Screenwriting 105 - The 1 Page Pitch

A One Page Pitch is used when pitching a TV series to a Commissioning Editor. It comprises of the concept, but not the plot. The plot is the enemy of the pitch. Instead focus upon the tone. It should comprise of the following necessary elements:

1. Title
2. Type of TV show, length of series and episode length
3. Tag line
4. Opening paragraph detailing the relevance of the project to the real world (possibly its themes)
5. Make references to everything/anything that is similar (preferably successful and that you like) making subtle mention of the elements of their stories
6. Set up the main characters, giving their traits.
7. Make references to the type of world this is and the type of places frequented/visited by the characters.
8. Give a brief about issues and conflicts.
9. If there is anything specific about you that makes your insight into the project more powerful, add it here.
10. Show the zeitgeist. Why does this fit? Is the time right?
11. Sum up the tone and genre.
12. Give a call to action (maintaining the tone).

With a feature film you'd give the conflict, the setup and the conclusion.

Screenwriting 104(4) - Dramatica - Problem Quad

What must be understood about Dramatica, is that the process is all about drilling down through the layers of quads to get to the root causes and solutions to characters and their problems. Having passed through the issues, we reach the Problem Quads - out of a total possible 256 Problems.
So, the Problem Quad exists pretty much like this:

As with our previous assessments of Quads we place one layer over the framework of another. However, we are now working so deep that we must deal with each of our original Storylines (Throughlines - Main Character, Overall Story, etc) separately. So for each of the four, we have four Problem Quads. And each looks at Problem, Symptom, Response, Solution.

Taking Rick's Main Character Throughline from Casblanca, we have drilled down to a Problem Quad (if you follow my previous posts and the Dramatica guidebook) of Control, Feeling, Logic, Uncontrol. So, for Rick, his problem is that he has to control everything. The symptom of which is that his feelings for and toward Ilsa have led him to this end... well, Andy Conway sums it up best:

Well, Rick seems to be a hard-bitten, cynical guy who sticks his neck out for nobody. That’s a very logical attitude to take to what is happening around him. But remember that Renault recognises him as a rank sentimentalist. He’s adopting this attitude to cover his emotions. It breaks out now and then, but mostly he manages to hide it.

But his real Problem is ‘Control’ and the Solution to that is ‘Uncontrol’. What does this mean?

When we open, Rick is one of the most powerful people in Casablanca. He is in total control of everything. He runs his bar and controls the prefect, even the Nazis, everyone. But this is a false empire. It’s not what Rick should be doing. What he needs to do is give up all that Control and choose to walk away from it. And that’s exactly what happens at the end of the film. He walks away with nothing but the clothes he stands in, at the mercy of the world again.

The key to use of this system that after all your domains, situations, problems and characters are mapped out you are provided with a list of what needs to be shown by your script or story in order to help with deep characters, plot arcs, and a tale that works on all levels. Furthermore, looking at this depth allows you to generate stories that end on different notes - for example Casblanca ends on a positive for Ilsa and Laslo - they escape. Rick however, though he has left behind his control, suffers the bittersweet ending. He's stuck in Casblanca, without Ilsa, but he's prepared to move on.

Now, if that isn't an oscar winner... I don't know what is!

So, what comes next for Dramatica? Well, there is the character archetypes, and the complicating of their natures to create superbly rounded characters that function to serve the plot in as many ways as necessary, there's the 12 point plot notes you need to be aware of... and more. But that's up to you to investigate... http://www.dramatica.com/

Screenwriting 104(3) - Dramatica's Concerns

Okay everybody, this is where things begin to complicate... and at this point you should begin to wonder why all this effort is necessary. Surely it's just distracting from writing? Well, yes and no. Dramatica can be used either at the beginning of a project, mid way through, or at the end. Its purpose is to help fill the gaps, bring out inconsistencies and develop the more rounded product.

So, concerns...Dramatica has 16 Concerns, based upon the framework of the 4 Domains (hope you're still with me). What we're doing is drilling down through a matrix (imagine a multi-level chessboard). Here each Domain becomes split into 4 Concerns. So, for each of the Throughlines, we now have 4 Concerns. In Casablanca, Rick's Main Character Throughline, which fell upon the Domain of Fixed Attitude can now be separated out into Memories, Impulsive Responses, Innermost Desires, and Contemplation.

BUT! But, we don't use all 4 concerns... we can't because we must avoid too much confusion. Each of the Throughlines/Domains may only focus upon 1 Concern, and in respect to Rick, his Concern for his Fixed Attitude is Innermost Desires.

And, what that means for the other Througlines/Domains is that their Concerns must/do fall upon the same relational square, ie: Rick's is the bottom-left, so the other three Throughlines must fall upon the bottom-left square of their own Concern quad. With me?

• Rick (Main Character Throughline) - Fixed Attitude (Domain) - Innermost Desires (Concern)
• Ilsa (Impact Character) - Situation (Domain) - Future (Concern)
• Visas and escape (Objective Story) - Activity (Domain) - Obtaining (Concern)
• Rick versus Ilsa (Subjective Story) - Manipulations (Domain) - Changing One's Nature (Concern)

Screenwriting 104(2) - Dramatica's Domains

Moving onto the next quadrangle we see that along with 4 Storylines, we have 4 Domains. The Domains are the context through which the Storylines operate. The writer puts the framework of the Domains beneath the shroud of the Throughlines so that you have one Throughline for each of the Domains.

It is theorised that every "Grand Argument Story", that is every damn fine story, has all four of these Domains present. So, we have:

• Situation
• Activity
• Manipulations
• Fixed Attitude

It is also theorised that for a story to feel rounded and complete, these elements all need to be present and working together, or against one another.

What does this really mean? It means that one of your Throughlines will line up with one of the Domains, meaning that the other three will, likewise, have to fit into one of the other three Domains. Take this example from Casablanca, for... er... example. (From the comic strip about Dramatica):

So, we can see what fits where:

• Situation - Ilsa (Impact Character) is locked in a situation (she's stuck in Casablanca with no way out)
  
• Activity - Everybody (Objective Story) is trying to get visas to escape Casablanca
  
• Manipulations - Ilsa and Rick (Subjective Story) are playing mind games with one another; Rick out of bitterness, and his need to control everything; Ilsa because she needs to get out of Casablanca, despite her feelings for Rick.
• Fixed Attitude - Rick (Main Character) has a fixed attitude. He's seen the world, and lost the girl. Now he's bitter and thinks the only way to live his life is by controlling everything.

