"Every day, I truly miss that character so much, I tell you, sometimes I could just
cry, because I'll never have a voice like that again, where I can just speak
whatever I feel in my heart. That's the one thing I'll always cherish about that
character, because if I say it, you won't believe it, but when Rocky said it, it was
the truth." Why is rocky so inspirational? Like
millions of other people, these movies and this character have inspired me for
years. The films are like adrenaline shots of motivation. It is my favorite
movie. And it's not just because Rocky has a lovable accent, or because he gives
great speeches. A different character saying the same lines might come off as
preachy, and we'd be like Marie: "Screw you creepo." But with Rocky, we lower our defenses. We trust him. And I
think the reason for that, the reason we root for him, is that maybe more than any
other fictional character I've ever seen, we see ourselves in him, while at the
same time, seeing who we wish we could be. I think one of the ways the original
film accomplished this was by taking its time to lock in our empathy for the
character. Here's a question: when should a story start? And I mean really start.
Not just what the first scene should be, but when should the events of the story
go into hyperspace. If you've read Blake Snyder's infamous guide to screenwriting
"Save The Cat," you'd probably answer definitively, page 12.
Snyder calls this moment "the catalyst." You can also call it, the inciting
incident. It's when something happens that launches the character into action.
We've had a glimpse of their normal life, and then BAM! something happens and they
have to answer the call. That book published in 2005, has had wide-reaching
influence in Hollywood, because it provided a page-by-page formula for
writing movies. Snyder argues that we should cut out "redundant details" that
"clog up" the story so that we can get the catalyst moment to page 12.
Well that is total nonsense. Here's the catalyst moment in Rocky. Jergins: "Would you be
interested in fighting Apollo Creed for the World Heavyweight Championship?" That
happens on page fifty-five in the script. For nearly a
full hour before this moment, the film is dedicated to one thing: making you care
about the characters. I've talked about how to create empathy for a character on
this channel before, but Rocky really demonstrates how making an empathetic
character isn't just about checking some box once and then moving on with the
plot. It's a constant process. In that first hour, we are repeatedly shown how
poor, alienated, and alone Rocky is. We see his run-down apartment, the fact that he
works as an enforcer in addition to being a boxer, that he regularly gets
stiffed by fight organizers for his winnings, and that he'd try to haggle a guy
for two bucks. We know how washed up and alienated he
feels because literally everyone he meets insults him. Someone calls him a bum
in the first scene. Adrian's boss is dismissive of him. Boss: "Starin' with the bad jokes early, huh?"
Gazo's driver calls him ugly. Mickey says he's washed up.
Micky: "You're a tomato." A younger boxer taunts him. The girl he walks home says "Screw you Creepo."
The only person who doesn't insult him is Adrian. To show how lonely he is, we
don't just see him sitting alone in his apartment. We see him talking to his pets
and to pictures of his family. We see him walking down cold and empty streets, sad
and alone, not just once, but four times. Save The Cat says this is redundant. I'd
call it effective. Especially when you're soundtrack is written by Bill Conti.
Now if you were to apply the formula laid out in Save The Cat to Rocky, you
might end up saying that this scene is the "midpoint" and that the "catalyst" is
when Rocky talks with Adrien in the pet shop, or when he finds out he lost
his locker. You can make that argument, but I think it only works retroactively.
Because I don't think anyone reads Save The Cat and then structures a movie like
Rocky. If you tried that, then you'd probably drop a lot of the meaty scenes
establishing Rocky's character. That scene where he walks a girl home? Well we
got to cut that right? She doesn't even show up later in the movie. So cut this
cut that. You'd get it down to maybe three quick scenes at the gym, at home and on
the docks, and then this guy would show up and make the offer. By bringing the
"catalyst" up to page 12, you've followed the formula -- congratulations! -- but in the
process, you've butchered one of the best stories ever told. Because that's the
thing with the rules of writing. Barbosa: "They're more what you call guidelines than actual rules."
So chuck out the idea that a script needs to hit certain beats on certain pages.
Studying the craft of writing is about building out your toolkit, to learn the
techniques that can help shape your story when it's not working,
instead of getting a paint-by-numbers formula that writes the story for you.
Some stories just need more room to breathe. Now having bad things happen to
a character is one thing, but what makes rocky unique is that he is miraculously
able to withstand the slings and arrows of life, and still remain a good person.
Yes he's working as a leg-breaker, but he still has a heart. He doesn't hurt this
guy even though it could get him into trouble with Gazo, and when he sees a
drunk guy out on the street, he carries him into the bar. This gives us a glimpse
at the man he could be if it weren't for rotten luck. This movie came out in 1976,
at a time when anti-heroes dominated the box office. I think the idea of a real
underdog hero, of an individual triumphing when everyone else told them
they were worthless, came like a revelation, seizing on a Zeitgeist
nobody knew was there until it happened. We see ourselves in him because he
struggles. But we see who we wish we could be because he doesn't let the
world run him down. There's one more thing to say here. Sylvester Stallone
wrote rocky when he became obsessed with the idea of a story about redemption,
about unfulfilled dreams, and of personal triumph, because that's what he was
dealing with at the time, being an unsuccessful actor after years of trying
and abysmal poverty. All of that adds a layer of authenticity to the film that's
impossible to replicate, but it reinforces for me why writing needs to
come from some kind of emotional truth. Chasing industry trends, or squeezing a
story into preordained boxes, will only guarantee that you'll make okay at best
films, not great ones. This movie has been so inspiring to me personally because I
cannot watch it on its own. I can't see it without seeing the struggle behind
the camera, or how he was so poor at the time he had to sell his dog for 50 bucks,
or how he turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars so that he could
star in the film. Rocky's story of determination and
sudden success after years of struggle is Stallone story too -- and when I look at
the film through that lens, it magnifies every emotion the movie makes me feel.
But the only reason I care so much about any of this, is because the film took the
time to make me.
I can't even comprehend that number! Thank you guys so much for watching and
subscribing. Making these videos is very rewarding, so I hope you guys enjoy them
as much as I enjoy making them. I post new videos about every other Friday and
here's why: if you're watching my stuff, you've probably got some sort of
creative goal that you want to reach, whether you're a writer or a filmmaker
or something else, and the weekend is most likely your best chance to make
some tangible progress towards that goal. So I want you to bounce off of my videos
on Fridays, and into the most productive 48 hours of your week. Let me know how it
goes in the comments below, and if you need a website or an online store to
reach your goals, then I highly recommend that you use Squarespace. Many thanks to
Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Squarespace, as you may know, offers an
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going to Squarespace.com and remember to go to Squarespace.com/justwrite
to get 10% off your first purchase. One more note. I was pretty hard on Save The
Cat here, but I'd also like to say that it's really just the notion of attaching
page numbers to specific beats that I'm reacting against. Not what the beats
actually are. The book is still a must read for anyone getting into
screenwriting, especially for the parts that it is least famous for. So it's
famous for the formula, and all the other stuff I find really insightful. His
observations on genre and how to create high concept premises for a story are
really interesting, so read it, just be skeptical of it at the same time. Thanks
again for watching and I'll see you in two weeks! :)