Question: How to search for and find inspiration in similar films to the one I want to write?
Open Forum question from Itstartedwithawindmill (Scott) via email:
As a relatively new screenwriter, it is difficult for me to come up with a list of movies (& scripts) to help with the writing process. For example, I have a Fugitive-ish script that needs a little inspiration. Where can I go other than bugging people with more knowledge?
Just to get you started, The Fugitive is an example of a chase movie story type, a sub-genre in the area of action movies. So if you’re not all that familiar with this type of story in film history — how chase stories have been treated — it would be wise to school yourself.
This search might be tricky because if you Google “best chase movies,” the lists that come up first are about famous cinematic car chase scenes. So a few titles off the top of my head to help get you started:
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
A Perfect World
The Defiant Ones
Midnight Run
I’m sure GITS readers will add several to that list.
The point in doing this type of research is not to copy these movies, but to see how they work structurally. How do these movies build and sustain tension, build and sustain pace? The best way to do this is to watch each movie and create a scene-by-scene breakdown, making special note of the major plot points. You can go here to see an example of such a breakdown.
Another key dynamic of chase movies is that you invariably have a built-in separation between the characters doing the tracking and the characters on the run — otherwise there’s no chase. So a tricky issue is how to build conflict between the two sides / sets of characters when they’re separated by geography and time? You can have direct communication between them (telephone calls, text messages), a trail of clues left by the fugitive for the tracker, and eyewitness / video accounts of the fugitive, and so on — and these can be used to frustrate the tracker, but also bring them closer to catching the one being chased.
One final thought before I close and let GITS readers weigh in — the ending of a chase type movie almost invariably involves either the fugitive getting away (or in the case of The Fugitive, proving his innocence) or getting caught by the tracker. And obviously, you could have that happen right off the bat — but then you wouldn’t have a movie, would you? So in reality what you are doing in constructing a plot is creating a set of circumstances and events that keep the tracker and the fugitive apart — complications, roadblocks, reversals that allow the fugitive to stay on the loose for 90+ pages and in a way that doesn’t feel contrived. Again a good reason to watch successful chase movies and break down how their plots work.
Here’s a trailer from a great chase movie Thelma & Louise:
Notice the transformation of both the Thelma and Louise characters, another dynamic which may be present in your story.
GITS readers, what’s your advice?
UPDATE: Jeff, posted this in comments:
Oh Itstartedwithawindmill! Have I got a resource for you!!! (and all of us, I guess)
http://www.jinni.com/
Just go. You’ll see!
Holy crap, Jeff is so right! I went there, typed in “chase,” and it brought up over 1,600 movies! Here is the direct link to the site.
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