Jaws:

• Situation - The Objective Story (Shark terrorising the Waters of the local populace)
  
• Activity - The Main Character (Brody is the one who takes action, to pursue the shark, and stop its devious teethiness)
  
• Manipulations - The Impact Character (Hooper, the guy with the money, the education and all his beliefs about sharks and the such like)
  
• Fixed Attitude - The Subjective Story (Hooper and Brody's conflicts - Brody must learn from Hooper to reach understanding)

The Storyform
We now have storyforms to work with from Domains and Throughlines. Andy Conway developed the following way of looking at Storyforms... which goes into more depth than presently necessary, but it gives you the idea:

Screenwriting 104(1) - Dramatica's Throughlines

Dramatica is the deep theory of story, and simply put is a framework upon which you can place your story idea, themes, characters, and the suchlike, to ensure you have all your bases marked for a well-rounded story - be it a novel, film, stage play.

Consider Dramatica to be the DNA of story, where "the whole brain is having a debate about inequity".

My previous Screenwriting posts have been the analysis of film through the separate paradigms, but with Dramatica, as my tutor, Andy Conway, pointed out, to understand Dramatica you need to analyse the paradigm through film. As such, this could get complicated (but is well worth sticking with), and I might resort to regurgitating what Andy has already written... why rewrite the wheel?

Quadrangles
Dramatica works on a principle of setting everything out into quads. There will be four of everything, arranged as four squares within a square. This provides the basis for relations between objects, such as helping to assess conflict zones.

Throughlines
Dramatica's first principle is tht of a Story Brain, in which exist four Throughlines (not one simple story). These four Throughlines are four separate stories integrated into the whole, providing the audience/reader with the most interesting route through the Story Brain from opening to conclusion - this is something I've pondered for some time in my own writing. That there is a need for lots of mini-stories, flashbacks, anecdotes, that flesh out the world. Though this is on a more specific level.

So, we have 4 Throughlines:

• The Main Character throughline
• The Impact Character throughline
• The Overall Story throughline
• The Main Character versus the Impact Character throughline (Subjective Story)

Here you can see that the Main Character and the Impact Character are diagonally opposed, as is the Subjective and Objective Stories - Conflict!

Think of it like this:

In Star Wars, Luke (Main Character) is taught by Obi Wan (Impact Character). Their Subjective Story is the training of Luke to become a Jedi, whilst the Objective Story is the wider world of Rebellion versus Empire and the destruction of the Deathstar.

In Casablanca, Rick (Main Character) had a love affair with Ilsa (Impact Character). Their Subjective Story is their relationship ("We'll always have Paris.") and Rick's bitterness over Ilsa leaving him, and now turning up with Laslo. The Objective Story is that everyone is trying to get visas to get out of Casablanca.

It's the relations between the Main Character and Impact Character that are most important to the story whole. The clash between the two results in 1 of them changing (Character arc), and one of the remaining the same... steadfast.

In Star Wars, Luke comes to believe in the Force, and to trust that ability within himself. Obi Wan doesn't change. In Casablanca, Rick learns to let to of his control of everything and helps Ilsa and Laslo, whilst Ilsa doesn't change. Amelie, in Amelie, learns to allow herself to help herself and not to stand in the way of her own goal, whilst, the glass man remains steadfast. In An Officer and a Gentleman, it is Zack who changes, not Paula.

That is not to say it always has to be the Main Character who must change... consider Indy Jones and most Bond films.

Screenwriting 104 - TV Drama

TV Drama has changed, and is still in the process of changing. The six types of television drama or converging and swapping places in an effort to cater for greater viewing audiences. Take Entourage, for example, it is a drama but has lots of comedy moments and is slotted into a sitcom style 30 minutes. Desperate Housewives is a drama but has lots of comedic elements. Currently there are 6 types of fictional television:

• Single - This is a 1 or 2 hour, one off drama (not very profitable for the channel because it doesn't get repeat audiences).
• Sitcom - The standard 30 minutes situational comedy, or the new strain of off the wall vignettes slotted into a 30 minute time frame.
• Series - Your standard television dramas (Lost, 24, Battlestar, Heroes, Life on Mars, Doctor Who). In the UK a series is roughly 8 to 13 episodes in length. In the US a series is roughly 20 to 24 episodes in length.
• Mini-series - UK series' are classed as mini-series in the US. In the UK, a mini-series would be classed as Prime Suspect, or Cracker (which runs for 6-8 weeks, but has separate storylines which run for 2 to 3 weeks and are self contained).
• Serial - Serial means spread over a number of episodes. A series has serial elements (character of plot arcs). Programs such as Doctors, Casualty, Holby City and the suchlike (not to just name the medical ones) cover one off events (patients) during a program which are wrapped up by the end of the show, but the serial elements come in with characters' relationships with one another.
• Soap - Long running stories with little resolutions.

In a TV series, each episode is a single story or issue that is resolved by the end of that episode (broadcasters want to allow as many people as possible to pick the program up, preventing viewer drop offs if any episode is missed or viewers don't start watching from the beginning).

There is a main story (A story) and other arcs can take place (B story, C story, etc). There are also serial arcs, or 'serial elements'.

Single Episode

Each episode is roughly 40 to 60 minutes in length (usually 42 minutes). The US has generated a basic structure of a Teaser and 4 Acts:

• Teaser [6 Mins]
  TITLE SEQUENCE
• Act 1 [9 Mins]
• Act 2 [9 Mins]
• Act 3 [9 Mins]
• Act 4 [9 Mins]

Dramatically, plot points must fall at the end of an act to hold the audience over the advert break. Act 1 is usually a bit longer than the other acts to help develop the chracters and threads of the story, whilst Act 4 sets up the serial elements for the rest of the series or sows the seeds for the next episode.

A move to 5 Acts was made in the last few years - an increase in stakes, pace, and the number of adverts.

House: Season 3. Episode 1

[Section] [Teaser] [Act 1] [Act 2] [Act 3] [Act 4] [Act 5]
[Cumul.] [ 7 ] [ 13 ] [ 23 ] [ 29 ] [ 36 ] [ 43 ]
[Mins. ] [ 7 ] [ 6 ] [ 10 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 7 ]

Heroes: Season 1. Episode 18

[Section] [Teaser] [Act 1] [Act 2] [Act 3] [Act 4] [Act 5]
[Cumul.] [ 7 ] [ 15 ] [ 25 ] [ 30 ] [ 35 ] [ 42 ]
[Mins. ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 10 ] [ 5 ] [ 5 ] [ 7 ]

Now, broadcasters are looking for the Teaser and 6 Act stories, to fit in ever more advert breaks and climaxes to hold the audience in place. It is for this very purpose that new writers of TV Dramas should put in their Acts into their screenplays to show that they are aware of the structure.

The Teaser

We looked at two teasers to two very different TV Dramas, to see what was presented to the audience.

1. Life on Mars
The episode opened with a Starsky and Hutch chase through the back streets (sans boxes), ending up on a football pitch, interupting a match. The cops got the badguy and setup the banter between the protagonist and his boss, comedic elements in the use of language and a bit of slapstick. A call comes in over the radio - a body has been found. Then we flick into the title sequence, where the protagonist sets up the premise for us in a few sentences whilst the music plays - after an accident, our hero finds himself back in 1973 on the Police force... or is he in a coma? (a kind of Buck Rogers in reverse if you will).

