The Four Act – Twelve Sequence Structure

Structure – everybody uses it. So I ask: Why is it such a dirty word?

I’ve been a long time proponent of the four act structure since reading Syd Field. What, you say? Yeah, ever since I saw that first diagram with the first act plot point — the mid-point — the second act plot point I thought to myself: That’s four equal parts, not two small acts with a big chunk in the middle. I never looked back.

Lately I’ve been playing around with sequences. I’m almost a convert. Today I went to my local coffee shop and came up with this little diddy:

Four Act – Twelve Sequence Structure 

Act I – Orphan / Loaner
Sequence #1 – Ordinary World – Setup,Theme Stated:
Sequence #2 – Catalyst / Debate:
Sequence #3 – Leaves Ordinary World:

Act II – Wanderer / Explorer – Transformation
Sequence #4 – Learning the New World:
Sequence #5 – Acquiring New Skills:
Sequence #6 – False: Victory / Defeat / Goal:

Act III – Warrior / Activist – On The Run
Sequence #7 – A Ticking Clock Starts:
Sequence #8 – Bad Guys Closing In:
Sequence #9 – Dark Night of the Soul:

Act IV – Martyr / Death – Hero’s flaw dead,buried
Sequence # 10 – Light Bulb Moment:
Sequence #11 – True Victory:
Sequence #12 – Resolution:

Feel free to use, abuse, modify, revamp, or ignore. All I ask is that you

Keep Writing.

My Visual Pitch

Go over to http://myvisualpitch.com/info (click on Susan M. Lockwood: MVP Screenwriter Success Story) and check out my success story. While you’re at it, sign up and give MyVisualPitch a shot. I don’t think you’ll be sorry.

Keep Writing!

That Silly Season

And I’m not talking about the award season, no siree-bob. I’m talkin’ Contest Time – Blue Cat, Big Break Screenwriting Contest, The Nicholl, Austin, Scriptapalooza, etc. It’s that time of year to dust off that spec, do a quick run through, touch up some typos, add a little polish here and there, tighten those brads, drop off your baby at the US Post Office and…

Cross your fingers…

Hold your breath…

And wait.

Then wait some more.

Personally, I have given up on the Silly Season with one exception – The Nicholl Fellowship – the Oscars® for un-produced screenwriters. Why? I don’t know for sure. Can’t stand the rejection? Maybe.

Can’t stand the wait? Most definitely.

Didn’t like the experience? No.

I find that my time is better spent writing. I tend to not write waiting around for contest results. I say to myself, self, start that next spec after you find out how well you can writer (or not). Wait. Just wait.

And it’s not because of bad experiences. My first ever contest entry resulted in an Honorable Mention. That said, my next fifteen-gazillion resulted in form letters asking me to try again next year. Until, finally, one dreamy day, I received a letter from Gregg Beal over at the Nicholl informing me that… almost, almost. Made the top 10%. And of course I knew, just knew, that next year I would be a finalist.

Another fifteen-gazillion entries later, nothing.

I’ve come to the conclusion that contests are venues of validation. We enter so someone will tell us we are good, no — great — writers. We enter because we are unsure of our talent.

Unsure?

Hmmmm, does it matter if we are validated? Don’t we write only because we can’t do anything else? Do we really need contests?

Let me know what you think of the Silly Season. Let me know about good experiences. Bad experiences. Which contests you found helpful. Which were a waste of precious writing time. And whether you enter contests or not…. Good Luck and

Keep Writing.

The Future of Screenwriting

Interesting podcast from Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn over at Sam and Jim Go To Hollywood on the future of features, screenwriting, and the business in general. This is good stuff and can be heard at:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/samandjimgotohollywood/SamandJimshow37.mp3

I’m curious what screenwriters think about what Sam and Jim have to say and how they feel about features -vs- the internet.

For myself I have mixed feelings. I can see their point, but have to wonder if this is reminiscent of the naysayers declaring the demise of features in the early fifties when television became all the rage. Your thoughts?

