* * * * *
Well, first of all my apologies go out to any and all kind and charitable folks who might possibly await my ramblings with some sort of genuine anticipation. Moving into a new town is one thing, moving two cars and a lifetime of memories and items associated with those memories is quite another. Add in finding a job and saving up for a place of one’s own while maintaining the usual financial deductions and, well, here we are. Happy and warm and fed; and in the exact place I wanted to be, albeit a couple of years later, but here all the same.
I have started on a new screenplay, and good things are happening with getting “Confessions of a Salesman” to the big screen. If you are not familiar with “Confessions,” there is a visual and a short synopsis at www.aldenolmsted.com/screenplay/confessions.php, but suffice it to say that it is a “12-step program” for salesmen, and, obviously then, a comedy. After reading a bit of Story by McKee, and being antsy to begin a new screenplay using the tools I now know from Save the Cat, I thought I’d share a short retrospective of some of my personal favorite “beats.” If you’re not familiar with Save the Cat, nor the 15 “Beats” of Blake Snyder, you can go to http://www.blakesnyder.com/tools/ and get a quick lesson. The beats are very similar to the same structure made famous by Syd Field and many others in the history of Hollywood, and are simple guidelines for a solid story in the space of 90-120 minutes. Having a solid structure is not, as many might assume, constrictive, nor does it mean that the story or film is not creative or artistic. Instead, it gives a creative story the most bang for the buck and the most power for the punch, and if done right, provides layer upon layer for the mind to enjoy and discover many days past the day of the original viewing. It is also, whether you like it or not, already in 99% of the movies you have ever seen.
There have been many, many great stories over the years and within those stories great plot points and brilliant beats, and these are just a few of them.
Here we go:
1. Opening Image:
Stand By Me(1986). I love the shot of the dry hills and the lonely writer (Richard Dreyfus) reflecting on his friendships. The narration from the writer about the friends he grew up with is symbolized perfectly by the two boys who pass by on bicycles, which leads to a newspaper article about the recent death of a childhood friend, and the story begins.
The Fellowship of the Ring(2001) In the theatrical version, after we learn about the ring and the dark lord Sauron, which is really backstory, we see a beautiful, green forest and a young Hobbit Frodo Baggins, carefree, reading with his back against a tree, completely oblivious to the outside world, much like the Shire itself. As Gandalf the wizard rolls in, we already get the feeling that this peace will not last.
Big Wednesday(1978) After the colorful shots of surfboards being picked up, the tousled hair of kids camping out in their cars, the three friends, Matt, Jack, and Leroy walk through pillars of a broken down stairway, and down to the beach as though they’re entering some ancient land of rituals and challenges, and, I suppose, they are. The sun on the Pacific Ocean, the hungover and stumbling Jan Michael Vincent, and the beautiful score by Basil Poledouris and you can almost feel the chilly water and the rush of being pushed along on a lazy wave with friends - which leads right to the theme - darn it all Blake!!
2. Theme Stated:
In Almost Famous(2000), Cameron Crowe’s masterpiece about his own young experiences as a fish-out-of water 15 year-old rock journalist, a rebellious teenager (Zooey Deschanel) tells her younger brother William before she leaves home, “one day.. you’ll be cool.” Talk about a great theme! Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) will later tell him, “you’re not cool,” and he’ll spend the movie figuring out if they’re right.
In National Lampoon’s Vacation(1983), as the Griswold family is getting ready for their big family trip, father Clark (Chevy Chase) is showing the kids the itinerary on a very dated early 80’s computer console when the kids ask the obvious question, “dad why aren’t we flying?” Clark repeats to them what he just implied to his wife in the previous scene, “because kids, getting there is half the fun!” We’ve all heard this many times, and can relate, and in this case, getting there will be ALL the fun, and thus, just like clockwork, there’s the theme, in all it’s glory. It’s A Wonderful Life(1946). In this all - American film, the scene in the bar, although it is well past it’s alotted page count, is beautiful, and tragic as can be as Jimmy Stewart utters that most human of phrases, “I wish I’d never been born.” As the movie shows, he’ll get his wish.
3. Set-Up:
The Karate Kid(1983) Daniel Larusso couldn’t possibly have moved to a more distant and unwelcome location from his home of New Jersey when he arrives in the “Valley” of Southern California. The set-up of a single mom and her son coming into a new town where everything is a fight - literally, is perfect for a rites-of-passage story, and ripe for the payoff at the end. Right at page 10, during Johnny and Daniel’s first fight on the beach, Johnny even asks Daniel, “what about you, hero, you had enough?” Whether or not Daniel has “had enough” and how far he’s willing to go to defeat these obstacles, is the story.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1981). When E.T. lands on earth and finds his way into Eliott’s backyard, we see Eliott’s own struggles to be part of his brothers’ group of friends, and therefore, he’s his own sort of “alien” in his world, and that’s why the two are perfect for each other.
4. Catalyst:
While it would be interesting to find obscure movies to point out, when it comes to a catalyst, it’s hard to top Star Wars (1977). As Luke chases after a disobeying robot named R2-D2, he is already going further than he has gone, and would ever have gone on his own. The desire to go with Obi Wan is so strong that Luke is barely able to say no, but his obedience to his uncle is stronger, and a primal catalyst occurs when Luke finds the seriousness of the rebellion as his own aunt and uncle are killed. He’ll never look back again.