The episode is all about Football violence, and in the teaser we specifically end up on the football pitch as an element of foreshadowing. The audience are now into the frame of mind required to follow the episode. It's the football episode, everybody!

2. Battlestar Gallactica
Battlestar opens completely differently, setting up dual timezones: A) Starbuck in a freefall spin, her Viper is burning up as it enters the atmosphere of a planet and she is unable to get to the controls to pull out of it. B) A pilot has survived 1000 flights and is being congratulated, whilst a small set of festivities are being planned.

A) occurs for only seconds, and is a reoccuring element throughout the rest of the episode. It reappears at the beginning of every act as a reminder of what is to come, as well as setting the second set of events into a flashback in the minds of the audience. B) Is the flashback element, but comprises of the majority of the story. Whilst everyone sets up for the festivities, the 1000 flight pilot is being paraded around the flight deck. Unbeknownst to anyone but the audience, the camera zooms into a missile in a rack that is being moved. We cut to Starbuck and Apollo painting 1000 onto a helmet, when Admiral Odama comes in. Someone tips over the red paint, which spills, like blood, across the floor (foreshadowing), and then the three of them head out toward the flight deck, developing the lines of the characters and backstory - getting the audience involved with them.

Whilst the pilots play, the missile becomes loose - DRAMATIC IRONY. Dramatic Irony is when the audience knows more than the characters, and is the most effective manner for building suspense and keeping the audience's interest. This goes back to Hitchcock's notion of suspense, when he places two people in a room, and has them discuss trivial matters. A bomb blows up at the end of the conversation that neither characters nor audience knew about - surprise but no dramatic suspense. The same scene, with two characters discussing trivial things, and the audience is shown the ticking bomb under the desk, then there is suspense, and the audience begins to ask desperate questions - when will it go off? Will they get out? Will someone tell them where it is?

As with Life on Mars having a football episode, this Battlestar episode regards funerals - the missile falls of the rack, ignites and kills several pilots. The episode focuses upon loss and blame. Simple really!

Episodes must have a clear goal with obstacles and finally a resolution.

Characters in TV Drama work slightly differently from characters in Film. They are allowed to talk about other characters and their feelings - something termed 'on the nose' and often crap and cringy in a film. Also, characters can talk about themselves and their feelings.

The end of an episode sets up conflict for the next episode (serial elements) to get the audience to come back, and as with the pilot episode of This Life, we have 8 serial elements by the end of the program set up for the other episodes, as well as it covering A and B stories during the program.

The Pilot Episode
A Pilot episode's teaser element must clearly set up more than things than a usual episode teaser. There are two types of Pilot - the Premise (where characters are set up, location, theme and goal. Characters come together. But, this doesn't give the people in their normal situation, as the audience will find them throughout the other episodes and come to associate with them) - the Midcut (where everything plays on as a normal episode, and everything is already set up and in place).

Ideally, a Pilot should exist in two halfs, where the first half is the Premise, and the second half is the Midcut.

TV Drama Concept
In order to sell a screenplay, 10 elements must be contemplated and answered by the writer - certainly these would be questions raised by a production company:

1. Does it have integrity?
2. Who is the audience?
3. Is it relevant?
4. Where does it fit in the schedule?
5. Is it 'Event TV'?
6. Does it have 'Returnability'?
7. What is the Universe?
8. Who are the Main Characters?
9. What is the Central Conflict?
10. What is the Genre?

Screenwriting 103(3) - Vogler's Character Archetypes

Vogler lists seven character archetypes that appear frequently in folk tales and myths. They are:

Hero
The Hero archetype represents the ego’s search for identity and wholeness.

Mentor
A positive figure who aids or trains the Hero.

Threshold Guardian
A powerful guardian at each new threshold who acts to keep the unworthy from entering.

Herald
Acts to issue challenges and announce the coming of significant change.

Shapeshifter
May mislead the Hero or keep her guessing: their loyalty and sincerity is often called into question.

Shadow
Represents the energy of the dark side.; the unexpressed, unrealised, or rejected aspects of something.

Trickster
Embodies the energies of mischief and desire for change. Clowns or comical sidekicks, but the Trickster Hero is common in many myths.

Note: Andy Conway says: "It is important to stress that Vogler sees these archetypes as masks, worn by the characters temporarily as they are needed to advance the story. A character might enter the story performing the function of a Herald, then switch masks to function as a Trickster, a Shadow or a Shapeshifter."

Screenwriting 103(2) - Adaptation(ing) Vogler's Hero's Journey

So, to put Vogler's Journey into a full-on test, we shall look at Charlie Kaufman's "totally unstructured" Adaptation (purported to be an Arthouse movie because of that very reason) in respect to the Hero's Journey.

The Ordinary World
We actually begin in Kaufman's OW. He's on the set of Being John Malkovich, and quite literally doesn't seem to fit. He's in the way, feels awkward, is filled with self-doubt, and wonders why he ever came. We are in no doubt that this is our "hero" and this is his OW. Ironically this is where he is most comfortable in being himself.

The Call to Adventure
Kaufman is offered the script job to adapt The Orchid Thief. He is also called, by his brother, Donald, to learn Script-Legend, McKee's lessons. And finally, his Inner Conflict comes to bear on his wanted relationship with the Violinist. The call is to overcome his self-doubt in relationships, and to kiss the girl.

Refusal of the Call
Kaufman wants to drop the script - he can't adapt it. He bins McKee's list that his brother puts up on the wall, and he rejects the Violinist by dropping her back at home and not following up on her hints to go in with her. Finally she appears to reject him, but this is her response to a relationship she can tell is going to go nowhere.

Meeting with the Mentor
The film's mentor is clearly McKee, however, Kaufman doesn't meet with McKee until at least half-way through the film. McKee's presence in the first half of the film comes through Donald. Donald is Mentor-by-proxy, providing his brother with necessary support that Kaufman rejects.

Crossing the First Threshold
Kaufman finally picks up his dictaphone with inspiration, having listened to Susan Orlean's voice in his head. But his brother and his brother's girlfriend arrive, and he listens to them discuss Donald's own screenplay. Donald has commited himself, regardless of how Kaufman feels about the ludicrousness of it. However, after this, Kaufman commits to his own screenplay by writing himself into it.

Test, Allies, Enemies
Kaufman's biggest enemy is himself (Inner Conflict), but he comes across multiple people who may or may not be friendly, and the subplots begin to interweave - script, relations, McKee - there's the agent, the executive, the Waitress (with whom Kaufman fails), the Violinist, and the scene in which Kaufman looks at the many different women, analysing their types, as if representative of flowers, and finally we end with Susan Orlean.

