The 21st-Century Screenplay is a comprehensive and highly practical screen-writing manual. An eagerly anticipated successor to the author's internationally acclaimed book Scriptwriting Updated, it covers classic to avant-garde scripts, from The African Queen and Tootsie to 21 Grams, Pulp Fiction, Memento, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Whether you want to write features, shorts, adaptations, genre films, ensemble films, blockbusters, or art house movies, this book is your road map, it takes you all the way from choosing a brilliant idea to plotting, writing, and rewriting a successful script. Featuring a range of insider survival tips on creativity under pressure, time-effective writing, and rising to the challenge of international competitions, The 21st-Century Screenplay is essential reading for newcomers and veterans alike.
List of figures viii
List of development strategies x
Foreword xii
Preface xv
Part 1 Getting Ideas 1
Chapter 1 Creativity and general problem solving 3
Chapter 2 Triggering good ideas fast from screen models 15
Chapter 3 Triggering good ideas fast from other models 26
Chapter 4 What film are we in? 31
Part 2 Conventional Narrative Structure 43
Chapter 5 Overview of conventional narrative structure 45
Chapter 6 Planning a conventional, three-act structure 61
Chapter 7 Normality and disturbance (the set-up) 68
Chapter 8 Action line or relationship line? 72
Chapter 9 Protagonists and characters who seem like protagonists but are not 78
Chapter 10 One protagonist, many antagonists 86
Chapter 11 Characterisation 91
Chapter 12 The plan and first-act turning point 99
Chapter 13 The second act 104
Chapter 14 The third act: Climax, resolution, symbolism and myth 113
Chapter 15 Structural analysis of The Piano 120
Part 3 Practical Plotting 127
Chapter 16 The nature of the task 129
Chapter 17 Close plotting: Beats, interweaving and condensing 133
Chapter 18 Plotting: Tips, traps and rewriting 144
Chapter 19 Genres with particular plotting problems 155
Part 4 Parallel Narrative 165
Chapter 20 An introduction to parallel narrative 167
Chapter 21 Six categories of parallel narrative 171
Chapter 22 Which structure suits my film? 177
Section 1 Tandem narrative 182
Chapter 23 Tandem narrative: An introduction 182
Chapter 24 The macro in tandem narrative 188
Chapter 25 Writing your tandem narrative film 194
Chapter 26 City of Hope: Tandem narrative case study 203
Section 2 Multiple protagonist narrative 207
Chapter 27 Multiple protagonist narrative: An introduction 207
Chapter 28 Multiple protagonists: Preliminary plotting 218
Chapter 29 Multiple protagonists: Plotting the group action line 222
Chapter 30 Multiple protagonists: Plotting relationship lines 228
Chapter 31 Plotting issues in multiple protagonist quests, reunions and sieges 235
Chapter 32 American Beauty: Multiple protagonist social siege 242
Section 3 Double journeys narrative 246
Chapter 33 Double journeys 246
Section 4 Flashback narrative 252
Chapter 34 Flashback: An introduction 252
Chapter 35 Simple flashback forms 254
Chapter 36 Complex or double narrative flashback: An introduction 271
Chapter 37 Thwarted dream and case history flashback 278
Chapter 38 Flashback: Protagonists, antagonists, and the enigmatic outsider 287
Chapter 39 Autobiographical voice-over flashback 301
Chapter 40 Planning a double narrative flashback film 304
Chapter 41 Case studies of flashback films: Hybrids and oddities 313
Section 5 Consecutive stories narrative 328
Chapter 42 Consecutive stories narrative: An introduction 328
Chapter 43 Consecutive stories: Stories walking into the picture 334
Chapter 44 Consecutive stories: Different perspectives 337
Chapter 45 Consecutive stories: Different consequences 342
Chapter 46 Consecutive stories: Portmanteau films 347
Chapter 47 Consecutive stories: Fixing journey stories with a portmanteau (Homer's Odyssey) 370
Section 6 Fractured tandem narrative 376
Chapter 48 Fractured tandem: An introduction 376
Chapter 49 Pace, connection, meaning and closure in fractured tandem 380
Chapter 50 Fractured tandem: The structure of 21 Grams 386
Chapter 51 Four fractured tandem films 397
Part 5 Lost in the Telling: Films with Structural Flaws 409
Chapter 52 Conventional narrative films with structural flaws 411
Chapter 53 Parallel narrative films with structural flaws 419
Part 6 Getting It on the Page 443
Chapter 54 Scene writing: Exposition, backstory and subtext 445
Chapter 55 Dialogue 449
Chapter 56 Treatment/outline writing and the script as an instruction manual 467
Index 476
Overview
The 21st-Century Screenplay is a comprehensive and highly practical screen-writing manual. An eagerly anticipated successor to the author's internationally acclaimed book Scriptwriting Updated, it covers classic to avant-garde scripts, from The African Queen and Tootsie to 21 Grams, Pulp Fiction, Memento, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Whether you want to write features, shorts, adaptations, genre films, ensemble films, blockbusters, or art house movies, this book is...