HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY (SCRIPT) PT. 4

HOW TO STRUCTURE A SCREENPLAY (SCRIPT)
What is the right way to structure a screenplay? There are several theories.

That's probably the last thing you wanted to hear, but it's true. Critics, let alone screenwriters, can't agree on everything, and that's okay. You shouldn't be out to satisfy everyone, that will never happen, but there are certain rules that should be followed, not broken.

Across the board, industry types agree that every act, each scene, and every line of a screenplay should:

MOVE THE STORY FORWARD
But, you say, if a character laughs or tells a joke it is not essentially taking the story anywhere. It does however reveal something about the character, which is their humor. The audience learns.

THREE ACT STRUCTURE
This goes back to Greek plays in which there were three main acts, described today as the:

1.SETUP - Your audience has a big learning curve, they have to know who your characters are, what they do, where this is and where it's going.

2.CONFRONTATION OR CONFLICT - Your main character's struggle. I prefer the word "challenge". The hero fights pesky villains to in an attempt achieve his goal of world peace, a sports figure tries to overcome injuries that keep him from setting a world record, the hardware store employee has hopes of exposing the corrupt city council but they keep intercepting things.

3.RESOLUTION - basically, what happens at the end, which contains the climax, the moment of truth, what the audience has been waiting for. Hero beats villain (maybe), sports figure sets the record (hopefully), employee gets the city council locked up for extortion (should happen more often!).

Be warned, this structure is one basic THEORY. You could spend the next year or so reading screenplay structure theories and not have one line of your script completed. My best advice is to keep things simple, don't overthink it, and don't spend the rest of your life debating it with others, because like politics and religion, you'll never get the "right" answer and you won't win the battle.

BEFORE, DURING, & AFTER THE ACTION
One theory worth a mention is that of a popular french writer who, in my interpretation, breaks the film into these three parts, and believes that because ACT II is during the action, it must contain a climax.

ACT I, ACT IIa-IIb, ACT III
This is what I use, as taught to me by one of my online mentors, TERRI ROSSIO, who is a successful screenwriter with an enormous amount of produced scripts, many for Disney. It is a combination of the two above described theories.

This method cuts ACT II into two parts, the transition between the two being some sort of climax or notable moment. For example, maybe the hero doesn't kill the villain then, but he discovers a method in which to do it. The hardware store employee finds an informant who can secure the case against the city council, but he still has to figure out a way to befriend him.

TECHNICAL SCRIPT
Scripts are very technical, much to the surprise of the new scribe, who, when watching a film had no idea that everything was so well planned. Proper timing is essential, the audience will have a hunger for something to happen halfway through the film and it's a good idea to feed them. Reward them with proper timing, be technical, but not predictable.

In our example, we will be writing a 120 page script, divided into four sections. 120 pages are pretty much the industry standard, although it is said that 110 pages are the "new 120".

Divided into four, because of our "2a to 2b transition", each act will be thirty pages.

Yesterday, I decided on a MAIN CHARACTER, a relative who moved often.

We have our LOGLINE from the example:

"A woman moves fourteen times in a two-year span on an endless search for love and happiness".

That's really all I need to start my:

OUTLINE: ACTS & STORY
I usually do the outline in Notepad or some other simple document. Use it to brainstorm and draw out a map of what will happen in your story. Dividing it into acts keeps you aware of what should be going on in those particular acts and scenes. Everything is subject to change, and should, it will help your story evolve. Keep the structure in mind and that everything must move forward.

I always start by typing in the acts:

ACT I
ACT IIa
TRANSITION
ACT IIb
ACT III

Then I fill in ACT I, the SETUP of who, what and where.

ACT I
*Monique is a routine 9 to 5er who gets divorced
*with a dull desk job in Boston
*and is inspired to change
*so she decides to move

Okay, it's not a Pulitzer Prize, but a start, onto the CHALLENGE

ACT IIa
*she endures a terrible move
*and meets Ted, nice new guy at work
*she moves again and again, Ted helps
*but every new move is worst than the last

TRANSITION time, something's gotta happen!

*Monique seems happy with one place, finally, and locks in love interest Ted.

Just when all was okay, more CHALLENGES

ACT IIa
*turns out Ted is a compulsive gambler
*and the landlord is a total freak
*absorbed helping Ted, she's fired from her own job
*and downsizes, moving to the smallest and worst place ever

Finally, the RESOLUTION, which is success or failure, you call it.

*she accepts the fact that moving will not change her life
*and that Ted has the same dream-chasing problem she has
*working at self improvement, she betters, scores a great job
*and meets Ted again, but sorry, he'll never change
*finally, we see her buying her dream home, the one she always wanted, alone, but secure and happy.
*and it just so happens that the next door neighbor guy is cute and single!

Work with your logline and main character in the three (really four) acts and the other characters will evolve. Make it move forward. Challenge your character, because the audience backs the underdog. Feed them at the proper moments.

We will go deeper into this but for now, work on your outline and you'll have already completed a sort of "mini-script".

Have a good write!