Approaching the Innermost Cave
Kaufman goes to New York, to meet Susan Orlean - just as with the Matrix this uses an elevator - but Kaufman can't commit himself. Then, Susan Orlean turns up in the lift, and Kaufman slinks back from her, unseen. Although this is another rejection of the call by Kaufman, he is here, the closest point to his goal/nemesis/enemy.

Supreme Ordeal
Kaufman returns to his hotel room and gets a call from his agent. The agent gives him the news that Donald's script is going to be big and make a lot of money (a serious blow to Kaufman). At his lowest ebb - and remember this is the midpoint of the film - Kaufman finally goes to McKee's seminar. This is the destruction of his ego - the nadir if you will. He has rejected everything Mckee stands for, and now is confronting it.

Reward (Seizing the Sword)
After the seminar profoundly changes Kaufman's view of screenwriting, and also the way in which he wants to live his life, he takes McKee to the pub for a final questionning session - he's got a lot of new info, but now he's committing and he wants to prove that by consolidating his new knowledge. McKee tells him to find an ending for the screenplay. "Wow them in the end", he says, and the audience will love it.

Road Back
Kaufman patches things with his brother and invites him out to New York to look at his script. With McKee's aid, his ego is gone, and he knows where to look for help.

Resurrection
In a massive about-turn for the whole plot, the last half of the film descends into everything that Kaufman has been battling against in his own screenplay - everything that McKee and Donald embrace - it's as if Donald has taken over the script of Adaptation (and don't forget the imagiary brother co-wrote Adaptation - the first time an imaginary character was ever nominated for an Oscar).

We have drugs, car chases, sex, profound life lessons are learned (Donald's admitting that you are what you love, not what loves you, give Kaufman an epiphany), and finally we have McKee's last tenet - avoid all Deus Ex Machina - and the screenplay introduces and Alligator at the right moment to off La Roche and save Kaufman.

Return with the Elixir
Kaufman, now alone since his brother's death, commits to writing the screenplay the way we have just viewed it. He kisses the girl, despite the possibility of rejection, and then drives off into the sunset.

There are sub-heroes in Adaptation, and further analysis of Susan Orlean and La Roche would show their own Hero Arcs - albeit unfullfilled or twisted because of their anti-hero stances toward the end of the film. It's interesting however that Kaufman invested the time in these characters to generate the Hero's Journey on a smaller scale for them, but it does help us identify somewhat with these two.

Screenwriting 103 - Vogler's Hero's Journey

Literary Professor Joseph Campbell came up with the Monomyth of the Hero's Journey in 1949 with his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces. He said that essentially all stories are the same story. Just as Vladimir Propp analysed thousands of Fairy Tales, Campbell analysed stories from across the globe, looking at cross-culture tales and looking for what made them the same (amongst all the guff).

In 1992, Christopher Vogler took Campbell's idea and ran away with it. He was a Story Exectutive at the time for Disney, but he placed Campbell's paradigm against films, and the 3 Act Structure. By writing the Writer's Journey Vogler made Campbell's paradigm more accessible to a wider audience. In actual fact, like Hauge, Vogler considers that we really have a 4 Act Structure to the stories we tell (again by splitting up Act 2... in two).
But Vogler also took Campbell's Archetypes as well (a more comprehensive version of Hauge's 4 primary characters). However, whereas Hauge states that the characters remain as their chosen type, Vogler argues that character roles may shift, as if the characters are wearing masks, and change their face throughout the story, to assume different roles. In this way, characters serve different functions at different times. Take Han Solo, for example, at first he could be either friend or foe. He is the trickster, out for himself, and the protagonist, Luke Skywalker, doesn't know whether he's trust worthy.

Undertaking the Hero's Journey

It is often the case these days that although Vogler states we begin in the Ordinary World, it is the Extraordinary World in which the tale opens. Like a prologue, it is a quick way into the story, making a promise to the audience about what is to come. In Star Wars, we open in the extraordinary world of Space, a Space battle, Darth Vader, stolen plans, a Princess, Droids on the run... and only twenty minutes in do we meet Luke Skywalker in his ordinary world. Indiana Jones always opens in the extraordinary world. In the Matrix, we open on the Police and the Agents tracking down Trinity. She pulls some funky, world-defying moves and bends reality with her skills, all before we settle back into Neo's ordinary world.

Note: In the case of the Matrix, the beginning opens with a voiceover between Cypher and Trinity, in which Cypher questions Trinity on watching 'him'. So we are given a nugget, possibly about our coming protagonist.

So, using the Matrix:

The Ordinary World ... limited awareness of the problem
We find Neo asleep (a metaphor for his real world situation). Neo is at home, surrounded by his hacker stuff, and we know this is his OW. However, thanks to the prologue we know he's going to up against that EW.

Call To Adventure ... Increased awareness
The Matrix has several calls to adventure. Neo is told to follow the White Rabbit; Trinity tells him he is close to answering "What is the Matrix" and the phone call by Morpheus to save him from the agents, resulting in Neo clambering onto the scaffold and...

Refusing The Call ... Reluctance to Change
Despite Neo's motivation to free himself and learn, he can't commit himself to the danger of escape. He refuses to climb out of the building and onto the scaffold, and is caught by the agents.

Meeting with the Mentor ... Overcoming Reluctance
The Mentor, Morpheus. Mentor comes from the Greek word Menos, encompassing the meanings: Intention, Force, Purpose, Mind and Courage. Here Neo, receives his final call to adventure, and takes it.

Crossing the First Threshold ... Committing to Change
This can be either physical or mental, direct or subtle. In the case of the Matrix, Neo steps free of the construct and emerges from his battery-womb, and comes face-to-face with reality.

Tests, Allies, Enemies ... Experimenting with the First Change
Neo undergoes a number of tests, meeting new friends, and potential enemies (who is the traitor? Is there one?) and a number of trials, again in the Matrix seen physically as the fight with Morpheus, the Lady in Red and the Jump program. The relevance of these tests and meetings often represent foreshadowing of later events, providing the audience with enough information to accept later developments or character abilities.

Approaching the Innermost Cave ... Preparing for Big Change
Here we close on the midpoint of the film. Often this is a symbolic cave. In the Matrix, Morpheus leads Neo back into the construct and Neo confronts the life he had. They then progress to the Oracle, going into a block of flats, then an elevator, until, in a dark corridor, it is up to Neo to go through the door.

The Supreme Ordeal ... Attempting Big Change
This is the midpoint of the film. The moment of death and ressurection. Our protagonist, or group, must come up against their greatest ordeal so far, and seemingly fail against insurmountable odds. Morpheus is captured by the agents, Apoc and Switch die, Cypher has betrayed them... all seems lost.

