Tags: Screenwriting
So I’m done my daily page quota and I had a few discoveries I want to remember/log.
So I’m almost 8 pages into a first draft of a feature-length screenplay (with a somewhat-detailed plot-line completed). As any working screenwriter will tell me repeatedly, if your plot doesn’t start within the first 10 pages, it’s no dice as far as selling goes… but I’m working with a bit of a different concept (and not selling this one)… without spoiling the details, basically the script starts out as a character-based comedy/drama with one plot, but turns into an action/comedy with a HUGE twist at the mid-point…
So the first 8 pages I’m writing basically starts with the protagonist’s first day on a new job. The job plays a pivotal role in regards to the story/humor. But as I’m writing my last few pages I think…. “What the hell? I need to speed up the pace here to start hitting my plot points- I’m on page 8 and it’s nothing but character introductions…” but then the other voice in my head kicks in and says… “Yeah, but even if you cut this stuff, it’s better than any backstory you’ve ever written, and you can probably use at least a few scenes from it somewhere…”
But I really dig the idea of starting a script before the plot line, and then just lopping it off in the editing where the action starts and then re-fitting some of that backstory into subtle snippets in the actual plot. In fact, I’m (trying to be) using the four act structure, but suddenly I think I’ve found my own magical “5 Act” structure. Shakespeare used one, so why can’t I?
Basically, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Acts would be the same… the fifth act would actually be more like Act 0, taking place BEFORE the sequence of events in the plot and the focus would be on revealing the characteristics of characters and events that lead to the plotline in Acts 1-4.
But what I’m going to do, is take that magical 5th act and tear it up into pieces… literally… and insert the BEST, most insightful/humorous/memorable ones into the main script in quick-cut-flashback style. You see that kind of stuff a lot in things like Family Guy or Arrested Development… when a character references something, it cuts to that referenced notion, and it’s usually the stuff that’s funnier to SEE than hear. I love cutting to things after they’ve been referenced and it fits my story-style really well, but the beauty of the magical 5th Act is that it’s really just backstory stuff and you can junk it, spread it out in the other acts, use as little or as much as you want, or whatever.
So really, it’s not so much as a magical 5-act structure as it is the notion that writing your backstory in screenplay format can come in handy if you need to spice up some scenes and shit.
Those are the last of my thoughts tonight. Brain, deactivated.
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