Structure is your friend. Structure is there to help you tell your story in the best way possible. Structure is not formula, though thousands of years of storytelling has taught us a few best practices for the craft. Ā
Simply defined:
Structure is choosing what the audience knows and when they know it to maximize dramatic effect.
Thatās it. Thatās all structure is. What the audience knows and when.
You will use structure whether you like it or not. You really have no choice. When you are writing all you ever do is decide what the audience knows and when. I am using structure as I write this sentence, putting one word in front of another, and using that order to convey what I intend to convey. Ā Now, I may change these words around and something way this write. I am still utilizing structure, of course, I am just now utilizing it poorly (instead of writing āwrite something this wayā I wrote ā something way this writeā). As a result, my poor use of structure is actually sabotaging my desired effect rather than promoting it.
I am also utilizing structure in this writing in deciding what topic to discuss at one time, each building off the other with the hope of making the whole thing easier to comprehend.
Story structure works the same way. Using bits of information, small and large, in a particular order, in order to maximize the dramatic impact on the audience. Story structure has been refined over the centuries and the peculiar needs of cinema have refined it even more. It is a guideline. It is not a rule book. The proof will always be in the pudding.
There is nothing of inherent value in playing with or experimenting with structure. Its only value is whether it tells the story to better dramatic effect. Some stories are better told simply. Some are better told playing with expectations of story structure and delivering something else. Either way, Ā the judgement will always be, āDoes it work?ā Does the structure you choose tell your story the best way youāre able to tell it?
But no matter your efforts to the contrary, you will always use some kind of structure. You can't avoid it.
The only question will be whether you use structure in a way that elevates your desired effect or will you sabotage it by not paying enough attention to what the audience knows and when?
Why Star Wars: The Force Awakens Made Me Feel Terrible
Let me preface this with three key things.
First, there are MAJOR SPOILERS here. If you havenāt seen the film, donāt read further. Frankly, Iām surprised you even clicked.
Second, while the original trilogy were important films of my childhood, I am only a casual adult fan of the franchise. I played with the Kenner action figures as a boy, but when I grew out of that, I lost interest in most things Star Wars. I never collected memorabilia and never had any desire to explore the Extended Universe. I didnāt mind the prequels. They were fine, just not special. In all, I assume my passion and knowledge for the franchise is on par with the average person.
Lastly, this is not a complaint about the filmmaking itself. These are top-notch storytellers and their challenge was massive. J.J. Abrams is one of our best and Lawrence Kasden is one of my heroes. There are so many wonderful things about the film, but those are well covered elsewhere.This is a movie the studio makes when they want to reboot a franchise but know the fans would raze the studio if they did. Charged with that task, I think they did as good of a job as we can reasonably expect. Thatās not a back-handed compliment, but a sincere one. You would never make everyone happy and yet it appears this team nearly did! Pretty impressive.
The Force Awakens is a very good film by just about any standard.This is simply a piece on why I had such a negative EMOTIONAL reaction to it.
So, all that being said:
Why Star Wars: The Force Awakens made me feel terrible.
More than anything else, I found it a deeply sad film. The story negates every one of the triumphs of the original trilogy. The victory over the Empire didnāt last and the Rebels are once again guerrilla partisans, now called āThe Resistance.ā They did not bring peace to the galaxy, but simply another, even deadlier war.
The choices made in order to ārebootā the franchise effectively turned the original trilogy into Word War I. An unprecedented affair in death and destruction that solved nothing and planted the seeds for another, even more deadly affair decades later. Suddenly the celebration on Endor is as pathetic as the observation calling World War I, āThe war to end all wars.ā
In The Force Awakens, they are not fighting to preserve the gains of the original trilogy (because they were apparently lost a long time ago) but instead are right back where we started. The Empire may have changed its name but they clearly still rule the galaxy and are back to destroying planets again (five times the holocaust this time.) Much like killing off Newt and Hicks in between Aliens and Alien3, they have destroyed the triumphs of the last film, before even starting the new one.
Because of this, I spent the first thirty minutes of the film confused. I didnāt understand why the Empire was back in power, and why there were stormtroopers and Tie Fighters and Imperial Cruisers again. I may have been too disoriented to grow attached to the new protagonists as they never stuck with me (Though from my understanding, others did not have this problem.) When I finally surrendered to it and decided to just worry about it later, a deep sadness crept in. There was this slow realization that the battles and sacrifices made in the first trilogy were all for naught.
None of it really mattered. Any of it. It all starts again, but worse. Much like Chapters I-III, Chapters IV-VI are now just prequels themselves to a larger battle and even bigger tragedy.
Which leads me to next deeply sad thing. All the personal stories were failures as well.
Luke Skywalker is ultimately the same failure Obi-Wan was with Anakin Skywalker. He trains a Jedi who ultimately betrays him and murders the others. Luke learned nothing from their experience and repeats the same mistakes.
I suspect now that itās best not to train Jedi at all. No one can seem to do it well enough to avoid killing millions.