Reward (Seizing the Sword) ... Consequences of the attempt
This is the moment of improvement and setback for the protagonist, the point at which our hero chooses to make their stand and commit to their needs and wants. Having been told by the Oracle that he must choose between his life and Morpheus's, Neo stops Tank from pulling the plug. Neo finally sees his own potential and the possibilities of what he could do. This bit ends - clearly - with "Lots of guns".

The Road Back ... Re-dedication to Change
Our intrepid hero, taking the symbolic sword with him, chooses to go forward, not back. In the case of the Matrix, Neo and Trinity enter the heavily-guarded building and kick ass, committing themselves to pursuing their ultimate goal.

Resurrection ... Final Attempt at Big Change
In the Matrix, this occurs in two parts. Firstly, Neo accepts what must be done, and fights Agent Smith. Secondly, after he makes a dash for the phone, Smith guns him down, and kills him (I hope I'm not ruining this for anyone - rhetorical, don't answer that). Through Trinity's kiss he is resurrected, and literally stops the bullets.

Return with the Elixir ... Final Mastery of the Problem
Neo returns to the construct at the very end of the film. He looks around him, his eyes are open (in much the same way Mayo looks back on himself at the beginning of An Officer and a Gentleman) and we see how far Neo has come. He is now Master of Both Worlds. He then uncovers his most potent ability yet - to fly.

Screenwriting 102(6) - Hauge's Structural Checklist

I've been reading Hauge's Writing Screenplays that Sell - it's been sitting under my desk so long (having been discarded from the library) that I didn't realise and bought another copy... how stoopid (SIC) am I?

Anyhoo, I've got to the Structural Checklist, and having read that like my tutor, Hauge believes your first draft should simply be written without consideration to anything but your own imagination, I now get to the meat of what goes into the second draft and beyond...

Note: I personally can't write a whole draft without considering first what is about to follow. Let's hope that doesn't stump me at any point.

1. Every scene, event, and character in the screenplay must contribute to the hero's outer motivation
2. Early in the screenplay, show the audience where the story is going to lead them
3. Build the conflict
4. Accelerate the pace of the story
5. Create peaks and valleys to the action and the humor
6. Create anticipation in the reader
7. Give the audience superior position
8. Surprise the audience and reverse the anticipation
9. Create curiosity in the reader
10. Foreshadow the major events of the screenplay
11. Echo particular situations, objects, and lines of dialogue to illustrate character growth and change
12. Pose a threat to one of the characters
13. Make the story credible
14. Teach the audience how to do something vicariously
15. Give the story both humor and seriousness
16. Give the movie an effective opening
17. Give the story an effective ending

This list will seem obvious to some and cryptic to others, but I can't go putting the whole of Hauge's book online can I? Needless to say, Pages 90-107 cover this in more depth

The Hero's Journey - Adaptation

Next week on NAW, we're looking at the popular Hero’s Journey paradigm through Charlie Kaufmann’s screenplay for Adaptation (with passing reference to Star Wars and The Matrix). The Hero’s Journey is usually applied to more genre-heavy stories so it will be interesting to try it out on a film that’s more arthouse and experimental.

From Wikipedia:

The screenplay is based on a true story. After the success of his screenplay for Being John Malkovich, Kaufman was hired to write a screenplay based on Susan Orlean's book, The Orchid Thief. However, he soon realized that the book simply couldn't be filmed. As he came under increasing pressure to turn in a screenplay, the "adaptation" became a story of a screenwriter's attempt to write a screenplay about a book that can't be adapted into a screenplay. Kaufman handed the script to his employers in the firm belief he would never work again. Instead, the backers enjoyed the script so much they decided to abandon the original project and film Kaufman's screenplay instead.

The film is self-referential, in that we see the creative process behind the movie we are watching. At one point, Charlie is unable to think of a satisfactory ending for the script, and asks his brother Donald (also played by Cage) how he would end it. At that moment, the style of the movie changes to Donald's style of scriptwriting, with intrigue, sex, drugs, car chases and guns replacing abstraction and angst.

Throughout the course of the film, Charlie writes or dictates ideas for his script of The Orchid Thief that are in fact used in this movie itself, such as the rapid timeline of Earth's development, or even of himself sitting there talking into a tape recorder. As well, virtually all of the things Charlie tells the producer that he doesn't want his script to turn into (a 'typical' Hollywood movie, where characters fall in love, or it turns out to be about drugs, or somebody unexpectedly dies) each occur after Donald "takes over" the writing of the movie. The forced inclusion of "Happy
Together" as a meaningless pop-culture reference such as are used in movies
Charlie criticizes creates yet another self-referential satire.

The self-referential nature of the film raises questions as to Donald's existence: that is, whether he is a real person, or merely an embodiment of one aspect of Charlie's personality (as he is in real life). Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, Donald is not only credited as a co-writer for the film, but the movie's end credits feature a dedication to his memory (implying that, if he is indeed an existing individual, he died during the writing of the screenplay). In addition, The Three is assumed to be an existing screenplay, and an excerpt from it is also featured in the credits. Another reference to Donald and his film can be found on the DVD release in the filmography section on the disc. It includes a page for Donald, listing his works as Adaptation. and The Three.

An ironic aspect of the film's post-modern self-referencing is the appearance of Robert McKee (Brian Cox), a real-life host of screenwriting seminars. McKee is renowned for warning his students about the technique of the deus ex machina. In the film, Kaufman represents McKee as the deus ex machina, as he gives Charlie the
solution to his problematic situation. The movie talks about the "Holy Grail", but all of the characters' quests in the story either fail or turn out to be futile:

• Charlie Kaufman wanted to write a movie just about flowers, and to impress
  Susan Orlean. He failed on both counts. Also, he failed in writing a screenplay
  wherein nothing much changes, as in "real life", seeing as his character
  prevails and finishes his screenplay.
• John Laroche wanted to be a leader in many different and obscure fields.
  Whenever he accomplished this, however, he would abandon his hobby for a
  completely new one. Susan Orlean wanted desperately to see the Ghost
  Orchid and care passionately about something. When she saw the Ghost Orchid, she was disappointed. When she found passion, she devolved into a hopeless addict.
• Donald Kaufman didn't really want anything out of life but he lucked into
  all the things his brother Charlie was desperate for and wrote a hit script
  called The 3.

Screenwriting 102(5) - Creativity

Good advice for any and all writers, from Andy Conway:

Write the first draft of your work from the wells of inspiration and creativity. Worry not about the adherenece to structure, schema, paradigms or theme.

Problems are solved by the act of writing, not planning and thinking.

Screenwriting 102(4) - Hauge on Theme

The Theme is the Universal Statement the film makes about the Human Condition.

Hauge, in fact, calls the Theme the Premise (but again, this is reductive).

The Theme emerges when the Hero recognises the differences between himself and the Reflection and the similarities between himself and the Nemesis.

