Film Courage: Can you touch on briefly what those eight elements are [mentioned in Jill's book]. Jill Chamberlain, Script Consultant/Author/Writer: Sure and you know and
I'll remind you that folks can also download the forms and themselves from
my website Jill Chamberlain [dot] com. So you can see it for yourself but I'll point
out what the elements are so I do have a few moments in time and by moments in
time I'm talking about the first scene and the last scene so we're going to
identify in the first scene what a character wants and then we're gonna
have a next moment that identify is what I call the point of no return this is
the big event it's gonna push us into the main part of the story it's the
event that makes this movie this movie everything else on here is internal to
the character the point of no return is the one moment and it's external to the
character it's the one thing that has to happen to them
so so we're talking about Groundhog Day right so the the point of no return is
when he wakes up and discovers it's the same day again right and it should feel
like it's this moment makes this movie this movie without that scene you
wouldn't have the movie Groundhog Day right it's absolutely essential so it's
important like moment like that that's gonna drive the rest of the story it's
also external you notice it wasn't the point of no-return is never somebody
decides to do something there's an element of fate that is involved when
we're looking at the point of no return so of all the elements it's the one
thing that's external that had to happen to him he could have not had that happen
it woke enough and it was February 3rd and then this movie wouldn't be this
movie but for whatever reason he woke up and it was February 2nd all over again
that's outside of his control if we were going to look at the movie Tootsie
sometimes people say oh the point of no return is when he goes to audition for
the part that's a choice right so the point of no-return needs to be external
to the character so I would not identify it as he goes to audition what and what
you want to identify is the moment outside of his control so the part where
ever thing really changes is when so he could
have blown that audition and he almost blows that audition he comes very close
to blowing it but the female producer likes him right and at one point she
says I like him I like her we're gonna hire and she leans over and says you got
the part I'm sending the contract to your agent that's the point of no return
that because that moments outside of his control right that would had nothing to
do with his choice he could have blown that audition he almost did blow that
audition but that's the moment boom now or in the movie known as Tootsie what
another thing I like to think of a great example of this is the differences but
going from act 1 and act 2 is the Wizard of Oz Wizard of Oz act 1 it's a black
and white point of no return is she thinks that a tornado has lifted her
house up and dumped her in the land of Oz and boom weren't Technicolor we want
that feeling when we enter act 2 we're in a whole new world wait in
Kansas anymore right so it's a whole new world they're facing it's one thing
Michael Dorsey decides to audition one day as a woman it's another thing he's
got to fool everybody 24/7 into thinking he's a woman that's the main story or in
Groundhog Day he's now trapped in a cycle where every
day is grandma day that's the main part of the story so there are two kinds of
stories I talk about in the book comedy and tragedy and these are not these
definitions don't come from Joe blame me if you don't like them they're from
Aristotle these are the original academic definitions of comedy and
tragedy so when I say comedy I'm not talking about a haha comedy I'm talking
about an Aristotelian comedy and so in Aristotelian comedy according to
Aristotle by definition is where we have a protagonist who overcomes a flaw so
flaws can be the next element I'm going to talk about and that there they're
going to go through change and then eventually they're going to have a happy
ending structurally we also have tragedies a
tragedy is going to be the opposite so we have the same set up we have the
character wants something they get it in a point of no return but instead of
going down down down then coming up and having happy ending
we're gonna go in the opposite direction they're gonna go up up up up before they
come down and have their sad ending 95% of stories are going to be comedies
by the way oh yeah at least 95 percent and by the way this applies both to
feature film and also to episodic television episode episodic TV works
structurally just like little each episode is the like a little mini
feature film they have all of these eight elements just like you find in a
feature film forgive me sorry for interrupting but us who then the tragedy
it doesn't necessarily mean that like a death occurs it just means that they
don't change is that right that's right absolutely I'm sad ending oh okay so
that they should you know it they have an unhappy ending typically but it is
and it's not just an unhappy ending you know the way we colloquially say that oh
that's tragic in life it probably is not the same as a tragedy in Aristotelian
sense because you might just say something sad happens to people who have
a sad ending that's that's not as structurally a tragedy structurally a
tragedy is because of their own flaw so it would have to be their flaw
contributes in some way to their downfall
so they fail to change from that flaw and that that's part of the downfall and
and so when we're looking at the protagonist as the the backbone there
are other elements of the story but the nutshell we're looking at the
protagonist as the the main backbone structurally to structure everything
around it yeah and then like I said another major part of it was the flaw
what's the carrot the flaw is really the DNA of the whole story it's a good
strong flaw as a writer as one of your best tools to make sure your story is
strong because if you don't give your character a strong flaw you're not
really giving them anywhere to go that change is what the story's really about
so if we took Sunset Boulevard we know what Norma Desmond her flaws are but the
screenwriter what were his flaws he was desperate he was too naive he was
tricking her uh yes so he's the protagonist and yeah is that he's
cynical right he's cynical he is just a no-good writer he's always
putting himself down he's putting down you know that voiceover that's one of
the purposes of the voiceover so for us to hear that very cynical voice he has
where he talks about when he's reading Norma's screenplay and he says you know
it's amazing just how bad how bad bad writing can be right that's all
happening in voiceovers that cynical voiceover that cynicism is the part in
that part of him that refuses to find hope that life could be different that
actually maybe he could find actual true love right he starts to think he's
falling in love but that cynical voice kicks up and gets in the way he could
have been happy he could have walked away that's what makes a perfect tragic
figure right it's he's not a victim of circumstances it's his own flaw that is
his downfall he could have walked away she you know the love interest is when
he brings her to the house you know she keeps saying I've not seen any of this