5. Debate:
Die Hard(1989). After the setup of terrorists taking an office building hostage, and the killing of one of their own, which “raises the stakes,” and lets the terrorists (and the audience!) know that this is getting serious, this is a classic underdog debate of who will win, the good guy, or the bad guys. In the words of frightened - cop Al, after being told he could leave at any time, he responds the same way we all did, as viewers; “no sir - you couldn’t drag me away.”
6. Break Into Two: Die Hard. When troubled cop John McLane kills Klaus, one of the terrorists, the debate is turning in favor of McLane, and we enter Act Two, the “upside-down” world, with the battle lines drawn.
7. B Story: Still considering.
8. Fun and Games:
Stand By Me. As Blake says, the fun and games section is where much of the trailer moments are found, and Stand By Me proves it perfectly. The boys are on the train tracks, going to see a dead body, but we’ve got to have some fun, and watching them sing oldies together like “lollipop, lollipop,” running from a train on a huge and scary bridge, and telling stories around the campfire are the types of moments that, despite the hardships, make us wish we were there too. It also leads us right to a great midpoint of splitting the film into opposite halves. At the end of the campfire scene, notice River Pheonix’s character opens up, and it’s Wil Wheaton’s character that comforts him, therefore turning the tables for half number two where Wil’s character gains the confidence he needs.
9. Midpoint: Almost Famous. In one of the great trailer moments in recent memory, the fun and games end with Billy Crudup’s character declaring “I am a golden god!” and leaping off the roof of a house into a pool. When the band comes to get him, there’s clearly tension between everyone, wondering what will happen (and so are we). It’s music that brings them all together, and the two halves of the film are set as young William tells Penny Lane “I have to go home,” and he’ll spend the second half of the movie trying to do just that. Penny tells him, in a voice that I know I would have listened to, “you are home,” which is another theme as well.
10. Bad Guys Close In: Braveheart (1995) . The story of betrayal is very painful, and as Blake says, ‘primal’ as one by one, William Wallace’s allies all turn on him. Mornay and Lachlan, and even Robert the Bruce, betray him, right at the time when we thought things were getting better. We thought that his battlefield tactics were getting more effective,we thought he found a new love, we hoped that the King was finally wearing down, but to make the ending worth it, things needed to get much, much worse.
11. All Is Lost: This one’s easier to notice, but I’m going with Wayne’s World(1991) for being so obvious, yet still fun to watch and experience. After Wayne takes his best friend Garth for granted and pushes him away, loses the show he created, and offends his dreamgirl, he walks out of her apartment worse off than when the story started. And referencing a classic SnL segment with Christopher Walken called “The Continental,” he complains to the camera to the point of even us walking out on him - to which he responds, “Where you going? Ok, ok, it’s not that bad, i’ll figure it out,” and he does, which is exactly what Act III is for.
12. Dark Night Of The Soul: About A Boy (2002). This one is obvious as well, and more importantly, effective. Hugh Grant’s character is the modern, self-absorbed man who believes,contrary to popular opinion, that some men are, in fact, islands, and “this is an island age.” After making some strides away from this philosophy, Will retreats back into his own world when Marcus, whom he had been a sort of hero to, abandons him to his own devices declaring that “you can’t help me, you can’t even help yourself.” It hurts, because it’s true.
13. Break Into Three: Swingers(1996). This movie actually has all the beats nailed very clearly, but I love when Mikey (Jon Favreau), after going through a literal dark night, and a few days, of the soul, comes back to life and heads out on the town with his buddies. At Sue’s house (Patrick Van Horn), he shows up, makes up with Sue for some heated words, and is told to call “that Nikki girl” whom he totally blew it with just a few moments before by leaving seven awkward messages on her machine. Right after the sound of his zipper goes up, in a nice comedy-timing moment, we break into Act III, the Act of synthesis.
14. Finale: Good Will Hunting(1997). After learning of his best friends’ (Ben Affleck) threats to make sure he makes something of himself, Matt Damon’s character finally breaks free, not just externally, but now internally. His supposed confidence and bravado were easy in the neighborhoods that he knew and felt comfortable with, but what would he do when faced with talents that placed the world at his doorstep? Well, after being told some hard truths by Affleck’s character as well as Robin Williams and Minnie Driver’s, he conquers his final challenge, the unknown outside world, away from the safety of his beloved books.
15. Final Image:
I have to mention three films, and they all share great examples of the opening image mirroring the final image. Shawshank Redemption (1993). Opening scene: On a rainy night in Maine,Tim Robbins, fearful and trapped, considers murdering his wife who is having an affair. In a complete mirror image, the ending finds him at the other end of the continent, in the Mexican sunshine, completely free, and hopeful that his friend will join him. Bottle Rocket(1994). In the opening scene, Dignan (Owen Wilson) is helping Anthony (Luke Wilson) escape from a sanitorium, but at the ending, it’s Anthony who is visiting Dignan, who is now in jail for a botched crime. Finally, in Swingers, which opened with a grieving Jon Favreau sharing his broken heart with Ron Livingston in a coffee shop, it’s now the cool Trent (Vince Vaughn) who is getting advice from Mikey, who tells him “i’ve got it under control.”
Now get with the beat! I’m tired!!
