Rewriting Your Script, Part 5: Structure
Since dozens of writers used Go On Your Own Quest to pound out a first draft of their original screenplay, I decided to start off the New Year with a week-long series on rewriting, to honor their commitment and effort, and to encourage them [and everyone else] on their creative journey.
We’ve all heard the adage, “Writing is rewriting,” right? Perhaps nowhere is that more true than screenwriting. Aspiring screenwriters know this because of the number of drafts they go through to whip their script into readable shape. Professional screenwriters understand this because of the multiple drafts they do on any project, whether on spec or assignment.
Rewriting is just the nature of the screenwriting beast.
But that begs the question: How? What are some keys to the rewriting process? Instead of wandering around in the dark not knowing if you’re improving the story or not, is there a coherent approach to rewriting your scripts?
First off, the same thing applies to rewriting as to writing: There is no right way to write. There is no right way to rewrite. Every writer is different. Every story is different. And every rewrite is different.
That said, this week I will lay out some keys to the process. If they help you, great. Use them with my blessing. If they don’t help you, feel free to chuck them.
Part 5: Structure
Normally when people talk about a screenplay’s structure, they focus on the Plotline, the positioning of major plot points and organization of sequences. That is only half the story.
Structure is comprised of both the Plotline [External World] and the Themeline [Internal World]. Think about it: Is a movie simply a series of events in the External World, action we see and dialogue we hear? If it is, it is inevitably a bad movie.
Events only impact an audience if they have meaning, and they only have meaning if there is something else going on in the underlying emotional life of the story.
Every scene must have something going on in both parts of the screenplay universe: External World and Internal World.
Therefore as a writer, you must think of screenplay structure as being comprised of Plotline and Themeline.
How best to do that? In almost every story, it is the Protagonist character [or characters] that drives this discussion. A Protagonist will almost invariably have a Want [Conscious Goal] and a Need [Unexpressed Goal].
Their Want largely exists in and shapes the Plotline.
Their Need largely exists in and shapes the Themeline.
Because these two goals represent aspects of one character and eventually combine in the story’s final act, it is easy to grasp why the Protagonist is a key figure in creating the spine of your screenplay’s structure.
As a result, every scene, every major Plotline point, and every sequence must in some way be tied to the Protagonist’s twin goals of Want and Need.
So what approach to structure should you use when rewriting your script? Since I believe there is no right way to write a script, I don’t believe there is one structural paradigm or formula. I have my own take, what I call Narrative Throughline, but it is simply one approach to structure, not the approach.
One of the strengths of Narrative Throughline is it does track Plotline and Themeline. Ten Plotline points. Four Themeline points.
PLOTLINE: The Opening, The Hook, The Lock, Deconstruction Test, Transition, Reconstruction Test, All Is Lost, On The Offensive, Final Struggle, Denouement.
THEMELINE: Disunity, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Unity.
By the way, the sequence approach slots right into Narrative Throughline.
Whatever your take, when you rewrite your script, you need to pay attention to its structure, both the events that occur in the External World and the movements that take place in the Internal World. And this leads to the next consideration: Pace. That is the subject of tomorrow’s post.
FYI: Tom Benedek will be teaching the next session of Pages II: Rewriting Your Script through Screenwriting Master Class beginning February 18.
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