Film Courage: What is a big beat?
Steve Douglas-Craig, Owner/Teacher at The New Screenwriter, Financier,
Screenwriter and Producer: A big beat for me is the pulse of a screenplay,
it's like the heartbeat and there are certain, if you want to get technical,
and call it page count. I try not to do that, it's very limiting if you say by page 20 this has
to open. I think that can be very limiting when you're trying to teach it but it's the big beats
for me are the the driving force or the signposts behind where your story is going. As I mentioned,
the inciting incident should be around page 10 to 15 roughly, that if you can get it on page
six all power to you. But that has a function in the script which is to split the character's
wants and needs to be the explosive beginning of our story. This is what our story is going to be
about and this is the decision our characters are going to have to make. Then you got the debate
section with Blake okay do I want to …it's that Hero's Journey…do I want to accept this? Is this
really the way that I need to go? We explore that through other characters relationships,
the actions that your main character will take to try and reject the journey or accept the
journey then by the end of act one another big beat this is where the character is forced to
make a decision to go on the journey that we're going to watch or they're pushed into it either
way there's no turning back there's absolutely no road back they've got to now tell the story.
Adhering to those big beats the midpoint Journey once we get to the midpoint of a script that's an
important part of a script of a screenplay for me because it's where the characters wants and
needs come really close they almost get to understand what they need right while still
pursuing what they want but something happens an event a meet cute or however you want to put
it something happens to push them even further away from it getting what they want and need,
it twists your character in a completely different direction and then you have in between the
midpoint and the first act you have a small you might have a small minor defeat or a minor victory
for your main character same in between the end back two and midpoint this is a very structured
and technical way of doing it but I love it and I think it's relevant and then you get to the end of
your second act right through the bad guys closes into your second act and at the end of the second
act your character might get a version of what they want but they've lost something they lose
something they may not get what they need but they might get a version of what they want but there's
still something missing there's something wrong and what they what they still don't see is this
thing they need and I think I develop this with when I'm teaching I get my students to watch films
and I get them to identify where these points are happening in those films. That's what I mean by
a big beat is once I've developed my character biographies and I kind of know what the story
is and I think I know the ending I try to put that doesn't mean it can't change depending on what you
find but I try to elevate these sign posts as the start of my outline okay here's what happens in
the exciting incident based on what my character wants and needs that's the explosive inciting
incident then what's going to happen at the end of act one where they have to go on this journey
what what is that thing identify it identify the midpoint identify the and I try as an exercise I
try to get them to identify that all the way to the final confrontation scene or the taking back
of the loss at the end of act two and then into do they get what they need and want does a character
have to get what they need they may not do they have to get what they want no they should get one
or the other sometimes they get both and I think if you look at Whiplash for instance another great
film being a drummer and all you look at Miles Teller's journey through that with J.K. Simmons,
a tremendous film if you have not seen it, but it's indicative of that this guy wants to be the
best drummer in the world right, that's what he wants that's his super objective that and when he
meets J.K. is he accepted into the class it's an inciting incident that's like oh this is it what
he what he needs to understand is he's going to have to sacrifice everything else but he doesn't
see it he meets this he meets this really wonderful nice kind girl in the cinema right
during that period and they agreed to a date right that's that story that subplot and most B plots
are connected to a character's need what are they need to understand that they're not seeing the
mere fact that later on near the midpoint he says to her in a restaurant you're going to get in the
way of me being the best drummer ever pretty much we're breaking up I don't want anything to do with
you they're that close to to actually becoming a couple and he blows it all up in service of this
hollow want. You can see that structure working if you lay the template over it and that's what
I mean by big beats being really conscious that at certain points in the film what draws us along
is a big change in something for the character or their world that that is connected to their wants
and needs why do you love outlining for me it's writing the that's writing the story I love to
write the story I also love to rewrite outlines I spend a long time rewriting it. I will go back to
things like like my character biography and have a look at and I'll rewrite my character biography
right and I'll or I'll rewrite the outline itself based on what I discover because one of the one of
the elements of screenwriting is the setup and payoff of certain things you set a whole bunch
of stuff up in the first act it's got to pay off by the third act or we're going to get irritated.
The idea of discovering things along the way I have to go back to the first act of what I've
created. Essentially when I'm doing writing I don't necessarily do a traditional treatment my
outline just seems to morph into a treatment. All my outlines are be bullet points in between the
big beats. In between those big beats are bullet points of what's Happening why it's happening if
I hear dialogue I might put a bit in I won't write it I won't format it but I'll have my character if
I hear my character say something in service of that beat I'll write that in so it becomes this
like worksheet that I then keep rewriting and rewriting until it becomes almost a treatment.
Eventually in the bullet points I'll start to put in slug lines right and then what's happening in
that scene who's in the scene what they might say but not in a screenplay format that's essential
for me so that when I get into the screenplay itself I'm more focused on the formatting of the
screenplay and the structure and the rewriting of description and transitions between scenes
and how does that play and what is this sequence. I'm then plugging in the first draft it's like I'm
plugging the I literally cut and paste the entire outline into the screenplay format and then I just
play with it that way and I format it and then I rewrite it before it gets before it would get
to my manager I've probably rewritten it 20 times. The outline for me is that foundation to the story
it's a foundation and a place to discover the character it's a place where I can be literary
where I can do swaths of description if I want to I can exercise my literary side knowing that
when it goes into the script I have to cut it all which is never happy for me but that's that's why
an outline is important I just have to know those big beats and what's happening in between. I can
then really focus on the structure and formatting of the first draft has anyone try to talk you out
of so much structure and say all this isn't necessary no never you've never you've never
I mean I've listened to other people talk and I think one of the things of being a screenwriter
is you have to remain open you must remain open to at least listening the process that I go through
in writing isn't just something I learned from one person I learned by listening to oh that's
the idea of of taking a character biography and doing an interview rather than just writing the
biography I didn't know that straight away it's something that I found a writer doing when I was
working at screen gems and then at worldwide actually worldwide acquisitions in screen gems
is some the interview process was a way to get into my character by just having these
set of questions and so I've taken little bits that help me along the way but no one will ever
convince me of not having structure in fact one of my one of my favorite podcasts is Scriptnotes
with John August and Craig Mazin who are just tremendously gifted writers and Industry mentors
I could listen to them and have listened to them pretty much since they started Craig doesn't love
film schools doesn't necessarily believe in film schools but he does there is a tremendous episode
of this called how to write a movie if you can find it I forget that's 400 and something if you
get a chance to go to script notes and look for that it's called how to write a movie John August
wasn't on and so Craig took the reins and it I've got the transcript the transcript is phenomenal
and he put it into like 45 minutes this is how you write a movie and it's a little anti-structuralist
but the way he came from character and the way he talked about developing a story is just it's
worth a listen because it's just tremendous and I don't agree with everything he says I
needed a film school because I didn't have a grounding in film or TV I came from the theater
which is a very different medium and I needed somewhere where I could immerse myself for me
film school was the right fit and I wasn't 18 I was 34 so I had already had some career in
something else so but but no one is ever going to talk me out of structure one I've seen it
I've seen it fix films too many times I've seen it fix screenplays and develop screenplays from
an idea into an amazing film and no one's going to convince me not to use structure
am I completely closing on the door closing the door on people who don't use structure no
I don't think you can look at well I don't think you can look at Charlie Kaufman's work too much
and see a whole lot of adherence to traditional structure it does exist but I guarantee he knows
it have you had the pleasure of meeting either Craig or John I have not not personally I've
listened to their master classes we I think we had John up at AFI when I was there like just
to give a talk but I've not necessarily met him personally and so I haven't met Craig at all.