In An Officer and A Gentleman, Zack recognises the difference between himself and Sid - Zack won't give himself to others, whilst Sid sacrifices himself for others. The film makers highlight this throughout the film by showing Zack and Sid through Foley's eyes: when Zack completes the training course and sits alone, the argument between Zack and Sid over dinner (about their differences), Sid's DOR and finally Zack going back to help Seegar, at the expense of him beating the record for completing the training course.

Zack recongises the similarities between himself and Foley - Zack is made to acknowledge that whilst he won't commit himself to others, and give of himself, he is desperate for companionship and to belong. He's got nowhere else to go. During the training for jet crashing into water Foley quips: 'You'll like this Mayo, it's something you can do on your own.' So, Foley has recognised right from the start what Zack's Inner Conflict is, and repeatedly puts it back in his face. Zack finally realises he needs to change, and falls in line with Foley... given that after Sid commits suicide, Foley won't allow Zack to DOR, and accepts a fight.

So, were we to look at the story with just Zack, the theme would be:
We become better people if we give ourselves to others.

This is enhanced by the inclusion of Sid:
We become better people if we give ourselves to others but without sacrificing ourselves for others.

We can add a theme of honesty to this, if we take Lynette as a Reflection of Paula - Lynette is prepared to trap an Officer, by becoming or claiming to become pregnant, so that he will marry her and take her away from her life, whereas, Paula refuses to compromise herself and real love (it is insinuated that her mother possibly did this):
We become better people if we give ourselves honestly to others, but never sacrifice ourselves for others.

In the Australian film Lantana the overarching theme is Trust. In pretty much every scene Trust is mentioned, referred or inferred to.

Screenwriting 102(3) - Hauge's Motivations and Conflict

Whilst Hauge has related to Syd Field's 3 Act Paradigm, see Turning Points, Hauge's personal Paradigm relates to the 4 Primary Characters, their Motivations and Conflicts. Field looks at the overall structure of plot whilst Hauge looks in depth at the script itself. His primary characters are (and this, as my tutor pointed out, is pretty reductive, as much of Hauge's language seems to be, and labels shouldn't be taken exactly as read)...
Note: We'll look at this with An Officer and a Gentleman as reference.

• Hero (Zack Mayo)
• Nemesis (Drill Instructor Foley)
• Reflection (Sid - Zack's buddy)
• Romance (Paula - Zack's love interest)

Each of these four characters has Motivation and Conflict, and it is Conflict which is crucial to drama. In both M and C, there are Inner and Outer levels.

Motivation

A character's Outer Motivation regards what they physically want to achieve. In Zack's case, this is to become an Officer. In my case last night, it was to attend my class and learn about Character Motivation and Conflict.

A character's Inner Motivation regards why they want to achieve their Outer Motivation. In Zack's case this is because he wants to belong, and he wants to be better than his father. In my case it is to hopefully write the next best screenplay and make millions.

• Outer Motivation (Physical Achievement) = Plot
• Inner Motivation (Why?) = Theme

(I'll be looking at theme later).

Note (and this is important): Characters can share the same Outer Motivation, but they will have different reasons for wanting it. Their Inner Motivation will be derived from a different place. For example: Both Zack and Sid want to become Officers. However, Zack wants to belong, but Sid is Other-driven. Sid is doing it for his parents and his dead brother. Both Inner Motivations are different and yet they relate to the movie's theme.

Conflict

The general rule of Conflict is:

• Outer Conflict = Nemesis
• Inner Conflict = Self

The Inner and Outer Motivations directly relate to the Inner and Outer Conflicts, and until the Inner Conflict is resolved, the Inner Motivation cannot be achieved. Similarly, until the Outer Conflict is resolved, the Outer Motivation cannot be achieved.

Dito Montiel (writer and director of A Guide to Recognising Your Saints) says that there is always a character (at least one) who is lying about their Outer Motivation. In the case of Zack, he tells everyone he wants to Fly Jets. This dishonesty can often work on an inner level, where the character is in fact lying to themself, whilst their actions show/prove otherwise.

Paula does this also, telling Zack that she meets with Officers because she wants to improve and enjoy herself. Yet she wants to fall in love, and she does do with Zack, despite, later, reaffirming that she just wants to spend time with him.

Robert McKee says that if a scene is about what it's about, then you're in big trouble. If the dialogue and the action are doing the same thing then the dialogue is essentially on the nose (which is a bad thing). The dialogue and the action should be working against each other, generating the conflict. In the later scene, Paula is cooking Zack breakfast, she's vased some flowers and she's looking at him all doughy-eyed, and yet still professing that she just wants to have fun.

Dialogue that is on the nose doesn't sit right with the audience. Saying exactly what is intended by a character makes for a boring scene. Any character who admits what they want must have earned that privilege. When Zack admits to Foley that he has nowhere else to go, this has been earned. It doesn't feel so easy on the audience when Paula sobs to her mother that she loves Zack - Boo hoo!

- Inner and Outer Motivation : An Officer and A Gentleman

The important thing about generating this information is that, particularly with Outer Motivations, you shouldn't overcomplicate. These should be nice, basic, grounded, crystal-clear ideas that the audience can grasp and run with.

In An Officer and A Gentleman the first half of the script focuses on the Outer Motivation, and then, bang on the midpoint, it switches to the Inner Motivation (this is the same for Thelma and Louise). Not until the scene where Foley breaks Zack, and tells him to stop the "Bullshit" about flying jets. Foley wants Zack's character, and more importantly for Zack to realise this... his Inner Motivation.

Becoming a Gent

In Romantic Comedies in particular, the story is about a hero overcoming their issues so as to become worthy of their object of affection. In An Officer and A Gentleman, Paula is already emotionally developed, and it is Zack's character who needs to develop to match her and be worthy of her. Zack's Inner Conflict is deep, whereas Paula's isn't - hers is in fact a positive conflict.

The ending, in which Zack whisks Paula off her feet and carries her out of the paper factory and away from her horrible future, is etched on Hollywood history; an iconic image that epitomises why the film is one of the top Chick-flicks. But, should we accept what it first appears - that Zack is saving Paula?

Whilst this might physically and visually be the case, the truth might be considered in reverse. The opposite is happening. Paula, and her continued efforts for Zack's affections, has saved Zack. Paula is saving Zack from becoming his father - just as in Thelma and Louise, where the last frame freezes on a positive note, with the car still on the incline - the last shot, the frozen frame, is on Paula removing Zack's hat and placing it upon her own head - symbolism? I think so.

But, lets take a couple of steps back. A well-worked narrative often relates where the Hero is at the end of the film back to where they began, giving the audience a bookend. When the Officers graduate they all go off to their families, leaving Zack alone on the field, with no one to share his success with, and then, as he's riding off, he stops by Foley drilling the new recruits, replaying the same old sayings. We have Zack as he is now, an Officer, looking back at where's he's come from, seeing who he was - the Hero's Return.