On a similar note there was a wonderful discussion on NPR’s “The Diane Rhem Show” about the writer’s strike, the future of TV, etc. This podcast can be heard at: http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/12/20.php#18780

That’s it for now. Keep writing.

Are Million $$$$$$$$ Specs Back?

Remember the 80s? Remember Shane Black? Joe Eszterhas? The decade of the million dollar spec?
It could be back.

Checking out April’s script sales there were nine (9) scripts sold for a million bucks or more. A MILLION BUCKS! Boy, if wannabe script writers were flooding the market with their wares before…. Look out now.

So what do you think? 80s re dux? Or just a blip on the spec market radar? Is this a sign that specs are back? Or is this just a reaction to the months long writer’s strike?

My own opinion? An anomaly. Coincidence. Wait another month, see what happens.

Any way, here are the lotto winners from April:

Title: Down River
Logline: Four successful twenty-something corporate men decide to go on an actual adventure trip to the Amazon rather than on a high-class trip where you pretend to rough it. Things go awry when their tour guide is killed and the men have to face not only dangerous wildlife and tribesmen but also one another.
Writer: Sheldon Turner
Agency: Creative Artists Agency
Lawyer: David Fox
Law Firm: Myman, Abell, Fineman, Fox, Greenspan & Light, LLP
Prod. Co: Regency Enterprises Apartment 3B
Price: Seven figures
Genre: Thriller
Logged: 4/22/2008
More: Pitch. Preemptive purchase. Apartment 3B’s Jennifer Klein will produce. Regency’s Adam Schoeder will oversee.

Title: Zookeeper
Logline: A zoo full of animals break the code of silence to help a down-on-his-luck zookeeper get the woman of his dreams by introducing the secret mating habits of their species.
Writer: Jay Scherick David Ronn
Agency: International Creative Management International Creative Management
Lawyer: Robert Offer Robert Offer
Law Firm: Offer, Weber & Dern Offer, Weber & Dern
Studio: MGM
Prod. Co: Broken Road Productions Becker Company, The Walt
Price: $2 million against $3 million
Genre: Comedy
Logged: 4/22/2008
More: Spec. Based on an idea by Todd Garner. Jennifer Eatz and Broken Road’s Todd Garner will produce. Walt Becker will direct. MGM’s Cale Boyter & Becky Sloviter will oversee.

Title: Untitled Lucas-Moore Project
Logline: No details given.
Writer: Jon Lucas Scott Moore
Agency: Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency
Law Firm: Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Prod. Co: Original Film
Price: $700,000 against $1.5 million
Genre: Comedy
Logged: 4/21/2008
More: Pitch. Original’s Neal Moritz will produce. Lucas & Moore will executive produce.

Title: Iron Jack
Logline: Set in the 1930s, a renowned novelist goes on a quest for a legendary treasure.
Writer: Johnny Rosenthal
Agency: Paradigm (LA)
Manager: George Heller
Mngmnt Firm: Foursight Entertainment
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Prod. Co: Broken Road Productions Foursight Entertainment
Price: $1.25 million against $2 million
Genre: Action Adventure
Logged: 4/18/2008
More: Spec, part of a bidding war. Broken Road’s Todd Garner will produce. Foursight’s George Heller and Jeremy Bell will executive produce. Columbia’s Sam Dickerman & Adam Milano will oversee.

Title: Fear Phil
Logline: An insurance salesman, who makes a living preying on other people’s fears, wakes up and finds that his own worst fears are coming true.
Writer: Jack Angelo Sam Brown
Agency: United Talent Agency United Talent Agency
Mngmnt Firm: Fuse Entertainment Fuse Entertainment
Law Firm: Bloom Hergott Deimer Rosenthal & LaViolette, LLP Bloom Hergott Deimer Rosenthal & LaViolette, LLP
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Prod. Co: Offspring Entertainment
Price: High six-figures against low-seven
Genre: Comedy
Logged: 4/18/2008
More: Pitch. Offspring’s Adam Shankman & Jennifer Gibgot will produce.

