I recently read a script for a client that had a powerful premise, an emotional plot line and well designed characters. Not only was the story emotional, but the context through which it was told was thought provoking without being preachy or on the nose. Yet ultimately, the script wasn’t a success, as the story didn’t really have any direction and the characters lacked goals.
Because the story had no structure.
Sometimes when I read a script I see that the structure isn’t strong, as Act I might run too long or too short, or there might not be a strong enough break between Acts II and III. However this script had no structure at all. There was no identifiable Act I or Act II or Act III. The screenplay just ran the whole story as one long act, which ultimately did it a great disservice. The script desperately needed to have some better structure in order to fully accomplish what it was setting out to do, which was to illicit an emotional reaction about the relationship between the two primary characters.
The relationship between the two main characters wasn’t able to develop the way it needed to because the story wasn’t able to develop the way it should have. The story couldn’t develop because it had no structure, and therefor had no direction. The frustrating thing about that is that the writer could have raised the stakes of this script, and thus the emotional engagement of the audience by giving one or both of those characters a clear goal. That goal would have been what drove the story, and would have given the writer a frame around which to wrap the story. That would have been the structure.
Without it, the story was nothing more than a series of events that the audience may or may not care about.
I’ve written about this before, but it all starts with asking your main character, “What do you want?” Once you’ve answered that, then you have your story, and it should be easy to fill out the blanks in the following exercise, which I’ve also written about: This is a story about _____, who after _______ wants desperately to _________.
I could not fill in all of those blanks after reading this client’s script. There were two main characters in the script, and for one of them I could fill in two blanks, and for the other one I could fill in one blank. What’s even more frustrating is that the character for which only one blank could be filled, felt like the character around which the story should revolve. It felt like he had the potential for the greatest growth and the greatest character arc. If the writer could just figure out what that character wanted, this script could have been even more powerful.
Now, you might be thinking what I’ve heard a lot of writers say. You might be thinking that writing is an organic thing and that trying to fit a screenplay into 3-Act structure is restrictive to your creativity. You say you’ve seen plenty of films that don’t have 3-Act structure and have worked just fine.
To which I respond, yes, you’re right. Stanley Kubrick made A Clockwork Orange which was a 4-act story. A few years later he made Full Metal Jacket which was a 2-act movie.
Casablanca, one of the best films ever made, does not follow the 3-act model.
Alfred Hitchcock messed with story structure all the time.
However those films had strong main characters with clear, well articulated goals. Those goals drove the story. I also caution aspiring writers to make sure that you can demonstrate that you can follow the rules before you show that you know how to break them. An agency or executive isn’t going to take a chance on a new writer with a poorly structured script, especially if that writer has no credits to his or her name.
If you’re writing a spec script, the two things you need the most are a well developed main character with a clear goal, and a rock solid story structure.
If you’re working on your script now and you think you need another set of eyes to evaluate how effectively your accomplishing those two things, please click the link below to see how Monument Script Services can help.
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