute the human on command. • The Crisis for Jack is his axing an Overlook employee, Mr. Hallorhan. He has been pushed over the edge, and now Wendy & Danny must flee for their very lives.

10. Act 2 to The Vidbond Screenplay When Derek tells the Vidbond director, Bonnie McMahon, that he no longer wants to date Karen, this sets the stage for a series of Escalating Conflicts between them. The Pinch is when Derek finds out that Karen is a vampiric creature that must be disposed of by hammering a glass shard into her chest. The Crisis has Derek, his sister Amy, and close friend Matt penetrating the Vidbond Centre to discover the real Villain behind the agency: it is the brain of Vlad the Impaler.

11. The Screenplay’s Core Story:Act 3 Act 3 to the screenplay has these Critical Events: • The Climax (or Showdown) between the Hero and the Villain. The Climax should follow directly “on the heels of the Crisis…and everything is on the line for the Hero”; it is the Biggest Event in the screenplay. • And immediately following the Climax, Self-Discovery (“psychic growth”) within the Hero. The central character has been through a crucible, has shown great courage, and should now be changed in some fashion.

12. Act 3 to Movie Screenplays • In the Planet of the Apes’ Climax, Taylor does not kill his antagonist; rather, he ties Zaius up in the same humiliating manner as the ape militia had done to him throughout the course of the film. • The Shining’s Climax has Jack chasing Wendy and Danny throughout the Overlook; eventually, Danny traps Jack within a huge hedge maze bordering the hotel, causing the man to freeze to death in the snow. Both of these films have very low-key Showdowns.

13. Act 3 to Movie Screenplays • Taylor’s Self-Discovery is when he collapses before the shattered remains of the Statue of Liberty; he realizes that this bizarre world is actually his home planet Earth! • The Self-Discovery in The Shining is when the camera lingers over a photograph and we see Jack Torrance’s smiling face; he has now become a permanent resident of the hotel or perhaps he was always one of the tenants in a past life…

14. Act 3 to the Vidbond Screenplay The Vidbond Connection is packed with action in its Climax. Derek manages to escape the cerebral clutches of Vlad, but his partners (Matt and Amy) are not so lucky. Before the entire Centre collapses, Vlad “kills” Bonnie with his tentacled appendages before perishing himself. Derek’s Self-Discovery is his realization that some of the Vidbond members, including Bonnie, have survived and have started a new computer training program for Fortune 500 businessmen. Derek has fought the good fight, but lost the war.

15. Developing the Acts to Your Screenplay Story Now think about the essential components of each act and develop a “rough” outline of how you want your core story to proceed. • Make sure there is a logical progression in your Critical Events, from the Opening Scene to the Hero’s Self-Discovery. • A Showdown between the Hero and Villain is absolutely essential, but having an open ending allows you to retell your story without reinventing the screenplay theme. • Keep in mind there are many ways to tell a story, and that your acts will evolve over time.