Screenplay

Syd Field

62 annotations • May 2023 – Jun 2023 • data

Introduction

Movies are a combination of art and science; the technological revolution has literally changed the way we see movies and therefore, by necessity, has changed the way we write movies. But no matter what changes are made in the execution of the material, the nature of the screenplay is the same as it has always been: A screenplay is a story told with pictures, in dialogue and description, and placed within the context of dramatic structure. That's what it is; that is its nature. It is the art of visual storytelling.
To tell a story, you have to set up your characters, introduce the dramatic premise (what the story is about) and the dramatic situation (the circumstances surrounding the action), create obstacles for your characters to confront and overcome, then resolve the story. You know, boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl.
I've learned there are two or three times during a lifetime when something happens that alters the course of that life. We meet someone, go somewhere, or do something we've never done before, and those moments are the possibilities that guide us to where we're supposed to go and what we're supposed to do with our lives.
I learned that most of the scripts that read well—meaning they featured lovely sentences, stylish and literate prose, and beautiful dialogue—usually didn't work. While they might read like liquid honey flowing across the page, the overall feeling was that of reading a short story or a strong journalistic piece in a magazine like Vanity Fair or Esquire. But that's not what makes a good screenplay.
At the end of the book, Nick, the narrator, recalls how Gatsby used to stand looking out over the water at the image of the green light, beckoning him to past memories of unrequited love. Gatsby was a man who believed in the past, a man who believed that if he had enough wealth and power, he could turn back time and re-create it. It was that dream that spurred him as a young man to cross over the tracks, searching for love and wealth, searching for the expectations and desires of the past that he hoped would become the future.
What is a good screenplay? I kept asking myself. And pretty soon I started getting some answers. When you read a good screenplay, you know it—it's evident from page one, word one. The style, the way the words are laid out on the page, the way the story is set up, the grasp of dramatic situation, the introduction of the main character, the basic premise or problem of the screenplay—it's all set up in the first few pages of the script: Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces, The Godfather, The French Connection, Shampoo, and All the President's Men are all perfect examples.

Chapter 1

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an artist literally caught between two worlds, caught between his genius as a writer and his self-doubt and inability to express that genius in screenplay form.
The nature of the screenplay deals in pictures, and if we wanted to define it, we could say that a screenplay is a story told with pictures, in dialogue and description, and placed within the context of dramatic structure.
To understand the principle of structure, it's important to start with the word itself. The root of structure, struct, has two definitions that are relevant. The first definition means "to build" or "to put something together," like a building or car. The second definition is "the relationship between the parts and the whole."
Context is the space that holds something in place—in this case, the content. For example, the space inside a glass is the context; it holds the content in place—whether it's water, beer, milk, coffee, tea, or juice. If we want to get creative, a glass can also hold raisins, trail mix, nuts, grapes, etc.—but the space inside doesn't change The context is what holds the content in place.
In this unit of dramatic action, Act I, the screenwriter sets up the story, establishes character, launches the dramatic premise (what the story is about), illustrates the situation (the circumstances surrounding the action), and creates the relationships between the main character and the other characters who inhabit the landscape of his or her world
During this second act the main character encounters obstacle after obstacle that keeps him/her from achieving his/her dramatic need, which is defined as what the character wants to win, gain, get, or achieve during the course of the screenplay
Act II is where your character has to deal with surviving the obstacles that you put in front of him or her. What is it that drives him or her forward through the action? What does your main character want? What is his or her dramatic need?
A Plot Point is defined as any incident, episode, or event that hooks into the action and spins it around in another direction
Plot Points do not have to be big, dynamic scenes or sequences; they can be quiet scenes in which a decision is made, such as Inman's, or when Frodo and Sam leave the Shire
The paradigm is a form, not a formula; it's what holds the story together. It is the spine, the skeleton. Story determines structure; structure doesn't determine story.
Birth? Life? Death? Isn't that a beginning, middle, and end? Spring, summer, fall, and winter—isn't that a beginning, middle, and end? Morning, afternoon, evening—it's always the same, but different. Think about the rise and fall of great ancient civilizations—Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, each rising from the seed of a small community to the apex of power, then disintegrating and dying.
Think about the birth and death of a star, or the beginning of the universe. If there's a beginning, like the Big Bang, is there going to be an end? Think about the cells in our bodies. How often are they replenished, restored, and re-created? Every seven years—within a seven-year cycle all the cells in our bodies are born, function, die, and are reborn again. Think about the first day of a new job, or a new school, or a new house or apartment; you'll meet new people, assume new responsibilities, create new friendships.
"Form follows structure; structure doesn't follow form." —I. M. Pei Architect

