Did You Ever Wish For....?

Working on a script the other day I ended up reviewing part of Chris Vogler’s book THE WRITER’S JOURNEY (3rd Edition). Chris wrote the foreword to The Moral Premise, and I was honored that he did it, considering his fame in Hollywood as a premiere story guru. I have been fortunate to work with him for a few days on some projects years ago.

The chapter I read (perhaps for the first time) in his thick Third Edition is titled Stories are Alive (starts on page 299).

He worked for Disney for years, on staff, as a lead story researcher. This paragraph on page 307 is important. 

He writes about the power of wishing.

Wishes of heroes are the strong point of identification for many people, since we all have wishes and desires that we secretly cherish. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons we go to movies and watch TV and read novels — to have our wishes granted. Storytellers are, most of the time, in the wish-granting business. The Disney empire built its entire corporate identity around the belief in wishing, from its theme song “When You Wish Upon a Start” to the wish-granting fairy godmothers of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella to the genie who grants three wishes in Aladdin. Hollywood executives and best-selling novelists aim to know the secret wishes of their audiences and fulfill them.  (p 307)

In another place Chris writes that a good way to begin a story pitch is to ask “Did you ever wish for ________? Well, that’s what this story is about.”   It’s a good way to connect with the folk you’re pitching to.

Thanks, Chris. 

F16 Moments - Writing Exciting Scene-to-Scene Movies

Things of Value Come in Threes

1. Years ago, I was in a meeting with Will Smith and a few others breaking a story, yet to be made. We were at somewhat of an impasse about a scene when Will gets up and in his animated way pitches the scene something like this:

Naw! That's not how it needs to go down. Imagine instead that the doors to a big warehouse slowly open, and we hear a might roar of a jet engine, and smoke pours out of the doors, and out of the smoke rolls this monstrous F16 Jet fighter, and it comes down this alley, it's wings almost scrapping the brick walls either side, and it turns onto this boulevard,  and then it sits there at the end of this wide road, revving it's engines. It's vibrating something awesome, wanting to take off, and suddenly it gets the okay, and it begins it's roll. And the camera pulls back, and his F16 jet is on Broadway of all places. And it roars down Broadway, fire flying out it's ass, and suddenly the pilot pops the afterburner and that baby jacks up on it's hinny, and catapults into the sky and disappears. Now, that would be cool!

I spoke up.

Ah, Will. A jet couldn't take off down Broadway because of all the lights, and wires crossing the road. You would be a helicopter, a big one of course, but a jet could never do it.

Will looked at me.

No, Stan,  you don't get it. A helicopter is boring. A jet is cool and exciting and L O U D! Forget the wires, it would be a very cool scene to see that jet screaming along in front of those theaters, flashing lights on the marquees, and buildings, and then zoom up into the sky.

It took a minute, but then I realized he was right. I shut up.

2. Yesterday an acquaintance wrote me:

Have you ever read about how Walt Disney used to work with his story crew? They started with a pre-existing story and Walt asked them to come up with entertaining moments. Then they strung them together.

3. Another successful producer was David O. Selznick (GONE WITH THE WIND). Shortly after he released GWTW, he bought the rights to Scarlet Lily, a book by Edward Murphy that I wrote about yesterday on this blog. I'm reading the book with the intent of discovering what Selznick saw in it. I'm halfway through and just read this morning the Moment of Grace scene that totally changes the story's direction for our harlot protagonist, Mary of Magdala. But what has captured my attention is how each chapter is a single scene with a dramatic profile—they are moments, each worthy of remembrance. It goes back to what Will and Disney were saying: Put the story together with a tight sequence of memorable scenes and moments.

But What About Structure?

But a sequence of memorable scenes alone don't a story make, but Will Smith, Disney and Selznick are probably on to something.

The acquaintance that wrote me about Disney also said that there was a tendency of the Disney storywriters (when Walt was out of the room) to string moments together without a clear story or plot. Movie Moment

I'm meeting this week with a screenwriter on a couple of his scripts, and we're going to do this...well, I'm going to suggest he do this....D. are you reading this?

1. Take the Story Diamond and divide the story into 8 short movies or sequences. See my blog post on The Sequence Approach.

2. Conceive of each sequence has building to an exciting movie moment that coincides with the 8 Pinch Points or Turning Points that climaxes each sequence. Make each moment exciting, full of tension, and conflict. If you can't think of such a sequence that ends in such a memorable moment, for the sake of your audience CHANGE YOUR STORY!

3. Ensure that the first 7 pinch points or turning points end with the protagonist's failure to achieve the goal he or she had pursued in that sequence, but opens a door for an escalating challenge in the next sequence. If the movie is redemptive, the 8th "point" is the charm and success is achieved. If the movie is tragic, the 8th "point" is the protagonist's final defeat. (Remember that even in a redemptive movie there is likely an antagonist that has a tragic arc, so you can write a story that has your protagonist succeed and your antagonist defeated (ala DIE HARD).

4. In every other aspect follow the Moral Premise.

In summary:
 Every sequence ends with an "F16 popping the afterburners down Broadway."