How to Structure a Screenplay

If you're interested in writing a screenplay, structure should be important to you. A well-structured screenplay is neither too slow or too rushed, it keeps people at the edge of their seats, is filled with dramatic tension that always rises, and - well, what more could you want from your screenplay? Often people get carried away with forming characters, addressing themes, "making a point", or serving their infatuations with certain visuals. All of this is fine, but unless you're Robert Altman, Quinten Tarentino, or the guy who wrote Memento, you're probably going to want to start with the basics of structure in order to optimize your storytelling. Note: if you are reading this you are probably none of the three men I mentioned. Especially not Robert Altman.

First, get a grasp of the fundamentals of storytelling: someone wants something, and the more he goes after it, the tougher the obstacles become until he reaches that moment of truth where he defeats the biggest dragon of all and wins the day. That's called dramatic arc: rising action goes to a climactic moment. And then you're pretty much done. If you can keep in mind that your story should always involve a character pursuing a goal, and that your story should be all about making life tougher for your character, that your obstacles should always grow in intensity, then you're on your way. Find out what your character wants, first of all, then swear to the screenwriting gods that you will make his (or her) life a living heck for 90-100 pages of journey in your script. (We'll give him a rest in the first and last few pages. )

That being done, you need to brainstorm for those heck-creating obstacles. This is tough and should take a long time, but don't chinze on this process. Your obstacles are more or less your story, so take some real time to find the best ones you can. After you have the list, it's time to do enter your own heck, and that is the business of putting those obstacles in the best possible order.

So, you have your character, with his goal, and a mess of obstacles that he will face. Now, you have to decide what will kick your character into high gear. If you get a book called Screenplay by Syd Field, he has a name for the moment, he calls it a plotpoint. According to Field, and just about every screenwriting professional who has since taken up the dark arts of teaching, your plotpoint comes about (doesn't have to be exactly) 30 minutes into a 120 page script. If it doesn't your audience will begin to wonder "When is this thing going to get rolling?" This moment is key to your story. It's the time where something happens and the character has no choice but to begin the pursuit of the big thing he's after. The image of Dorothy landing in Oz should suffice as a guide for what this moment is like. Now she's got to get home. And we have our movie. So, find your obstacle list under all those used TV Guides and pinpoint your first plotpoint- or create one if none of your current obstacles work in that capacity.

Once your character is set on his journey, line up those obstacles as you see fit so that every one is worse than the first- A slap, then a kick, then a gunshot, if you will. This is the brutal work of outlining your screenplay, but believe me, it's so much easier to edit down an outline than it is to edit 120 pages of screenplay. I speak for experience and the therapy that followed.

As you get to about halfway through your movie, you want to shake things up a bit. Syd Field tells us a midpoint (wow, creative name) is an essential moment where the goal remains intact, but the action spins into another direction. Think of when Dorothy discovers she needs to get the Witch's broom. We're still trying to get home, people, but there's a new kink in the plan. Find your kink, and put it about halfway through your script. Then move forward. More obstacles, more heck, more trouble, always growing in intensity until you hit your second plot point. This will occur with about a third of script to go, 90 pages, say, in a 120 page script. So what is this point? It's just another twist that leads, usually, to the final showdown. Great, now the song "Final Countdown" is in my head. Dorothy gets nabbed by the Witch and must thrown down. Play that on fast forward with Final Countdown playing in the background and you'll get a good laugh. Anyhow, your second plotpoint is that one final push to your climactic moment.

Your climactic moment is simply the final moment when your character gets or doesn't get what she wants. Some would say when Dorothy wastes the witch that's the biggest moment. Others would say it's when she clicks her heels and goes home, though the action seems less intense. In any case, once your story hits that moment, please don't add another ten minutes of wrap up. A brief epilogue is okay, but knowing when to end a movie is a key skill a screenwriter must have.

Good luck structuring your screenplay.