How the scripts of Star Wars, Transformers and other films are written

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

In one of my recent posts, I described how you can self-publish your book. Today we are going to write the script. And the way they do it in Hollywood.

At one time I came across an interesting book by Alexander Chervinsky "How to Sell a Good Screenplay". This was a review of American screenwriting textbooks. At the heart of the American approach is the three-act structure of the script, clearly defined rules for the behavior of the characters. Moreover, the American approach presupposes an exact indication of what should happen at a certain point in the film. The American screenwriter has only one job - to tell a story by means of action, description and dialogue. Everything else is the responsibility of the producer and director.

Because the American-style script has a clear structure, it lends itself well to digitization. There are many specialized programs for screenwriters. In general, they are divided into two classes:

1. to build a plot and work out characters,
2. to build the structure of the script.

The first category includes programs such as Dramatica Pro, Character Pro, StoryView, Contour, and others. The second category includes Final Draft, Celtx, Movie Magic Screenwriter and others.

The program for building the plot Contour was developed in collaboration with the famous screenwriter Jeffrey Schechter ("Beethoven 3" and others). Accordingly, the development of the plot in Contour follows the Schechter system.

Schechter's system relieves the screenwriter of the tormenting question: "What to write next?"

Schechter's system

Jeffrey Schechter's system is based on a three-act structure and plot points. According to Schechter's formula, the hero goes through four stages in sequence:

orphan - wanderer - warrior - martyr

(orphan - wanderer - warrior - martyr). In the first act, the hero is an "orphan", an outcast, a man without family and tribe. For example, the main character is an immigrant who came to New York. He still does not know anyone, he is lonely and dependent on others. In the second part of the first act, the hero becomes a "wanderer." The hero is looking for an opportunity to change himself, trying to answer the questions that the scriptwriter puts into the plot. In the second part of the second act, the hero becomes a "warrior". Now he has found answers to his questions and is ready to fight for them. In the third act, the hero becomes a "martyr" who is ready to give his life for his beliefs.

Using Schechter's system, the screenwriter sequentially guides his character through the plot points. Having chosen one or another plot twist, the screenwriter receives instructions from the Contour program about what should happen to the hero next. This is how the plot is built step by step from the beginning to the end of the picture.

As examples, Contour includes 16 ready-made scripts for such films as "Transformers", "Star Wars", "The Dark Knight", "Spider-Man", "War of the Worlds" and others. At every step the scriptwriter is accompanied by examples of how one or another plot move can be made.

We analyze the script of the film "Panic Room"

Directed by David Fincher. Starring Jodie Foster and future Twilight star Kristen Stewart.

Launch Contour. There are 54 plot points in total in Contour (see the top green slider). The task of the screenwriter is to consistently go through all of them.

The first point is to ask four main questions:

1. Who is the main character? Meg Altman.
2. What is the main character trying to do? Survive and save your daughter.
3. Who is trying to stop the hero? Three intruders on the hunt for $ 22 million hidden in the house.
4. What happens if the main character fails? Meg and her daughter will die.

Next, click on the Archetypes button. Schechter's idea is that people choose how to live and how to react to various problems, depending on which archetype determines their consciousness. According to Schechter's system, there are four archetypes: orphan, wanderer, warrior, martyr. For the heroine Jodie Foster, this path looks like this:

Act I. Orphan

Meg divorced her husband and is forced to look for housing for herself and her daughter Sarah.

Act II, first movement. Wanderer

Burglars entered Meg's new home. Mag and Sarah hide in the so-called emergency room, or the dread room - a place to hide if thieves enter the house.

Act II, second movement. Warrior

Meg realizes that if Sarah doesn't get a dose of insulin, she will die. Meg comes up with a way to save her daughter.

Act III. Martyr

Meg won. The robbers are killed or arrested. Sara is saved.

Next, the screenwriter must write a logline. Logline is the story of the entire film from start to finish, packed in 60–80 words. Logline is written according to the archetype formula.

When a thirty-year-old divorced woman ("an orphan") and her diabetic daughter discovered that intruders had broken into their newly purchased home, they hid ("wanderers") in a protected room - the "fear room." Attackers are trying to get into the "fear room", as there are hidden $ 22 million. The woman must find a way to get insulin for her daughter ("warrior"), single-handedly defeat the intruders and survive ("martyr").

Further, Contour invites the writer to mark 12 plot twists in the film. The program suggests on which page of the scenario the plot turns should take place. At the end, the author must answer the central question of the film. According to Schechter's system, the central question should have three parts.

The central question of the film "Panic Room" - "Can Meg save her daughter, defeat the robbers, stay alive?"

After the answer to the central question is received, the film ends.

Moving the cursor along the green bar, the writer describes in detail the events that he noted in the plot twists. And so - until the final scene. At the same time, Contour explains what and why should happen at this point in the scenario.

This is how the finished script looks like.

Summing up

Contour is intuitive and simple. You can figure it out in about 30 minutes. At first the program seemed outdated in terms of design, but after a couple of hours of work I realized that it was not. The design does not distract from the work, and the interface is built in such a way that it does NOT allow you to do it wrong. The screenwriter does not need to think about where and what to press. He just needs to relax and give free rein to his imagination …

There is also an iPhone / iPad version so you can capture movie ideas and work out stories in any setting.

In conclusion, I will say that if you decide to try yourself as a screenwriter, then Contour will definitely suit you. The site contains contacts for Hollywood agents and studios. So write and send your scripts straight to Hollywood. It's simple.