she's willing to completely forgive him for his sordid situation let's just go
let's just leave he won't let her he won't let her do that he forces her to
see it and then pushes her away so that cynicism and and that cynicism the same
thing that gets him to tell Norma revealed to Norma that where the truth
about her fan letters right those call the fan letters she's getting are
actually being written by her ex-husband who's the the live-in servant now right
and that and that the Cecil B. DeMille wasn't coming to see her he just
wanted the car right he still could have survived he lost the girl but he could
have survived he could have walked out of the door flying but he had to rub
that into some Norma Desmond's face and that's when Norma hurts him right can't
just let him walk away that's why she shoots him in the back so if he hadn't
done that if he just said goodbye took a suitcase and gone he would have lived
it's that that tragic flaw of cynicism that he just can't believe that the
world could be kind enough to allow him to have love and hope even though
everyone you know he's been giving every opportunity of that he's got this you
know this wonderful girl who's completely forgives him this sordid
situation and wants to be with him despite everything
he won't have it and the fact that the film opens with the ending hmm is that
is that something that we should be aware of I mean it does it takes a
skilled writer to be able to get a skilled writer yeah
well it's great when you can have a beginning and ending image that relate
to one another I mean this uses actually it's a very popular device now in
television I think Oh Stu Sunset Boulevard the flash-forward which was
pretty unique in 1950 when Sunset Boulevard was created it was kind of an
anomaly right where we had it broke all the rules we have a narrator we have a
dead narrator and we have a story that's in flashback those are kind of three
things you know then screenwriting one-on-one they'll kind of warn getting
screenwriters not to do doesn't mean you can't do them because look how genius it
is in Sunset Boulevard problem is it's hard to live up to something as well as
Sunset Boulevard does but the flash-forward device of having is become
I think a really popular advice a device for using for television in that in
television sometimes you are has a slower pace at that point of no-return I
was talking Matt happens in the feature film close to the 25 percent mark in the
running time feature film sometimes it happens a little bit later I mean I'm
sorry in episodic television it happens a little later sometimes because we're
doing so much world building we're building you know in a pilot episode for
an entire 10 10 hour series this whole world so sometimes it happens almost
close to 50 percent and in the running time can we continue on with the eight
critical story elements yeah so the story elements the next important thing
to talk about when I talk about the point of no return in the point of no
return the character gets something they want they also get something they don't
want and that's gonna be what I call the catch so get what you want but with the
catch so Michael Dorsey gets a part but he's
gonna have to dress up as a woman in ground
de Phil Connors only has to spend 24 hours in Punxsutawney that was just want
but the catch is it's actually gonna be the same 24 hours done over and over
again so the catch is attached so it's a problem we can't just give our character
what they want because that deflates conflict so you're giving them something
that they want along with something they don't want and the catch is also could
be said to be the perfect test of their flaw so the flaw and you know Phil
Connors flaw is that he's a self centric this is the that's the catch being that
he's going to stuck spending the same same day over and over again it's the
perfect test of someone who spa is that they're self-centered in a comedy it's
gonna end in a happy ending but they're gonna go down down down down before
because you've got to hit rock bottom before you can make a change so it keep
in mind in your typical haha comedy and your typical ha ha comedy is an
Aristotelian comedy it's down down down now we're laughing as bad things are
happening to the protagonists they are not laughing they're not having a good
time in act 2 of a comedy so that they're going to go down down now until
they're gonna hit rock bottom what I call their crisis the crisis has two
requirements one is it's their absolute lowest place and then it is the other
requirement is that the opposite of the want actually Groundhog Day has a really
interesting one in that he's actually finally spent after being stuck there he
finally tells the truth to Rita the love interest about what's going on and they
actually have kind of a wonderful day together but it ends in this very
bittersweet moment where they're falling asleep and he's says and the terrible
worst part is tomorrow you're gonna think I'm a jerk again and
what is wonderful about it is this wonderful irony and that's what we're
setting up with the crisis being the opposite this irony he only wanted to
spend 24 hours and puck so tiny how he wishes the day could last forever
because tomorrow she'll think he's a jerk again so we're sending this
delicious irony there then the next thing we're going to
identify in the nutshell is we're now entering back three the beginning of act
3 is the climax of your movie and the operative word that we're going to use
though is the climatic choice at the heart of a true climax your protagonist
is making a difficult decision so in Groundhog Day his choice is to
start stop to stop fighting it to accept that he's there and start trying to live
every day for the fullest and so he becomes a really good person he starts
you know doing nice things and saving the day and doing thinking of others
because what's the point in living and trying to have short-term gratitude he's
got to find a different experiment with a different way of living so he actually
starts becoming this town hero of this person who's that known as this good guy
because he's got nothing better to do and then finally break some free of the
curse and in the final step the final step is the very last structural element
timewise the very last scene of the movie
and now the characters gonna come to full circle so if his flaw was that he
was self-centered he's come full circle towards opposite strength that he now is
selfless and right because he's been doing these things for everybody in the
town of Punxsutawney and he wakes up that final day and he's actually it's
become February 3rd he's free of the curse and he actually wants to stay so
those are the eight structural elements and so like I said it's not just moments
in time this is not a beat sheet method they are what's important is the glue
it's the the structure that holds these pieces apart it's the connection between
these parts these are not isolated moments in time and this is a real easy
way for writers they can use it with they download the worksheets from my
website I also use them in my workshops and in my private consultation we can
see right on the piece of paper what's working what's not and if it's not
working how to adjust it by seeing that it fits you
what do we need to change in order to meet the requirements in order to tell a
story effectively
you