Screenwriting 102(2) - Desire

Scrounging around on Michael Hauge's website, I cam across a page dedicated to a protagonist's desire. He says: the "essential component of all successful movies is the hero’s pursuit of a compelling desire"

1. The desire must be visible (to both audience and protagonist)
2. The desire must have a clearly defined endpoint (audience must be able to envision what the end might be)
3. Your hero must desperately want the desire
4. Your hero must actively pursue the desire
5. It must be within your hero's power to acheive their desire
6. Your hero must put everything on the line to achieve their desire
7. Your hero's desire must be resolved at the climax of the film

Read the full article here: http://www.screenplaymastery.com/desire.htm

Screenwriting 102 - Michael Hauge

Michael Hauge, like Syd Field, is one of these Screenplay Uber-gurus, making a mint from providing sturdy advice to writers with no concept of plotting (enter... me). What does he have to say that differs from Syd's?

Michael looks at turning points based upon the 3 Act Structure:

- http://www.screenplaymastery.com/structure.htm

Note 4 important things.

1. Each Act is now split in two with a Turning Point separating them (there are 5 Turning Points, according to Hauge)
2. We now have 6 subActs according to those Turning Points
3. The Turning Points have an alloted appearance based on a percentage of the whole size of the screenplay. This is important, since 25% of a 2 hour film (30 Minutes) is different from 25% of a 3 hour film (45 Minutes).
4. 2 Turning Points are set, as per beginning/ending of Acts 1, 2 and 3. 3 Turning Points have an estimated appearance schedule.
   

Read http://www.screenplaymastery.com/structure.htm for a greater overview from Hauge himself.

Screenwriting 101(2) - The 1st 10 Minutes

Alongside the analysis of Thelma and Louise in regards to the 3 Act Structure, we looked at the importance of the first 10 minutes/pages of a screenplay in getting the reader's attention and really bringing together all the necessary elements of what the film is about, its tone, and the direction its taking.

We looked at the first 10 minutes of Thelma and Louise, pausing the film everytime we had a point to raise, an observation to make:

We see Louise first. She's a waitress (a little older than the others) but she's dependable, a working girl, who can multi-task. Whilst serving coffee her mothering side comes through as she chastises two girls about smoking. "Ruins your sex drive" In the next clip she herself is instantly lighting up.

She phones her friend Thelma, and immediately identifies her as "little housewife". Through their conversation we see their relationship as Louise is the mother/guy and Louise the daughter/girl. Louise is derogative towards Thelma's husband and urging her to tell him that they're both going away for a two day break.

Thelma, by contrast, is a failing housewife - a bit of a slob - her house is decked out in cookery books, post it notes, and a whole host of crap. She is literally drowning in domesticity. She's a child, or at least immature, and that comes through in her mannerisms, speech and actions. She rushes around ineffectually, and we hear that she is afraid to tell her husband, Darryl, that she's going away.

That fear isn't serious fear, and we know, as Darryl arrives, that he's a buffoon of a character, thinks highly of himself, and is easily pissed off at Thelma if she gets in his way. He thinks he has Thelma pegged, though he's too full of himself and getting his own way to truly understand. She is manipulative (a little foreshadowing for her persona change later) and tests the water with Darryl about asking him if she can go away. When he shoots his mouth off at her, she decides not to ask him at all. When he says he'll be home late, she makes the statement that it's funny how he sells so many carpets late on a Friday, when everyone would rather be going home that buying carpets - her insinuation is that he's playing the field. He, however, doesn't get it and again shoots his mouth off at her - we have her motivation now. She is in a loveless marriage.

Darryl leaves and Thelma calls Louise back at the diner. She has decided not to tell Darryl, but will leave him a message. A waiter picks up the call and tries a momentary wooing - every male in this film is trying to chat up Thelma. Louise comes second. Whilst talking to Louise, Thelma keeps flitting in and out of the fridge. She has a chocolate bar in there which she keeps snacking on and putting back. She's compulsive, scatty, sassy and lacks willpower. She wants the chocolate (for breakfast?) and yet a voice in her head (probably Darryl's) keeps telling her to put it back. So, after every bite she puts it back and shuts the door - willpower! But, as she's leaving, she goes back and takes it with her. She can make up her own mind.

We then have a montage of Thelma and Louise getting their bags packed - Louise is methodical, planning, clean and practical. Her items are bagged up, everything is tidy, her house is pristine and everything in its place (she is controlling and obsessive compulsive). We then have her call Jimmy on the phone. He's out and she gets his answer phone. In retalliation she puts down the photo of him on her dresser -This sets up that she has a boyfriend. We know now she isn't single. Also, their relationship is separate; she assumed he'd be there, and though she feels that attachment (she called him to tell him she was off), her putting the photo down reasserts to herself that she can't rely on him, and only on her self. Has he let her down? This contradicts Thelma's relationship and also relates back to Louise's smoking and her comment to the girls about smoking ruining sexual drives.

And of course, Thelma's manner of packing involves every bag in the house and throwing all her clothes, higgledy-piggledy into them - no structure or order. She hasn't a clue about what she'll need. Then she takes the gun, holding it like a rat's tail, and dumps it in one of the bags - it's hers, it was in her drawer, and she feels she'll need it, but she doesn't know how to handle it (has never handled it).

Note: Chekov's rule on guns

Chekhov's gun. If you put a gun onstage in Act I, Chekhov once wrote, you must
use it by Act III. A Chekhov's gun is a fictional element (threat, character,
mystery, prize, challenge) introduced early and with fanfare and in which the
author expects the reader to invest. That investment must pay off with
deployment later in the story even if the Chekhov's gun then disappears offstage
for a long interval. (CSFW: David Smith)

- http://www.foolquest.com/fooltrek_faq/glossary-sfwa.htm

Louise collects Thelma, and they pack the bags into the trunk, with Louise catching herself wanting to do it all for Thelma. Thelma scattily advises Louise about psycho-killers, and they take a photo of themselves before getting in.

We get a brief exposition of where they're going to a lodge of Louise's friend; he's separating from his wife, she gets the lodge in the settlement so he's allowing all his friends to use it - setting up a theme of divorce and separation - Louise responds to Thelma's comments about not telling Darryl by saying: "You get what you settle for. " which foreshadows how the two are escaping.

Thelma dumps the gun on Louise, and though Louise is shocked, she takes it. Thelma again reasserts - psychokillers. Thelma then puts her feet on the dashboard and her dress billows up (Marilyn Monroe style), which Louise tells her to stop because of the kind of attention it will bring - another foreshadowing that Thelma's actions (though not neccessarily self aware) are going to lead to something.

