Screenwriting Structure - The Ultimate Secret Answer to Every Structure You've Ever Heard of

If you've ever delved into the world of screenplay structure analysis, you'll probably agree that there are many ways to cut a movie apart.
There's the "classic" 3-Act structure and with that the 1, 2 , 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 Act structures.  (Why not 6?) You'll also find a Sequence Approach from Paul Gulino.  A Hero's Journey structure from Joseph Campbell exists.  Along with another version of the Hero's Journey by Christopher Vogler.  In addition to Jacob Krueger who writes about the Hegelian Dialectic.  Let's not forget Blake Snyder's Save The Cat.  And speaking of structure, you've got to talk about archetypes which you can structure your story around too.  Which leads me to one of the most complex systems of structural analytics known as Dramatica.  And so on and so forth.

What's intriguing is that when you take each of these approaches and analyze your favorite films they all work.  They all work.  Like the image above in which there is a face, a butterfly, an angel, an alien, a teddy bear, etc., all structural models are similar but different.  What you see is what you get and what you get is whatever you want to see.

What's doubly intriguing is that none of them can make you understand why a film connects with you or any other human being.  C'est la vie, right?

I would argue that a writer can take all of these models and place them in a drawer within a cabinet within a dumpster and safely land on their feet with a great story.

How?

If you focus on one scene at a time.  And focus on your characters as if they were real people who should react in a realistic way, you'll be writing well.  You'v got to be sincere.  You've got to stop and think after each action, "What would actually happen at this point, within the "rules" of the story I've been writing?"  It's realistic to spend a day or two on one scene.  You've got to read it and be honest.  Be sincere, even if it's comedy.

Screenwriting - Writing Tip

"A play can start with an image that can be as simple as two people in a room and I begin to ask questions about who they are in relation to one another."  - Donald Margulies

 A screenplay can also start that way.  But the main point I take from the above quote is asking "Who characters are in relation to one another."  I like to think of my characters as people.  I like to be sincere about who they are and what the want and why they want it.  A clear simple character can hook me and watching them deal with extraordinary or even ordinary issues can hook me too.

Pace - Character-ization, screenwriting

For each scene I want to figure out what each characters pace is.  Does he move around quick, slow, awkward, cool, etc.  are his arms moving around a lot, or tight to his body, is he sweating, is nervous, excited, happy, sad, depressed.  What's his pace?

Dramatica - Ok - Fine - Use It.

In the past, I've been emotionally disturbed by story writing programs such as Dramatica.

I've cooled down a bit.  So sure, go ahead and use Dramatica to create a story.  But with one caveat.

At some point you're going to have to read your story and develop it's humanity.  You're going to need to open yourself up and be sincere.

The fact is that characters are not pieces of construction material that you piece together to build a structure.  True, stories are about structure - behavioral and social structure - human desires and human relationships.  Using the word structure can be misleading - you may start to think of stories as Lego sets.  People draw diagrams of how the structure of a story can look.

Sure, it's fine to use the diagrams to outline a story but at some point you have to get rid of the cookie cutter and make sure you're being sincere.  Make sure your characters are being sincere.  Make sure you are simplifying and clarifying each scene to express a clear idea.

The Emotional 2nd Draft - Screenwriting

When you are ready to get into your second draft.  Print it out.
You're going to want read it and make notes.
What kind of notes?
Start out by trying to figure what it is each scene is trying to do and how you can make it as simple and clear as possible.  Chances are you will have the ingredients for a nice scene but it won't be simple and clear.

Replace economic theory with story theory:

"Indeed, economic theory has become largely impenetrable to the layman. It didn’t start that way. Adam Smith, whom we may justly call the first economist, saw himself as a moral philosopher, and wrote in clear, elegant prose. As the nineteenth century progressed, however, the idea got about that, in order to be taken seriously, economics should be treated as a scientific discipline, complete with equations and formulae. As Robert Heilbroner put it, “mathematics brought rigor to economics; but, alas, also mortis”."

Relationships - What your story is about!

So you could have a story about food, music, espionage, africa, etc.

But if you want to write one with emotional power, focus on a relationship.

One you love or one you hate.

Example:

You might hate it when a kid's life is controlled by his overly religious parents.
You might love it when a man is able to escape and overcome a powerful villan.
You might hate it when a person steals money from a charity for their own personal pleasure.
etc.

When you focus on a relationship, you get meaning and emotion.