Perhaps most disappointing, Han and Leiaās love story is now a tragic one. They didnāt last, they did not bring joy and comfort to each other, but instead brought massive heartbreak and pain for themselves and the whole galaxy. Their child grows up a genocidal murderer, destroys all the hope for a new generation of Jedi and ultimately even kills Han.
They would have been better off never getting together at all.
Try to rewatch Return of the Jedi now knowing how much pain their relationship brings to themselves and to everyone else. I wonder how we would all feel watching Hitlerās parents dancing and celebrating at their wedding. Would it feel like a celebration? I doubt it.
Which brings me to the death of Han Solo. Personally, I would have been just fine never seeing Han Solo die. I donāt think I would have ever felt that I missed out. But if they thought it was important for the story and the franchise (I understand they got to get these old guys out of the way), at least give the man a dignified death. He dies in a pathetic useless gesture to āsaveā his kid who, at best, would have been executed for war crimes anyway. I certainly understand a fatherās attempt to save his son, but weāre not talking about a junkie caught stealing car radios here. This man is a vicious murderer who ordered the coldblooded massacre of a village and just participated in the destruction of five populated planets. And thatās just what weāve seen.
Han Soloās sacrifice means nothing. He is a lamb to the slaughter. It doesnāt save a planet, doesnāt allow others to get away (it actually puts them in more danger) and while I appreciate the journey of this selfish man ultimately dying in a selfless act, it is also a USELESS act. He deserved better.
Real life is this cruel, but a childhood fantasy with a beloved character shouldnāt be.
I have more complaints, but they seem small in comparison. I wasnāt a huge fan of recycling so much of the plot of chapters IV and VI. Three out of the last four chapters having planet destroying āDeath Starsā just seems crazy to me. And as good as J.J. Abrams is, action scenes are not his strong suit. I didnāt understand why a man trained to be a warrior since he was an infant could be such a poor fighter. At times, Finn felt more like Woody Allen than a stormtrooper. I didnāt understand the coincidence of the Millennium Falcon being available for them to escape in, etcā¦ But these misgivings are certainly more than made up for by all the wonderful things they did right, so it seems silly to harp on them.
I am far more concerned with how the movie made me feel when it was all over.
Obviously, everyone comes into such an important cultural event with their own baggage. I am no exception. It triggered something in me that I didnāt anticipate. I was fully expecting to love this film. I avoided trailers and commercials, photos and articles. I wanted to know nothing. Once I found out Abrams brought in Lawrence Kaiden I felt like it was in very good hands.
But I left the theater feeling an overwhelming sadness.
Itās business and I understand that. But the need to revive a franchise so it would last at least a few more decades created a never-ending war. One without hope. Itās a galaxy where history repeats itself, where no one learns from their mistakes, and every victory is actually a far worse, more tragic defeat in disguise.
For me, the Star Wars universe went from a battle between light and dark, between good and evil, to one that reeks of nihilism where everyone is punished for simply being alive.
Thatās what I expect from Game of Thrones. Thatās not how I want Star Wars to make me feel.
This is reposted from my piece on Medium:Ā http://bit.ly/1S4bH4o
But doesnāt work EMOTIONALLY, then it doesnāt work at all.
If you have to explain to someone what makes a moment great, then itās falling short. Moments should evoke an emotion that doesnāt need explaining.
Iāve been able to read a lot of spec sitcom pilots in the last couple years. Mostly from friends and acquaintances within the Los Angeles improv/comedy scene. The shortcomings of these scripts has been surprisingly consistent. Keep in mind, these are very funny, talented writers so neither of those two things are an issue.Ā
But they all have had similar training in improv and sketch. And while those skills can be invaluable (I canāt recommend them enough) they definitely flex different muscles than writing narrative television and film.
The experience tends to go like this:Ā
Itās a premise pilot. That is, we spend the pilot discovering how the premise of the series comes to be. It starts with a few solid jokes but the humor slows down more and more as the script goes away from character and into plot. By the end of the pilot the narrative momentum has slowed to a crawl as we finally learn what this future series is going to be āabout.ā
There are a few things here that might make this a tough sell. Itās a premise pilot, and those are less attractive because they donāt demonstrate what a typical show will be. The humor relies too much on characters saying funny things rather than being funny characters. But most of all, the primary dilemma of these scripts has been this:
Nobody wants anything.
Characters are not actively seeking to accomplish something. They are not trying to fix a problem that was introduced in the first act and hence, there are no complications. Funny things happen TO them and they say funny things about those things and then the pilot is over. Some isolated scenes may be funny, but this isnāt sketch or improv, itās story and with story, narrative momentum needs to carry over and accelerate.
These scripts are missing the three most basic elements of story:
Somebody wants something,Ā
They are having trouble getting it, andĀ
Something will happen if they fail.
Objective, Obstacles and Stakes.
These spec pilots have plots, but no storylines. Most sitcoms have two or three. If someone isnāt actively seeking an outcome, itās not a storyline. If there are no complications to this want, itās not a storyline. If there is no resolution (even if that resolution IS that there is no resolution) itās not a storyline.