Title: Indignation
Logline: Set in 1951, an 18-year-old son of a kosher butcher in Newark grapples with anti-Semitism, sexual repression and the escalating Korean War as he comes of age at a Midwestern Lutheran college.
Writer: Philip Roth (author)
Agency: Wylie Agency
Prod. Co: Rudin Productions, Scott
Price: Seven figures
Genre: Drama
Logged: 4/17/2008
More: Novel, preemptive purchase. Will be published in September by Houghton Mifflin. Scott Rudin will produce.

Title: Leap Year
Logline: Described as an international-based.
Writer: Deborah Kaplan Harry Elfont
Agency: Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency
Mngmnt Firm: Benderspink Benderspink
Prod. Co: Spyglass Entertainment Group
Price: Seven figures
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Logged: 4/7/2008
More: Pitch. Preemptive purchase. Spyglass’ Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum & Jonathan Glickman and Benderspink’s Chris Bender & J.C. Spink will produce. Benderspink’s Jake Weiner will executive produce.

Title: The Matarese Circle
Logline: Two secret agents — an American and a Russian — must work together to fight a mysterious group of killers known as the Matarese. The only problem is the agents, Bradley Scofield and Vasili Taleniekov, have been nemeses for years, with each responsible for killing someone close to the other.
Writer: Michael Brandt Derek Haas
Agent: Jeff Gorin Jeff Gorin
Agency: William Morris Agency William Morris Agency
Manager: Andrew Deane Andrew Deane
Mngmnt Firm: Industry Entertainment Industry Entertainment
Lawyer: Adam Kaller Adam Kaller
Law Firm: Behr, Abramson & Kaller Behr, Abramson & Kaller
Studio: MGM
Prod. Co: di Bonaventura Pictures Wechsler Productions, Nick
Price: $2 million
Genre: Action Thriller
Logged: 4/4/2008
More: To be based on Robert Ludlum’s best-selling 1979 novel. MGM will pay approximately $3 million for the book rights. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler will produce. Denzel Washington will possibly star.

Title: Treehouse Gang
Logline: Four friends, known for their treasure-hunting abilities as kids, meet up at their high school reunion and join forces for one last adventure while tackling 10-year-old grudges.
Writer: Timothy Dowling
Agency: Endeavor Agency
Lawyer: Rick Genow
Law Firm: Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson, and Binder
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Prod. Co: Heyday Films
Price: $750,000 against $1.5 million
Genre: Adventure Comedy
Logged: 4/4/2008
More: Spec, part of a bidding war. Heyday’s David Heyman will produce. Warner’s Sarah Schechter & Jesse Ehrman will oversee.

 

Cool, huh?

Let me know what you think and Keep Writing,

 

 

Diablo Cody

Lot’a buzz on the information highway about Diablo Cody. Some good, some bad, but most of it is sour grapes. Seems a lot of screenwriter wannabes – color them green – resent the fact that a first time screenwriter could actually earn an Academy Award.

Not since Joe Eszterhas have screenwriters been shoved to the fore and bathed in the light of publicity. How dare ‘shmucks with Underwoods’ steal the lime light? What will the world come to if writers –WRITERS! – get some recognition, any… recognition?
Heaven forbid.

Diablo Cody must be considered one of the following:
1. incredibly talented.
2. incredibly lucky.
3. or, both.
While there is always the possibility she is a OneTrickPony, only time will tell. But consider this: she sold, published her first book, then sold, and got produced her first screenplay, and to top everything took home the Oscar®. Not bad for a stripper from Minnesota.

I haven’t seen the movie (Juno) and have not read the screenplay, so until I do I will reserve judgment. Even then, no matter my thoughts, it will be only one man’s opinion. And we all know about opinions.

So if you have seen the movie and/or read the screenplay, let’s hear from you. What are your opinions? Good? Bad? Indifferent? OneTrickPony? Or the female reincarnation of Paddy Chayefsky?

Keep writing.