Stop Waiting for Perfect

Stop Waiting To Write the Perfect Screenplay

“Perfection is the enemy of excellence.” -Voltaire

I’m reminded of something Susannah Grant, world-class screenwriter of “Erin Brockovich” — and “In Her Shoes,” told me at a conference a few years back. I asked her what her approach to screenwriting structure was:

“Have something big happen every 10 pages.”

That was it.

No Act-II Midpoint. No detailed character studies. No 57-step outline with graphs and pie charts and index cards laid out on a cork board from Staples.

Now, of course, Ms. Grant has a ton of box office hits and acres of New Mexico property to back this up.

But many professional screenwriters don’t wait until they have every nuance and bit of story structure worked out before they WRITE.

They get just enough to start and then they get rolling.

And they don’t stop until they have a first draft.

“No Wire Hangers!”

Shane Black, writer of “Lethal Weapon,” thinks waiting to write until you have a Syd-Field type framework is “lame and unproductive.”

“It’s all set-ups, payoffs and reversals,” believes Black. “The rest is bullshit.”

But what about your outline?

Your 12-page beat sheet?

That 256-page color-coded treatment you’ve spent nineteen months on?

Those are fine. Like Dumbo and his feather, whatever helps you get started is cool.

Just as long as you actually get started.

But if you spend most of your time preparing to write and not enough time actually writing – and you know who you are – below is all the structure you really need.

And you don’t have to take a $350 Lew Hunter learning annex class to learn it. (I know, because I did. And it was awful.)

Structure Tip No.1: Have a MAJOR Reversal or Turning Point Every 10 Pages

Example: Obi-Wan is killed. Harry and Sally sleep together. Vampires play baseball.

By building these turning points into your scripts – and making sure each of those 10 pages is building toward that reversal – you’ll have just enough “spine” or “structure” in your script to get started writing. (But not too much structure that you’ll lose interest in your script.)

And forget all that three-act bullcrap.

Viewers don’t experience movies thinking, “Oh, I love the way they’re resolving this Act-II dilemma.”

They experience events like a roller coaster.

Up-up-up-up…then downnn! Then up again. Then down again.

Then they get off the ride, go home and complain about the price of the popcorn.

You will naturally, in the course of writing, gravitate towards a “structure” that fits your story.

But if you insist on making your story fit into some rigid control-freak box, your reader will see it coming.

And they’ll never get to that awesome Act-II midpoint you’ve spent years working on.

Structure Tip No.2: Give Every Scene a Minor Reversal

Meaning: if the scene starts happy, end sad. If it starts sad, have it end upbeat.

Make the scene DO something, GO somewhere.

I know a successful screenwriter who makes sure the end of every scene he writes warrants that grave-sounding “Duh-Duh-Duh” musical stinger that old radio soap operas used to have.

“Downton Abbey” does this really well. So does every episode of “Law and Order.” (The original series, not the crappy SVU spin-offs.)

It’s just a modern version of the old Saturday morning serial cliffhanger.

And it’s really just good storytelling: Leave the viewer wanting/dying to know what happens next.

As a script reader, I’m emotionally involved in a script if I NEED to know what happens next.

And scripts that do this consistently will make you wealthier than you can imagine.

Clue: The way to achieve this is often by writing less, not more. (But we’ll get to that later.)

Structure Tip No.3: Pick a Main Character Who Has a Mortal Fear

We touched on this in the last chapter. But it’s important your main character not just have a STRONG BELIEF about something such as:

Men and women can’t be friends (“When Harry Met Sally”)

It’s better to look out for yourself and stay neutral in war time (“Casablanca”)

Money can buy love (“Citizen Kane”)

But they need to have a MORTAL FEAR. Usually, but not always, related to them NOT getting their belief satisfied. And it can be anything they’re afraid of:

• Snakes
• Commitment
• Chinatown
• Prison
• Loneliness
• Sex
• Germs
• The Government
• Being Ordinary

It’s your job to do everything you can to force them to face that fear. Literally.

If they’re afraid of germs, trap them in an elevator with a Boy Scout troop. If they’re afraid of commitment, force them to get married in 30 days, or they will lose their inheritance. If they’re afraid of living without money, make them lose everything and have them go live in a hippie commune in Vermont. (Can’t you just see Tim Allen in the lead?)

By doing this, and seeing how your character reacts, your script will display all those buzzwords that development executives love: growth, change, depth, and relate-ability. And you won’t have to put in some crappy scene where your main character saves a puppy from a burning building.

The MORE you can link up the erroneous belief and the mortal fear, the more character gold you’ll have in your script.

Structure Tip No.4: Put 10 “Open Loops” Into Your Script (and Make Them Pay Off)

The human brain is funny. It loves questions and puzzles and riddles. (Overpriced therapists call these open loops.)

But if you don’t close open loops, people get really frustrated.

This is why any self-help guru will tell you asking yourself questions that have specific, clear answers are healthier than asking yourself open-ended questions that don’t have a clear response.

Example: “Why can’t I write anything good?” has a much different impact on your psyche than asking “How can I get better at writing today?”

And when people are watching your movie or reading your script they are constantly asking questions:

• Why is that guy wearing a black hat?
• Does she know that man in the restaurant?
• Will that gun show up later?
• She gave him a look. Will that be important later?
• Will the girl and the piano player end up together?

Most people ask these questions to themselves. People like my wife will openly wonder what the hell is going on every minute of a movie.

Point is: When you start paying these off over the course of your story, magic happens.

Because…it REWARDS the viewer for paying attention. Open loops can include:

Repeated Dialogue:

• “I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
• “You complete me.”
• “Go ahead, make my day.”

Same Location, Different Result:

• Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman” returning to the Rodeo Drive store that turned her down.
• Michael Corleone being embraced as the new Godfather, in the same office his Dad resided over.
• Tom Hanks returning to the fortune-teller booth in “Big.”

Physical Objects:

• The spinning top in “Inception.”
• The cattle gun in “No Country for Old Men.”
• The bat signal in “Batman.”

Symbols:

• Butterflies in “Silence of the Lambs.”
• Food in “The Help.”
• The color red in “Carrie.”

Don’t over-think this. You’re not writing “My Dinner With Andre.” You’re just giving your reader/viewer some mental popcorn. Believe me, they’ll love you for it.

Yes, there’s a lot more to screenplay.biz/top-screenplays/" 786 target="_blank">screenplays than that. Yes, you COULD spend months, if not years, working on your treatment. Yes, there’s so much more to writing like a pro.

But I firmly believe screenwriting is like driving. It’s hard to learn how to parallel park from an owner’s manual. (And nearly impossible if you never start the car in the first place.)

Think About It:

Have a MAJOR turning point in your story every 10 pages. Don’t obsess about act breaks; just concentrate on building toward your turning points.

Try to have each scene end on a reversal (of some kind.) If the scene starts happy, end sad…and vice versa.

Pick ACTIVE main characters who have terrifying fears. Bonus points if it’s something you’re afraid of as well.

Add at least 10 open loops to your story. Whether that be lines of dialogue, symbols, objects, places…or whatever.