Practical Screenwriting: Outlining

Getting straight into the writing of a screenplay once you have that blockbuster idea is a big misstep. Even the best ideas need refinement and work before they can really shine. An outline helps provide a guide and some direction for your ideas to follow.

Some see outlines as constraining. It's a box that will restrict your ideas and approach to storytelling. An outline is only as restricting as you allow it to be. It only stops ideas and storytelling elements that you allow it to. You control the outline and the outline is just a tool to help you tell your story. Never allow it to box you in and stop you from writing the best story that you can.

If you've read my previous article on preparation, then you're already ahead of the game. The scenes you wrote up while preparing for your screenplay can fit into the outline and the outline can help you get a larger view of how your scenes work together.

There are several different methods to outlining a screenplay but most I've encountered seem to be a variation on a Three Act Eight Sequence structure loosely based on the Hero's Journey as defined by Joseph Campbell. Not every movie has three acts. Some, like Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, can be better described as having five acts. Others, like Michel Haneke's The Seventh Continent, it could be argued only have two acts. For most writers composing most screenplays three acts does the job.

A three act film does not consist of three equal length acts. The first act and the third acts are shorter than the second act, which should take up at least half of the screenplay. The third act, it could be argued, should take up the least amount of time. The first act needs enough time to establish the world of the story and get us into what the story will be about.

The first act consists of two sequences. The first sequence is "Ordinary Life" and the second is "The Call to Adventure." These help to acclimate the viewer to the world of the story and introduce the conflict that will carry the second act.

The second act consists of four sequences. The first sequence is "Rules of the New World." It is followed by "Plan Number One," "Happy/Sad," and "All is Lost." These four sequences develop the conflict and raise the stakes bringing us inevitably to the climax in the third act.

The third act consists of two sequences. The first sequence is "The Final Battle" and the second is "Aftermath." These two sequences resolve the conflict of the second act and then give us a sense of what the characters' world is now that the conflict has been resolved.

For the purposes of writing your outline you want to define approximately 12 scenes. If you've done as instructed in the previously mentioned preparation article, you already have at almost five times that many scenes defined for your movie. It's just a matter of reviewing what you've written up to determine if you have the scenes you'll need to carry your film. Outlining is an excellent way of determining where you might have gaps in your story.

The First Act

The first act consists of four of these key scenes. Three of them take place during the first sequence. These three scenes are the opening scene, what happens on page 10, and the inciting incident. The fourth, act one turning point, takes place during the second sequence.

The opening scene sets the tone for the movie. It's the first thing the viewer will see of the story so it should get the viewer ready for the film. For a comedy, this scene should be funny. For a thriller, this scene should be suspenseful.

What happens on page 10 and the inciting incident might be the same scene or they might be separate. Their order isn't strictly determined. In fact, the inciting incident could be the opening scene. What happens on page 10 sounds a bit mechanical but consider it a good touchstone for the outline. Page 10 should be interesting, it is about 10 minutes into the movie and the viewer should still be interested. You haven't introduced the film's conflict yet so something of interest should be going on here.

The inciting incident is the event that sets the story in motion. In John Schelsinger's Marathon Man it's the car crash. In Star Wars it's when Leia records her plea to Obi Wan Kenobi on R2-D2. Without this event nothing else in the movie would happen.

The act one turning point scene is the scene that leads us into the second act. This is typically the scene where the hero embraces the call to adventure and heads off on their road of trials to the climax. Again using Star Wars as an example, this is when Luke discovers his aunt and uncle murdered and agrees to join Obi Wan.

The Second Act

The second act consists of six key scenes spread across its four sequences. There is one key scene in each of the first three sequences of the second act and three in the "All is Lost" sequence. These scenes are crossing the threshold, pinch point one, the midpoint, pinch point two, act three turning point, and the end of act two.

In the first sequence of act two, "Rules of the New World," the key scene is Crossing the Threshold. This is the scene in which the main character or characters enter a new world to resolve the story's conflict. For Star Wars, you might consider that Luke literally crosses the threshold when he enters the cantina.

In the second sequence of act two, "Plan Number One," the key scene is pinch point one. This is the scene when the stakes are raised or where the danger to the main characters is heightened. In Shaun of the Dead this is the point when they have to abandon the car on their way to the bar.

In the third sequence of act two, "Happy/Sad," the key scene is the midpoint. This is approximately the middle of the movie. In certain respects the movie almost ends at the midpoint. Some early goal of the main characters is achieved in this scene. In Star Wars the midpoint is when they have saved Princess Leia. In Shaun of the Dead the midpoint is when they are all safely in the bar, sitting around.

In the fourth sequence of act two, "All is Lost," you have three key scenes: pinch point two, act two turning point, and end of act two.

Pinch point two is the scene that reintroduces or escalates the conflict after the midpoint. In Shaun of the Dead pinch point two is when Shaun discovers the zombies followed him back to the bar.

The act two turning point is the scene that leads us directly down the path to the climax. In Shaun of the Dead this is when the zombies start breaking into the bar.

This is followed by the end of act two, which is the scene that takes us straight to the climax in act three. Again using Shaun of the Dead, this is the scene where Shaun, Liz, and Ed escape into the cellar.

The Third Act

The Third Act consists of two key scenes in each of the two sequences of the act. The first key scene is the climax and the second is the final scene.

In the first sequence of act three, "The Final Battle," we have the climax. However long the final battle is there is a moment when Luke shoots the torpedos into the Death Star, starting the chain reaction that destroys it, or the moment when Shaun and Liz reconcile in the basement and they choose to take the cellar elevator up to face the zombies. The climax is the scene that everything has built to in the film. It's where the conflict is resolved.

In the second sequence of act three, "Aftermath," the key scene is the final scene. The final scene is just as important as the opening scene. The final scene shows how things have changed or not changed. In the final scene of Star Wars Luke and friends are now decorated heroes. In the final scene of Shaun of the Dead Shaun is finally a responsible adult with Liz but hasn't changed entirely as he still has his time with Ed, now a zombie locked up in the shed with the video games.

These 12 scenes help to define the path of the movie and ensure that stakes are raised and conflict escalates. There are other ways to approach an outline. There are other ways to structure a movie. This method can help provide a guide. With an outline defining these 12 scenes and their order you can fill in the intervening scenes rather easily. They are points on the path. How do the characters get from point a to point b? How do they get from crossing the threshold to pinch point one? Fill it in with other scenes.

With the outline in hand you can now go on to the next stage of writing the screenplay, the beat sheet.