As the second act progresses, we must recognize the changes that alter the most important characters and the overall tone of the story. The second act is “the true heart of the script,” the one that “presents the greatest challenges”. Characters will gain enemies, acquire allies, suffer tremendous losses, learn horrible truths and navigate through your designed atmosphere.
Christopher Voger The Hero’s JourneyĪct II introduces the battleground for your characters and reinforces the driving, thematic structure of the story spine. This is where you will establish the major themes at work in the story, the spine around which the meat of your story will develop. The first act of your spine is integral to the overall flow of your story and an audience generally needs to be enthralled within the first 10 minutes of a screenplay/film. In Act I, the “inciting incident” creates a “call to adventure” (Christopher Vogel’s: “The Hero’s Journey”) for the main character of the story and establishes what type of story is being told. There are numerous charts and graphs that break down the path of the story using three acts, five acts or another structural model, but the general concept of creating a solid foundation for the characters and story are the same. While Field’s description journeys far into the realm of mise-en-scène and its appropriation of film aesthetics, the three-act structure is the kind of foundational structure necessary for finding your story spine. Syd Field’s “Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting” finds that “A story is the whole, and the elements that make up the story-the action, characters, conflicts, scenes, sequences, dialogue, action, Acts I, II, and III, incidents, episodes, events, music, and locations are the parts, and this relationship between the parts and the whole make up the story”. You will find a prevailing element within most stories: the three-act structure. Yet, there are stories that stray from a defined formula and tell a different tale - and thank goodness for that. When you are writing a fiction or nonfiction narrative, write from what you know.Īndrew Horton’s “Screenwriting for a Global Market: Selling your Scripts from Hollywood to Hong Kong” recognizes Hollywood’s dominant presence in formulaic structuring and states that “the ‘classical narrative’ technique of screenwriting that American cinema has developed over the years has not substantially changed”. Don’t copy the formula, but recognize and research elements that have worked consistently over the years, learn from them and then create something different. and pinpoint why the defined concept or approach works so well.
So, once again, think about the films you love for whatever reason - dialogue, pacing, setting, etc. At a glance, the theme instantly resonates with that particular culture and we, the audience, see a progressive change in the character’s desires/motivations. The ideals of the characters had changed from the revolutionary 1960’s and 70’s to the staunch conservatism and excess of the 1980’s. The concept, or spine, of “The Big Chill” revolved around the complexities of growing older. “Body Heat,” 1981 “The Big Chill,” 1983) are just as important due to the story’s structure and character development.
Learning from Othersįor me, Lawrence Kasdan (“The Empire Strikes Back,” 1980 “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” 1981) will always be one of the ultimate blockbuster genre writers, but his more personal works (i.e. Think back to the films you grew up with. In essence, write to compel the audience. This leads into the inevitable question, what is the “story spine?” Stephen Gallagher defines it as “the essential information that links in a logical sequence to deliver you to an ending that, if the logic is hard enough, will seem inevitable even if it comes as a surprise.” These are the “what else could it be” or “I can’t believe it” moments that create memorable films. What makes a good story? For that matter, how many opportunities do we have to create a lasting piece of literature that transcends the lines of genre distinction and categorization? The answer to the latter is speculative, of course, but in order to truly understand your story, the spine within the story, you have to create a concept that matters to you.