kylekmd
Well-known member
For JoeV, in response to your e-mail. Do with it what you will. This post is not meant to spur a discussion about SCREENWRITING FORMULAE and their (potentially) derivative end products.
Screenwriter's Master Chart
by Mary Shomon
ACT I
[1-12] SETUP:
Who is the main character, what is the place, time, mood,
size/scope/feeling, point of view. What's the story about?
Whose story is it? What does hero want, and what's stopping
hero from getting it? Do we like hero and care if he gets
what he wants? What happens next?
[3] CENTRAL QUESTION POINT:
What is the central question, the theme, the main issue the
movie is going to answer?
[12] NEW OPPORTUNITY:
Something that happens to steer events in a particular
direction.
[12-30] CHOICE OF PATH:
Based on the new opportunity, the hero begins taking steps
toward a general goal.
ACT II
[30] CHANGE OF PLANS/TURNING POINT:
What event throws hero a curve, forces response or reaction,
sets the hero's plan/goal, defines the hero's new pathway
for Act II? General goal(s) become specific.
[30-60] PROGRESS:
Plans to achieve goals are working. There are conflicts but
things are going pretty well. Hero is changing,
circumstances are changing and stakes get higher.
[45] MOVING FORWARD METAPHOR:
A small scene with symbolic overtones, showing the
character's growth, and giving us a clue to the resolution.
[60] POINT OF NO RETURN:
Something happens so that hero, if pushing forward and
committing, against all odds, to goal, cannot return to
where he was in the setup. Sometimes, here the external
goal has become internal/personal, and pursuing it will
change the hero.
[60+] POST-POINT MOMENT:
A lighter moment, which typically follows the POINT OF NO
RETURN. Doesn't further action, but shows how hero is
changing, then obstacles start to escalate.
[60-90] COMPLICATIONS AND HIGHER STAKES:
The goal becomes even harder to achieve. It looks like it
will take everything to do this, harder than thought, but
hero wants it more because it's harder.
ACT III
[90] ALL HOPE IS LOST/MAJOR SETBACK/THE BIG GLOOM/GIVING UP POINT:
The greatest setback. It appears that hero may not achieve
goal, hero about to give up, but something happens that
changes everything, an event that gives a chance at a goal
hero didn't know he had.
[90 - 108] FINAL PUSH --> ONE SPECIFIC ACTION:
Final intensification of the hero's pursuit of the goal,
which usually becomes focused here into achieving one
specific action. An event occurs that educates the hero, and
starts the resolution. Hero may be getting something more or
different from what he set out to get, hero has learned
something and is changed by it, a new complications sets in.
[108 - 114] CLIMAX:
Hero is close, can see goal, final obstacle, has to give up
everything in pursuit of the goal, crisis point where all is
in jeopardy, final moment, all or nothing . Hero achieves
or fails to achieve the goal, and outer motivation is
clearly resolved, often through confrontation with a
"nemesis."
[108 - 114] DENOUEMENT:
What is the outcome, resolution, hero's new life?
[120] THE END
Screenwriter's Master Chart
by Mary Shomon
ACT I
[1-12] SETUP:
Who is the main character, what is the place, time, mood,
size/scope/feeling, point of view. What's the story about?
Whose story is it? What does hero want, and what's stopping
hero from getting it? Do we like hero and care if he gets
what he wants? What happens next?
[3] CENTRAL QUESTION POINT:
What is the central question, the theme, the main issue the
movie is going to answer?
[12] NEW OPPORTUNITY:
Something that happens to steer events in a particular
direction.
[12-30] CHOICE OF PATH:
Based on the new opportunity, the hero begins taking steps
toward a general goal.
ACT II
[30] CHANGE OF PLANS/TURNING POINT:
What event throws hero a curve, forces response or reaction,
sets the hero's plan/goal, defines the hero's new pathway
for Act II? General goal(s) become specific.
[30-60] PROGRESS:
Plans to achieve goals are working. There are conflicts but
things are going pretty well. Hero is changing,
circumstances are changing and stakes get higher.
[45] MOVING FORWARD METAPHOR:
A small scene with symbolic overtones, showing the
character's growth, and giving us a clue to the resolution.
[60] POINT OF NO RETURN:
Something happens so that hero, if pushing forward and
committing, against all odds, to goal, cannot return to
where he was in the setup. Sometimes, here the external
goal has become internal/personal, and pursuing it will
change the hero.
[60+] POST-POINT MOMENT:
A lighter moment, which typically follows the POINT OF NO
RETURN. Doesn't further action, but shows how hero is
changing, then obstacles start to escalate.
[60-90] COMPLICATIONS AND HIGHER STAKES:
The goal becomes even harder to achieve. It looks like it
will take everything to do this, harder than thought, but
hero wants it more because it's harder.
ACT III
[90] ALL HOPE IS LOST/MAJOR SETBACK/THE BIG GLOOM/GIVING UP POINT:
The greatest setback. It appears that hero may not achieve
goal, hero about to give up, but something happens that
changes everything, an event that gives a chance at a goal
hero didn't know he had.
[90 - 108] FINAL PUSH --> ONE SPECIFIC ACTION:
Final intensification of the hero's pursuit of the goal,
which usually becomes focused here into achieving one
specific action. An event occurs that educates the hero, and
starts the resolution. Hero may be getting something more or
different from what he set out to get, hero has learned
something and is changed by it, a new complications sets in.
[108 - 114] CLIMAX:
Hero is close, can see goal, final obstacle, has to give up
everything in pursuit of the goal, crisis point where all is
in jeopardy, final moment, all or nothing . Hero achieves
or fails to achieve the goal, and outer motivation is
clearly resolved, often through confrontation with a
"nemesis."
[108 - 114] DENOUEMENT:
What is the outcome, resolution, hero's new life?
[120] THE END
