What's the Story? The Director Meets Their Screenplay: An Essential Guide for Directors and Writer-Directors

by Peter Markham

Overview

A structured perspective on the crucial interface of director and screenplay, this book encompasses twenty-two seminal aspects of the approach to story and script that a director needs to understand before embarking on all other facets of the director’s craft.

Drawing on seventeen years of teaching filmmaking at a graduate level and on his prior career as a director and in production at the BBC, Markham shows how the filmmaker can apply rigorous analysis of the elements of dramatic narrative in a screenplay to their creative vision, whether of a short or feature, TV episode or season. Combining examination of such fundamental topics as story, premise, theme, genre, world and setting, tone, structure, and key images with the introduction of less familiar concepts such as cultural, social, and moral canvas, narrative point of view, and the journey of the audience, What’s The Story? The Director Meets Their Screenplay applies the insights of each chapter to a case study—the screenplay of the short film Contrapelo, nominated for the Jury Award at Tribeca in 2014.

This book is an essential resource for any aspiring director who wants to understand exactly how to approach a screenplay in order to get the very best from it, and an invaluable resource for any filmmaker who wants to understand the important creative interplay between the director and screenplay in bringing a story to life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367415877
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/08/2020
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Peter Markham is a creative consultant, teacher, author, and former directing head at the American Film Institute Conservatory. His alumni, award winners at major festivals, have notable careers in film and TV. Prior to teaching, he was a director in the UK, and worked with filmmakers including Anthony Minghella and Martin Scorsese.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Part A The approach 3

1 What's the story? 5

2 Premise 10

3 Theme 16

4 Genre 21

5 World/setting 39

6 Cultural, social, and moral canvas 43

7 Tone 49

8 Structure 55

9 Passage of time 63

10 Character 69

11 Narrative point of view 85

12 Introduction of the protagonist and main characters 99

13 Key images, objects, and motifs 106

14 Opening image, frame, shot 110

15 Closing image, frame, shot 119

16 Endings 124

17 The 5-step creative analysis of the screenplay 131

17.1 A brief summary of the scene 131

17.2 The journey of the protagonist 131

17.3 The journey of the audience 132

17.4 The turning point of the scene 133

17.5 The function of the scene 134

18 The director's statement 135

Part B The case study-Contrapelo screenplay by Liska Ostojic and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer 137

19 Screenplay 139

20 Contrapelo case study 162

21 Conclusion 181

References 182

Bibliography 183

Index 184

Editorial Reviews

'Peter Markham is a passionate, rigorous, devoted, and (most importantly) mischievous teacher. I cherish my time as his student at AFI, and count myself fortunate to now have this comprehensive guide to refer to.'

Ari Aster, writer-director of Hereditary and Midsommar

'Peter Markham taught me at AFI. With each class I fell deeper under the spell of "point of view." To see it as a secret passageway into the heart of any story. He approaches directing as a strengthening of skills by which you are able to do the hard work of externalizing what’s on the inside.'

Zal Batmanglij, Co-Writer, Director, The OA

'Still applying the lessons I've learned from Peter Markham at AFI, I'm grateful to have his knowledge and passion bottled up in a book on directing, to be shared with everyone.'

Asaph Polonsky, Writer-Director, One Week ands a Day, Gan Foundation Award — Cannes International Critics’ Week 2016.

'An extremely well-researched treatise on a vital aspect of the directorial process, this book teaches Directors how to understand, and think deeply about, the fundamentals of the script prior to stepping onto set.'

Greg Takoudes, Director, Producer, Writer, and Adjunct Professor of Film Studies at The New School, New York

'Peter Markham's lessons continue to leave an imprint on my understanding of filmmaking and my choices as a writer/director. His unabated thirst for knowledge, thorough film analysis, and emphasis on narrative point-of-view have strengthened my approach toward storytelling. The time I spent in Peter's classes helped me find my voice.'

Asher Jelinsky, Student Academy Award Winner 2019

"Peter Markham is a passionate, rigorous, devoted, and (most importantly) mischievous teacher. I cherish my time as his student at AFI, and count myself fortunate to now have this comprehensive guide to refer to."

Ari Aster, writer-director of Hereditary and Midsommar

"Peter Markham taught me at AFI. With each class I fell deeper under the spell of 'point of view.' To see it as a secret passageway into the heart of any story. He approaches directing as a strengthening of skills by which you are able to do the hard work of externalizing what’s on the inside."

Zal Batmanglij, Co-Writer, Director, The OA

"Still applying the lessons I've learned from Peter Markham at AFI, I'm grateful to have his knowledge and passion bottled up in a book on directing, to be shared with everyone."

Asaph Polonsky, Writer-Director, One Week and a Day, Gan Foundation Award — Cannes International Critics’ Week 2016.

"An extremely well-researched treatise on a vital aspect of the directorial process, this book teaches directors how to understand, and think deeply about, the fundamentals of the script prior to stepping onto set."

Greg Takoudes, Director, Producer, Writer, and Adjunct Professor of Film Studies at The New School, New York

"Peter Markham's lessons continue to leave an imprint on my understanding of filmmaking and my choices as a writer/director. His unabated thirst for knowledge, thorough film analysis, and emphasis on narrative point-of-view have strengthened my approach toward storytelling. The time I spent in Peter's classes helped me find my voice."

Asher Jelinsky, Student Academy Award Winner 2019

From the Publisher