Chapter 2

You need a subject to embody and dramatize the idea. A subject is defined as an action and a character. An action is what the story is about, and a character is who the story is about.
Every screenplay dramatizes an action and a character. You, as the screenwriter, must know who your movie is about and what happens to him or her. It is a primary principle in writing, not only in screenplays but in all forms of writing
Do you know the subject of your screenplay? What it's about? And who is it about? Can you express it in a few sentences? Do you, for example, want to tell the story of two women going on a crime spree? If you do, do you know who these two women are? Where they came from? What their background is? And then, what crimes did they commit? And why? Do you know what happens to them at the end? Defining the answers to these questions allows you to gather enough information to write your screenplay from the position of choice, confidence, and security. If you know what you're doing, then you can figure out the best way of doing it
When you can articulate your subject in a few sentences, in terms of action and character, you're ready to begin expanding the elements of structure and story. It may take several pages of free-association writing about your story before you can begin to grasp the essentials and reduce a complex story line to a simple sentence or two
The writer must always exercise choice and responsibility in determining the dramatic execution of the story. Choice and responsibility—these words will be a familiar refrain throughout this book. Every creative decision must be made by choice, not necessity. If your character walks out of a bank, that's one story. If he runs out of a bank, that's another story.
Just know that when you're looking for your subject, your subject is really looking for you. You'll find it someplace, at some time, probably when you're least expecting it. It will be yours to follow through on or not, as you choose.
When you can express your idea succinctly in terms of action and character—my story is about this person, in this place, doing his/her "thing"—you're beginning the preparation of your screenplay.
By doing research—whether in written sources such as books, magazines, or newspapers or through personal interviews—you acquire information. The information you collect allows you to operate from the position of choice, confidence, and responsibility. You can choose to use some, or all, or none of the material you've gathered; that's your choice, dictated by the terms of the story. Not using it because you don't have it offers you no choice at all, and will always work against you and your story.
Remember: The more you know, the more you can communicate. And be in a position of choice and responsibility when making creative decisions.
Waldo told me that he believed the character's need (the dramatic need—what the character wants to win, gain, or achieve) determines the dramatic structure. His words resonated with me immediately, and I shared with him that I had recently come to the same understanding while I was analyzing Woody Allen's Annie Hall: The character's need determines the creative choices he/she makes during the screenplay, and gaining clarity about that need allows you to be more complex, more dimensional, in your character portrayal.
Putting words down on paper, he said, is the easiest part of the screenwriting process; it is the visual conception of the story that takes so long. And he quoted Picasso: "Art is the elimination of the unnecessary."
Sonny (Al Pacino) holds up the bank in Dog Day Afternoon to get money for a sex-change operation for his male lover. That is his need. If your character creates a system to beat the tables in Las Vegas, how much does he need to win before he knows if the system works or doesn't? The need of your character gives you a goal, a destination, an ending to your story. How your character achieves or does not achieve that goal becomes the action of your story.
When you begin to explore your subject, you will see that all things are related in your screenplay. Nothing is thrown in by chance, or because it's cute or clever. "There's a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow," Shakespeare observed. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" is Newton's Third Law of Motion, a natural law of the universe. The same principle applies to your story. It is the subject of your screenplay. KNOW YOUR SUBJECT!

