Film Courage: Jen I believe you like to boil down story structure into four parts:
trigger, dilemma, choice and pursuit?
Jen Grisanti, Speaker/Story/Career Consultant, Author: I've had so many different components
of looking at stories. It's all about different angles, so yes that is one formula that I've used.
I've also used the idea of another four points that I've used is the idea of a biggest fear,
dream and the trigger event and the dilemma, looking at how those things affect story.
We always hear about three-act structure yes why do you break story into four parts
I am always seeking story tools so I analyze story and the brilliance of what is being done right now
in film and in streaming I am always looking for tools and how do I break it down in a way that the
writer understands and of course obviously when you look at the 3x structure you're also looking
at act two is in two parts so you're essentially looking at four parts of the story so and I think
that there are you never know like what comes through you where you hit these aha moments when
you're watching story and you're like all right these are the points that work I remember recently
I was looking for components key points that take us into voice and I read a pilot where the
voice was so clear and I hit the aha moment of looking at the concept the main conflict
and how the protagonists feels about that concept conflict and when I looked at those
in in the title in the case of this pilot was the title the concept the main conflict and
the characters expression of how they felt that for me was like all right this is voice
this is what voice is we know why the writer is telling the story through understanding
these connecting points and we feel the voice of the writer through the central character and
how that central character feels about the main conflict and so voice doesn't necessarily mean
first person narrative it could be told third person and we can still feel a strong voice oh
absolutely absolutely there are so I yes their voice is felt in so many different ways and and
voice even you can feel you can feel voice in the action lines you can feel it I've seen writers do
prose in the action lines where you have an inanimate object have a personality trait and
suddenly you're bringing in an inanimate object to life where the audience can feel it voice is
there versus whether it's the third person whether it's the first person understanding
something in the depth of the character that gives you a sense of why the writer is writing the story
and what is this story really about so like in Wednesday Adams the hand yes has its own voice and
its own exactly the hand is symbolic of so much that show I and I've only seen a few episodes but
that show is so brilliant because I was trying to think I thought I like the film top gun Maverick
you have a built-in audience because we knew so first going into Wednesday you you are looking
and you have a built-in audience from The Adams Family then your your grounding it with the idea
of a character who feels like an outcast going to a boarding school for outcasts and continues
to feel on the outside looking in and that is so encompassing so much of what's going on in the
pandemic that I feel like it's hitting a note and because we feel like we know this character but we
don't know this character at the depth that this show is bringing us into this character so that
it has an immediate audience finding following as well as I think old generation and new generation
finding a value in this story and and everything that's going on in the world making us feel that
value and then you look at Top Gun: Maverick and you're like all right everybody saw the first Top
Gun and you are we are all in that wound I mean we felt the wound with what happens to use in that
movie so that is something that has stayed with us and then you have this film which is phenomenal
take us into going beyond that through Goose's son and Maverick being put in a new dilemma where
the past since we were all in it is haunting him an affecting choice in the new so that was
an incredible way to look at how do I get an audience by finding an audience who knows the
wound because and even if they miss that movie is still going to find fulfillment from looking
at this but chances are most people have seen the first movie before going into the second
movie so so I look at both those projects and I look in awe at how the thinking went into and
how the outcome is is amazing is three-act story structure a rule that you can break
it is it is you are it is it's not a rule that anyone recommends breaking it is there to help
you when I look at rule breaking with writers I look at certainly I feel like in streaming
rules are being broken all over the place they're being broken or in film with Aaron
Sorkin or they're being broken by seasoned writers when when you have a seasoned writer break a rule
because of the confidence they have and understanding story and transformation and
the Arc of growth and story is coming through them in a way that maybe doesn't add here to 3x
or what it's supposed to be there's a there's a value as long as a writer knows what they're
doing and and the the 3x structure is has a purpose the 3x structure works
however there are so many brilliant things being done and said that could be turning it on its
head a little bit here and there and some of it is working and some of I would say the majority of it
is failing but there are certain moments that are working because of the seasoned writer or
even if the writer isn't seasoned but they have something to say that we feel rules can be broken.