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That's a cool saying I just heard for the first time and I believe in it totally. I've been teaching screenwriting and comedy writing for more than 10 years and I've inadvertantly been doing this.
For example, the concept of the 3-Act structure. I didn't invent that. Nobody alive today "invented" it. Shakespeare and the Greek playwrights before him came up with the idea of Acts and intermissions (or intervals as they say in English theater).
And as lots of young screenwrters (and television writers) coming up may not know, before there was movies there were plays. Looking back, most plays of the 19th century had 3 Acts. Many plays of the early 20th Century American theater had 3 Acts. So when the movie business started it was only natural that early screenwriters used that same 3-Act formula.
I bring this up because in my classes I'm a big advocate of the 3-Act structure. I ask students to write a 3-Act storyline or breakdown of their idea before they go to script. It can be anywhere from 3-7 pages.
Guess what? Some people have a natural ability to nail down Act breaks. Others haven't a clue. But they can "learn" it if they take the time to study other movies or scripts.
With rare exception all screenplays have a key event roughly 30 pages into the script and a second, larger event 50-60 pages later. It's pinpointing the events that come hard to many screenwriters.
In next week's column I'm going to offer some tips on how to get a better sense of finding those key events. |