If you canāt identify what these things are for each of your storylines, you need to make different choices so that you can.
Just about everything one learns in improv and sketch will be beneficial in writing sitcoms, drama, feature films, whatever. Immensely so. But it also requires a shift in thinking.Ā
You are no longer looking to heighten and heighten and then get out. You are looking to build narrative energy that CARRIES OVER to the next scene. You are not just heightening game, you are heightening tension, stakes and relationships and so much more. Ā
You are doing this because along with extended narrative momentum, good story requires both an emotional as well as aĀ comic payoff.Ā
āāāāāāā-
A new Screenwriting 101 class begins Wednesday, September 16th in Hollywood. Visit http://bit.ly/screenwriting101 for more information.
So I recently had the awesome good fortune to get staffed as a writer on Regular Show on Cartoon Network.
I wrote a tumblr post a while back about how to get and keep writing jobs, and, while ALL of those tips and advice still apply to how I got this gig, a friend suggested I write one specifically about getting staffed since, as he put it,Ā āthis is a textbook case of how people get staffed out here.ā Iāve gotten asked by a few people since then about how it happened and if I had any advice, so I figured Iād write this up. Iāll start with my personal story and then give what I think are the most important tips for making it happen.
By the way, if you want to start by reading my other blog post, which I definitely recommend, here you go:
This is amazing to me. Waiting for a friend to arrive for lunch and I am watching the first place #Astros here in Los Angeles live on my phone over the Internet. Absolutely incredible. I simply can't believe the Astros are be in 1st place!
"The price of championships will never change. It's been set long before me. It will be the same long after me. That price is hard work, sweat, blood, tears, fatigue and exhaustion and doing so much more than what is required of you. If you only spend a certain amount, you're only going to get a certain amount back.ā - Tom Herman
Sports, the arts, business, whatever it is, success will always cost you SOMETHING and itāsĀ a question of what youāre willing to pay.Ā
One of the few things you can control is to make sure no one outworks you.
While I am obviously not going to disagree with Martin Scorsese, I would like to get more specific than he does. It's about the emotion. That could summarize it all up. Emotion.
It's not about the plot. It's about the emotional reaction to the plot.
Plot is the most overrated aspect of storytelling and yet it is the predominant thing on the mind of the new screenwriter.Ā
When Robin Williams showed up at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles years ago, I was one of the lucky ones who got to improvise with him in a few shows. I was even on stage, about to perform, when he first showed up at the theatre. I remember seeing him standing in the dim corner...
Chad Damiani is on the show! You know him front he wonderful show he runs, Catbath, his crazy improv team, Jetzo, and heās an accomplished screenwriter. Chad and I talk about everything from the challenges of running an indie show, to getting more physical in your improv, to being a classic heel in wrestling. You gotta listen. Golden age of improv, be excellent to each other, happy improvising.
For the first time I am teaching my 1-day Structure Workshop in Los Angeles. I have been folding it into the 8-week class, but I don't think that's more effective for either class.Ā
----------
August 23rd 11am - 5pm in Hollywood
Introductory rate: $40.00
TO REGISTER
TheĀ Story and Plot: StructureĀ WorkshopĀ focuses on the difference between story and plot and how each affects the most important aspect of feature-length storytelling: the structure. The knowledge presented is instrumental for anyone interested in developing projects in the film industry whether they intend to develop a concept to first draft, or a first draft to production script. The class was designed to demystify structure, yet still take it well beyond the often misleading three act paradigm.Ā Ā It is a giant step forward for both beginning and experienced screenwriters.Ā
Structure does not limit you - it actually liberates you. It takes the burden off the writer and puts it back where it belongs: the story.
Story is the why, and structure is the how. Structure is the building block you start with and it is the guide you rewrite with. Structure is not formula. Structure is your loyal assistant that helps you tell your story. It doesnāt limit you, it liberates you to focus on what rally matters. Story and Plot: StructureĀ simplifies where other instruction tends to complicate.
Along with its own guidelines, the class will examine popular theories and "systems" of screenwriting to compare and contrast which principles help us do what we're trying to do:Ā tell the story. These include Snyder'sĀ Save the Cat, USC's Sequence Approach, Schecter's 4 Act Archetypes, as well as others. The workshop will take each one of these a step forward to make them more understandable and practical.
The goal of the class is two-fold. First, give the student the tools to better analyze the story structure of both successful as well as failed motion pictures. This is an essential skill for anyone who wants a improve their writing over time. Second, to give the writer, or anyone developing material, a solid repeatable process to take an idea and convert it to a well structured story.
No matter what your previous training in structure, this class will help you take that knowledge to the next level.
For even more information, you can find the outline to the workshop here:Ā Story and Plot Structure WorkshopĀ and moreĀ about Mr. Vaughan's teaching philosophy in the blog post "On Teaching Screenwriting."
This Workshop is at:
The Complex
The Hammond Room
6476 Santa Monica Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90038Ā
