hi I'm Michael this is lessons from the
screenplay
hidden figures as the story of three
african-american women whose
contributions to NASA remained an
unknown story for a long time
but despite being about all three of
these characters the film like most
stories has a single central protagonist
and Katherine Johnson the film might
have focused solely on this one
character but the real Katherine Johnson
insisted it be about her peers as well
her request was look if you're gonna do
a movie about me it can't just be about
me there was a team there were these
amazing women they need to be heralded
to in order to include the stories of
Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson the
screenwriters made them subplots so
today I want to look at the elements of
a subplot to analyze the ways in which a
subplot enhances the main plot and
examine how a bunch of little stories
can form a single cohesive film and be
used to symbolize change let's take a
look at hidden figures a subplot is a
secondary story that receives less
screen time and emphasis than the main
plot while it may never intersect with
the main plot a subplot should still
support the protagonists story in his
book story Robert McKee rights if a
subplot doesn't the matically contradict
or resonate the controlling idea of the
main plot if it doesn't set up the
introduction of the main plot inciting
incident or complicate the action on the
main plot if it merely runs alongside it
will split the story down the middle and
destroy its effect essentially the
subplot must enhance the main plot one
way or another and hidden figures the
subplots do this in two ways first they
resonate the theme of the main plot
while the protagonist Katherine Johnson
is fighting for respect and equality in
the space Task Group Mary is fighting
for respect and equality via the courts
and Dorothy is fighting for respect and
equality in the realm of new technology
all three of their stories center around
the same theme
the second way the subplots enhanced the
main plot is by fleshing out the story
world and Mary's story line we learn
about the absence of female engineers at
NASA as well as the continued
segregation of the school system in
Virginia in Dorothy storyline we witness
civil rights protests and see her get
kicked out of a library for not staying
in the quote/unquote colored section the
racism and sexism that Katherine faces
in her storyline is given greater
context through the stories of Mary and
Dorothy even the romantic subplot
between jim johnson and catherine
connects thematically we calculate
mathematics necessary to enable launch
and landing for the space program they
let women handle that sorted that's not
what I mean
this love story demonstrates how the
struggle for respect and equality occurs
in the character's personal lives as
well together the subplots create a
sense of thematic unity and provide a
more detailed and powerful picture of
the obstacles inherent in the story
world so how do you design a subplot
what story beats should it have and when
should these beats occur what exactly
are the elements of a subplot subplots
tend to have the same basic elements as
the main story arc but with fewer beats
and turning points and hidden figures
each subplot has five key elements
desire inciting incident conflict and
struggle climax and resolution let's map
these elements to see how and where they
occur in the script just as in the main
plot each subplot is driven by a
character's desire Mary wants to become
an engineer Dorothy wants to become a
supervisor and Jim Jonsin and Catherine
want to find love the desire for the
main plot Katherine's story happens on
page 21 the desires from Mary and
Dorothy subplots happen around the same
time as Catherine's while the love story
desire comes in a bit later after
Catherine's professional challenges have
been established the inciting incidents
the sudden opportunities that start the
characters on their journeys are more
spread out than the desires Mary's
inciting incident comes just before
when she's permanently assigned to the
engineering team
the love story inciting incident occurs
a bit later on page 40 when Jim and
Catherine meet for the first time and
the inciting incident for Dorothy
subplot doesn't arrive until page 46
over a third of the way through the film
when she sees the IBM being installed
the timing of the inciting incidents
demonstrates the flexibility of subplots
by spacing these out screenwriters
Allyson Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
strategically inject momentum into the
films as time goes on
similarly Schroeder and melty used the
conflict and struggle of each subplot to
keep us engaged throughout the middle of
the story the screenplay frequently cuts
between each character's current
obstacle Mary's application is denied
and she has to petition the court
Dorothy begins to learn programming and
must overcome several challenges and
catherine slowly lets herself fall in
love with jim there is always something
new for us to be following as the
narrative drives forward the climax and
resolution of each subplot are spread
out just like the inciting incidents
Mary's victorious in court and begins
classes to become an engineer
Dorothy teaches the woman she works with
how to program and becomes a supervisor
for the IBM computing lab and Jim
proposes to Kathryn and they get married
notably
the climax and resolution of each
subplot come before the climax of the
main plot which starts on page 113 where
Catherine's calculations are critical to
the success of John Glenn's space flight
each individual subplot is told in just
a few beats taking up only a small
portion of the script but when combined
we see that at any given moment the
audience is involved in several
different stories each one enhancing and
supporting that of the main plot but
there is actually even more going on the
protagonist storyline itself consists of
many smaller storylines many narratives
that become the symbols of change
stories are all about change and one of
the challenges you face as a writer is
figuring out how to demonstrate this
change to the audience one way is to use
symbols images objects and actions that
represent deeper meanings in his book
the anatomy of story
John trippy offers a methodology of how
to utilize symbols writing here's how it
works you start with a feeling and
create a symbol that will cause that
feeling and the audience you then repeat
the symbol changing it slightly hidden
figures uses symbols to track the
changes in Catherine Johnson and those
around her for example her first job in
the space task group is to double check
the math of Paul Stafford an engineer
who resents having his work proof read
I'm not gonna do work on what you can
read the rest is classified you don't
have clearance this action and the
imagery of redacted paperwork quickly
comes to represent hostility and
exclusion it is a symbol of the struggle
she faces in the beginning of a mini
story arc 20 pages later we see Stafford
again handing her redacted documents but
this time she has an idea by holding the
paper up to the light she's able to see
the classified information and properly
do her work this mini story arc
concludes when Catherine is interrogated
and asked how she discovered this
classified information held it up to the
light
and held up to the light yes sir after
explaining herself Lera knows she's
given permission to work on the data
without redaction therefore everything
she needs to work on scheppers
trajectories without redaction are we
clear on that these four beats'
demonstrate how catherine is beginning
to claim the respect and equality she
deserves another example of a mini story
arc involves Catherine having to run a
half mile to use the colored bathrooms
another symbol of the inequality she
faces again the screenplay makes sure to
associate the symbol with a feeling
allowing us to empathize with the need
to desperately use the bathroom and the
extreme inconvenience of having to run
across a campus to do so we see
Catherine have to do this multiple times
until it finally leads to a
confrontation where she speaks up for
herself there's no bathroom for me here
what do you mean there's no bathroom for
you there is no bathroom they are no
colored bathrooms in this building or
any building outside the West Campus
which is half a mile away did you know
that this is a turning point for her
character and for the characters around
her it causes the Al Harrison character
to wake up to his own ignorant of the
situation and take action
yet another symbol used to convey change
and even something as simple as
Katherine drinking from the same coffee
pot as the engineers becomes a recurring
marker of change it is quickly
associated with Katherine being an
outsider the symbol is then modified as
she later sees a smaller separate coffee
pot has appeared with a label that says
coloured and finally the symbol is
brought back at the end of the film a
Stafford brings her a cup of coffee
representing their new relationship as
equal co-workers these are all simple
symbols that undergo very clear changes
and express the protagonists journey as
Robert McKee writes and story
screenwriting is the art of making the
mental physical we create visual
correlatives for inner conflict images
of character choice and action to
indirectly and and ethically express the
thoughts and feelings within we tend to
think of films as a singular story
experience but if we look closer we see
there really an intricate tapestry of
many smaller narratives a collection of
arcs which are thematically unified and
support each other this screenplay
leaves the threads of Katherine Mary and
Dorothy together in a clever and clear
way that seems to effortlessly reveal
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