Chapter 3

"What is character but the determination of incident? And what is incident but the illumination of character?" —The Art of Fiction Henry James
Screenplays are usually about a key incident, and the story is the character acting and reacting to it. It is the major source of all action and all character. After twenty-five years of reading and analyzing screenplays and movies, I have only recently begun to understand the importance of the incident. All good movies, it seems, focus on the unfolding of a specific incident or event; and it is this incident that becomes the engine that powers the story to its completion.
Events in a screenplay are specifically designed to bring out the truth about the characters so that we, the reader and audience, can transcend our ordinary lives and achieve a connection, or bond, between "them and us." We see ourselves in them and enjoy a moment, perhaps, of recognition and understanding
In The Art of Fiction, Henry James says that the incidents you create for your characters are the best ways to illuminate who they are—that is, reveal their true nature, their essential character. How they respond to a particular incident or event, how they act and react, what they say and do is what really defines the essence of their character.
It is the character that determines the incident, in this case Louise's killing Harlan, then fleeing in fear and uncertainty. What's important for me, and you, as writers, is to ask what it was within Louise's character that caused her to pull the trigger—because this incident is what ultimately reveals and illuminates the character. In Louise's case, it is an incident that happened to her when she was a young woman; it's only mentioned briefly, but it's implied that she was raped in Texas and then brought charges against her attackers, but could get no satisfaction, no revenge, no justice. Indeed, instead of being seen as the victim, she was considered by many to have been the instigator. At that moment, she made a promise to herself: She would never take one step inside the state of Texas ever again. This decision ultimately brings about her death.
Campbell says that the hero, or heroic figure, "moves not into outer space but into inward space, to the place from which all being comes, into the consciousness that is the source of all things, the kingdom of heaven within. The images are outward, but their reflection is inward."
I once asked Waldo Salt how he went about creating characters, and he replied that the first thing he did was to choose a simple dramatic need; then he would add to it, coloring it until it became a universal chord common to Everyman.
You must find ways to reveal your character's conflicts visually. You cannot reveal what you don't know. Thus, it's important to make the distinction between knowing your character as a thought, notion, or idea in your head and revealing him or her on paper.
As a side note, it's important to phrase your creative questions to begin with the word what, not why. What implies a specific response; if you ask yourself a question beginning with the word why, you can get many different answers, and they may all be correct. So try to phrase any questions using the word what: What causes my character to react in this manner? (Not: Why does my character do this?) What is the purpose of this scene?
action and its end is a mode of action, not a quality." That means your character has to be active, has to be doing things, causing things to happen, not just reacting all the time. Sometimes it's necessary for your character to react to a situation, but you can't have your main character constantly reacting only to things that happen to him. If that happens, he disappears off the page, and your story appears soft, without an edge. Your character is what he/she does. Film is a visual medium, and the writer's responsibility is to choose an image, or picture, that cinematically dramatizes his or her character.

3. The Creation of Character

So what is character? Action is character; a person is what he does, not what he says. Film is behavior. Because we're telling a story in pictures, we must show how the character acts and reacts to the incidents and events that he/she confronts and overcomes (or doesn't overcome) during the story line. If you're writing your script and sense your characters are not as sharp or defined as you think they should be, and feel they should be stronger, more dimensional, and more universal in terms of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, the first thing you must determine is whether they're an active force in the screenplay—whether they cause things to happen, or whether things happen to them.
You may share certain similarities with the character, but if you think you're going to use yourself as the model, it's not going to work. Writing is the ability to ask yourself questions and wait for the answers.