Thelma badgers Louise to let them stop somewhere for food, and though Louise finally agrees, the point is that this is all because of Thelma's inability to keep her willpower in check - beyond the 10 minute mark we'll see her drinking excessively, picking up a man she's doesn't know, dancing with him, and then letting him take her outside, where he tries to rape her. (Ooh'er, responsibility?!)

So, they stop off at a truckstop, The Silver Bullet (apt name - though it was the real name of the place before the filmakers arrived). Tons of men and tons of trucks. The trucks appear throughout the story. The road is laden with them, man's world. Here are two women trying to escape men, to emasculate men and take control of their own lives, and yet men are all about them, and here they are, 10 minutes in, going into the most male area possible.

----------------

That is a hell of a lot to pack into the first 10 minutes/pages of a screenplay, but it gives us characters, location, time, tone, genre, foreshadowing... so much stuff.

Screenwriting 101 - Syd Field

Syd Field is one of those pioneer guys, there at the beginning of something nice and structured. Having read through a gazillion scripts for Hollywood he happened upon the idea of the 3 Act Structure, by which all movies (ahem) are defined.

- http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/3act/

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_Field

Field's most important contribution has been his articulation of the ideal "three act structure". In this structure, a film must begin with about half an hour of 'setup' information before the protagonist experiences a 'turning point' that gives him or her a goal that must be achieved. Approximately half the movie's running time must then be taken up with the protagonist's struggle to achieve his or her goal: this is the 'Confrontation' period. Field also refers, sometimes, to the 'Midpoint', a more subtle turning point that should happen in the middle (approximately at page 60 of a written screenplay) of the Confrontation, which is often an apparently devastating reversal of the protagonist's fortune. The final quarter of the film depicts a climactic struggle by the protagonist to finally achieve (or not achieve) his or her goal and the aftermath of this struggle.

Plot point 1 occurs at 30 minutes, Plot point 2, at 90 minutes. Simple!

That paradigm has undergone rigourous changes throughout its first inception, providing us with a slightly more flexible situation in which we have a set of demarcations that help better define the Acts and moreoever, the plotting of the story itself.

Now we have a Midpoint that separates Act 2 in two - actually giving us a 4 Act piece (but let's not worry too much about throwing that idea around). We have an Inciting Incident that occurs in Act 1 (could be the first 10 minutes, or at Plot Point 1). And at the end we have the Epilogue (in which loose threads may be tied up - how will our protagonist exist in their new world?) - it's important to keep in mind that this isn't rigid, and these points may be slid up and down the scale to fit the story being told. Famously, Callie Khouri decided against writing to Syd Field's formula because she found it too rigid, and yet when he released an analysis of four films that adhere to his structure, Callie's Thelma and Louise came first.

Then, we have two other unique events - the Pinches. These provide Act 2 with more punch. Things that help the plot further progress.

Finally, right at the front, is the 1st 10 Minutes. And why is this important? Because the writer needs to jam a whole loads of information in there so that the reader/audience can get an understanding of what's in store for them: characters, genre, plot, tone, etc.

This, thus, gives us, if you count the demarced zones, perhaps 9 Acts (crazy notion), but this helps with advert breaks!

Applying this to our first week's film: Thelma and Louise:

1. Act One - We meet the characters, setting up who they are and that this is a road/buddy movie.
2. Inciting Incident - Hal attempts to rape Thelma. Louise rescues Thelma through the threat of violence. They have a chance to walk away, but Hal antagonises Louise and she shoots him dead.
3. Plot Point 1 - Louise explains to Thelma that she's going to Mexico, that the cops won't believe that Hal was trying to rape Thelma and that Louise intervened, because they could have got away without shooting him. Louise feels she has no choice but to flee to Mexico and evade capture
4. Act Two - The situation gets darker, but our characters develop from the seeds sown in Act One. Their greatest challenges and the point of no return are coming.
5. Pinch 1 - Thelma and Louise meet JD, a young drifter, who catches Thelma's eye, and though Louise knows the last person they need to tag along is JD, she finally agrees to Thelma's wishes.
6. Midpoint - Having slept with JD, Thelma goes to brag to Louise (she's growing up), only for Louise to ask after the $6,500 (Louise's life savings) that her boyfriend had wired over. They go to the room. JD is gone and the money with him (Thelma is still a kid). Louise breaks down. All is lost and finally Thelma takes charge of the situation (perhaps she is growing up).
7. Pinch 2 - Captured by the cops, JD explains that Thelma and Louise are going to Mexico.
8. Plot Point 2 - Louise points out to Thelma that they have two things going for them. 1) The cops don't know where they are, and 2) The cops don't know where they're headed. The cops let slip to Louise on the phone that they know where she's going, and then, because she's on the phone too long, they manage to trace her call. Thelma and Louise make the decision to go for Mexico, rather than hand themselves in. This is their last chance to turn back.
9. Act Three - The journey is about to end. The girls are awake to the world, but Louise's act of shooting Hal in the inciting incident can't go unpunished...
10. Epilogue - Thelma and Louise doesn't lend itself to an epilogue. The frame fades out before their car begins to plummet (a happy ending? They have gone out on their own terms, after all), and there can be no further resolution. There is a brief montage of them together, setting out on the journey, however.

NAW - Qualifying Module

Day one was interesting, kept pinching myself - couldn't believe that I was actually on a course with 23 other people all wanting to do the same thing and actually discussing prose and mechanisms of it. We watched the second act of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (Hamlet within Hamlet - going from a father playing a ghost in a play to really becoming a ghost - and the whole family aspect of that - separating the children from the real adult world). Which has given us our first assignment - write 2000 words, encapulsating the 8 scenes in that 40 minutes, focusing (3rd person omniciscent) on the intense drama of it rather than dialogue or styleDay 2 wasn't so good - Birmingham author Jim Crace talked to/with us all morning, but he hadn't been briefed and hadn't prepared anything. The discussion really separated out the people - those of us interested in the mechanics of writing, an argument blew up over holding a contract with the reader (and I was surprised by some of the better/more experienced among us declaring that a contract between writer and reader was crap) - it's kind of like the colony in a way. There are those who want to write scripts, life writing (memoirs), stories, and of course the more social-impacting ones. There are a handful who have only written one thing and have no idea about anything and those that have been round the mill and learnt nothing.The course is kind of floundering with the tutors not having really worked out how it will all work, but well, we'll see.Day 3 is about to begin... I've still not made any firm friends - you know the ones you can go around with and feel attached to - so many of us, so many different objectives, but then I'm not sure who I want to attach myself to: the fun people with their sights set low, those prepared to ask the deeper questions, and push the extra mile but who ultimately I disagree on stuff with, etc.Very interesting.Anyhoo - the department head told us yesterday that the process for letting people on the course had the highest ratio of applicants to places that he's ever dealt with (he used to work at Oxford and this beats that), and that this is the hardest Creative Writing course to get on - so I'm doing something right.