Chapter 4

Most of Sam's films deal with characters who are dedicated or obsessed—take your pick—and caught in the maelstrom of changing times. He explored this theme, unchanged men in a changing time, in most of his films: Ride the High Country (N. B. Stone), Major Dundee (Oscar Saul), The Wild Bunch (Walon Green), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (John Crawford and Edmund Penny), Straw Dogs (David Zelag Goodman), The Getaway (Walter Hill), Junior Bonner (Jeb Rosebrook), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Rudy Wurlitzer), and others.
He always found great visual metaphors that reflected the indicators of change and their impact upon the characters. I think that's one of the ingredients Peckinpah brought to the contemporary Western: He showed us bits and pieces of character that reflected this theme of not belonging, of being "outside" and behind the times, and then wove these concepts into moments of visual action
The way he's described in the stage directions tells us everything we need to know: "Opinionated, strong-willed, quick-tempered….An artist, perhaps a sculptor of battle, who knows that for him death is as close as the owl perched upon the thigh of night….He gives orders well and takes them badly….A wise man who can be a fool…who will go his own way come hell or high water…who so far has yet to fail."
I saw four things, four essential qualities that seemed to go into the making of good characters: (1), the characters have a strong and defined dramatic need; (2), they have an individual point of view; (3), they personify an attitude; and (4), they go through some kind of change, or transformation.
Dramatic need is defined as what your main characters want to win, gain, get, or achieve during the course of your screenplay. The dramatic need is what drives your characters through the story line. It is their purpose, their mission, their motivation, driving them through the narrative action of the story line.
In Thelma & Louise, the dramatic need is to escape safely to Mexico; that's what drives these two characters through the entire story line. In Cold Mountain, Inman's dramatic need is to return home, and Ada's is to survive and adapt to the conditions around her. In Lord of the Rings, as mentioned, it's to carry the ring to Mount Doom and destroy it in the fire that created it.
Point of view is defined as the way a person sees, or views, the world. Every person has an individual point of view. Point of view is a belief system, and as we know, what we believe to be true is true. There's an ancient Hindu scripture titled the Yoga Vasistha that states, "The World is as you see it."
It is our mind, how we see the world, that determines our experience. As one Great Being puts it: "You are the baker of the bread you eat."
In The Shawshank Redemption, there's a short scene between Andy and Red that reveals the difference in their points of view. After almost twenty years in Shawshank Prison, Red is cynical because, in his eyes, the concept of hope is simply a four-letter word. His spirit has been so crushed by the prison system that he angrily declares to Andy, "Hope is a dangerous thing. Drives a man insane. It's got no place here. Better get used to the idea." And it is Red's emotional journey that leads him to the understanding that "hope is a good thing." The film ends on a note of hope, with Red breaking his parole and riding the bus to meet Andy in Mexico: "I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams….I hope."
Attitude is defined as a manner or opinion, and is a way of acting or feeling that reveals a person's personal opinion.
Again, it's important to remember that when you're writing a screenplay, the main character must be active; she must cause things to happen, not let things happen to her.
Film is behavior; action is character and character, action; what a person does is who he is, not what he says.
Dialogue serves two main purposes: Either it moves the story forward, or it reveals information about the main character. If the dialogue does not serve either one of these functions, then take it out.

Chapter 5

As the cliché goes, "It's commercial," whatever that means.

Chapter 6

All screenplays have a subject, and the subject of a screenplay is defined as the action—what happens—and the character—whom it happens to. There are two kinds of action—physical action and emotional action; a car chase and a kiss. We discussed character in terms of dramatic need, and broke the concept of character down into two components—interior and exterior; your character's life from birth up until the time the movie ends. We talked about building character and creating characterization and introduced the idea of context and content.
He or she must know three things within these first few pages of the script: the character—who the story is about; the dramatic (or comedic) premise—what the story is about; and the situation—the circumstances surrounding the action.

Chapter 9

James Joyce, the great Irish novelist, once remarked that the experience of writing is like climbing a mountain: When you're in the middle of your climb, you can only see what's directly in front of you and what's directly above you. You can plan only one move at a time. You can't see two or three moves above you or how you're going to get there. Only when you reach the top of the mountain can you look down and gain some kind of an overview of the landscape you've negotiated.

Chapter 0

Create a scene by creating a context, then establish the content. Find the purpose of the scene, then choose the place and time for the scene. Find the components or elements within the scene to create inner or outer conflict to generate drama. Drama, remember, is conflict; seek it out.