Reddit reviews Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach
We found 8 Reddit comments about Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Bloomsbury Academic
All movies are derivative.
All this masturbation about originality is just that: masturbation.
I've been on a movie watching kick for the last couple months and I've been identifying structure types / plot types and they're all pretty much the same. What makes them interesting is what's being discussed.
I'll give you three movies:
1.) Adventures in Babysitting [1987]
2.) O' Brother Where Art Thou? [2000]
3.) Joe Dirt [1991]
Each of those movies is essentially Homer's Odyssey retold with wildly different details.
Here are another three movies:
A.) Looper [2012]
B.) Terminator 2 [1992]
C.) Casablanca [1939]
All of those end with self sacrifice for the greater good.
Variations on theme. If you want to write a bank heist I say do it. I can name a shit ton of heist movies. Some of my favorite movies are heist movies (Ronin, No Country For Old Men, ). Remember: the heist is only one aspect of the move. It's merely the plot. Who are these people? What are their values? What values are in conflict? Which values triumph and why? These are infinitely more entertaining and engaging than any old "original plot."
I've seen attempts at "original plots" and you know what? They tend to suck. The emphasis on 'originality' is the worst narcissism. Do not fall for it. There's nothing wrong with doing things you like. Write it. And write one you'd want to watch. Originality be damned: "Good artists borrow - great artists steal."
Also, look into story structure. I've found that mythology has been a huge influence on me. I'm very much a Jungian man so the overlap made it easy for me. I'm reading a book by John Truby called 'The 22 Steps of Plot" or something like that. It's the best book on movie structure I've read so far. I think he's a bit vague and I flatly disagree with him in some areas, but I'm finishing it because I'm still earning new things. He cribs a lot of Joseph Campbell. That's worth noting. Read Joseph Campbell and you'll see what the fuss is about.
Also; one of my favorite conspiracy theorists liked Joseph Campbell.
His name was Bill Cooper. And Bil Cooper also talks a lot about Luciferianism and its symbology. This is an amazing and rich symbol set that I use very often. I've become an arm-chair Egyptologist because of it (the current short story I'm working on is directly inspired by an Egyptian myth). Look into what Bill had to say about Luciferianism - it'll open up whole new fields of thought.
http://youtu.be/Ie50peFKpdg
One thing I've been thinking a lot about is how novels might just make a come back. If there's a technology crash then people will still want their entertainment - and novels don't require batteries or power plants. Something to consider.
Don't worry about filming the movie. Just write one. If it's shit that sucks. You'll write another. One day at a time. One idea at a time. You don't climb Mount Fuji in an afternoon. You don't build Rome in a day. Be patient with yourself and don't beat yourself up (others will do that for you). I went from a hack idea to something worth filming. It's been taking longer than I'd like, but I'm a step closer and I'll be even closer still by the end of the week. Baby steps.
Look into plot structure and do a few tests of ideas. Fool around with how ideas would play in a movie. You wouldn't believe how many ideas I've generated that I'll probably never get around to writing (maybe I should start writing them . . .). The point is, have fun and try not to take it too seriously. If you think about success or failure you'll never do anything because you'll be afraid to fail. But if you're just having fun and don't mind success or failure then it's not so bad. Then when you fuck up it's just a learning experience. You get to continue having fun and you'll even be a little better at it.
You sound like you have a self confidence issue. I can relate. I still have that problem. I compensate by pretending that I don't when I feel it creeping up. Usually I forget that I have a self confidence problem fairly quickly and then resume whatever it was I was doing.
In the case of your writing just learn. Read. Read about plot structure and watch movies and apply these ideas to the movies. Skip Syd Field and skip Robert McKee. Those guys are borderline retarded. They're dogmatic douches. I say this as one who has read them. Don't waste your time on them. Another one to read is this one abut the Sequence Approach to movie writing. I hear it's good and I'll be picking up a copy later this year (tight budget).
http://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Sequence-Approach-Paul-Gulino/dp/0826415687
Keep positive.
There are people who will support you and there are people who would watch what you make. I know this from personal experience. You're not going to do it over night so be patient with yourself. Baby steps.
I'd start with Save the Cat because it's a fun read and does a great job of laying down the basic structure without over-complicating things.
After you've got that down I'd move on to something a bit more theoretical. I would highly recommend The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri. It's about playwriting but the structure is similar and it really impressed upon me the importance of structuring a plot around a character and not the other way around.
I'd also recommend The Sequence Approach as a supplemental structure to the traditional 3 Act structure. The book basically breaks a screenplay into a number of goal-oriented sequences that help guide you towards a satisfying resolution.
I'd keep Story by Robert McKee and Screenplay by Syd Field around for references, but they are more like text books for me and not really inspiring.
One of my professors in grad school wrote a book called The Story Solution based on his own interpretation of story structure. Similar to the sequence approach, he breaks out a screenplay into 23 'hero goal sequences' that keep your story grounded and moving forward, while ensuring that your hero is making progress and completing his character arc.
Also, in answer to your beat question: A beat is the smallest block of measurable plot. a collection of beats make a scene, a collection of scenes makes a sequence, a collection of sequences make an act, a collection of acts make a narrative. Every beat of your screenplay needs to serve the premise in some way or you end up with a bloated script that will drag. Many times writers will actually write 'a beat' into their script to show that there is silence or a pause that is significant to the plot. An example might be a brief pause before a character lies to another character.
Using the sequence approach can help with loose pacing. Traditionally the sequence approach will divide the script into 8 chunks of ~15 minutes screentime, but the number of sequences is arbitrary (usually betweeen 4-12). Each sequence should be a mini-movie addressing some sub-goal of the main dramatic question.
Also, start the script with existing conflict. Let the first sequence end with some disturbance/opportunity at page 10-15. Then introduce the main dramatic question at the end of the second sequence.
This book is a good starter: https://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Sequence-Paul-Joseph-Gulino/dp/0826415687
This approach made life really easy for me.
I read somewhere that Spielberg also uses the Sequence Model/Approach.
Start with [Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach by Paul Gulino.] (http://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Sequence-Approach-Paul-Gulino/dp/0826415687)
He analyses a bunch of movies using the approach.
[This] (http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/structure/the-sequence/45-the-eight-sequences) Script Lab Article will run you through the nuts and bolts of this approach.
That's all you need.
Rossio's site is www.wordplayer.com
Check the "Hall Of Fame" collection under his name. He talks about how they write.
(There's no real magic to what he says: they come from animation, and at Disney, they break a movie down into 26 sequences of 4-5 pages each = 2 scenes each. Each sequence expresses a narrative idea, like "Aladdin escapes from the guards."
They write the sequences out of order. That's about all there is to it.
This book is about the USC system..
To answer your question: yes.
Read this book. One of the only screenwriting guru books I return to often.
http://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Sequence-Approach-Paul-Gulino/dp/0826415687
archonemis: ^^original ^^reddit ^^link
All movies are derivative.
All this masturbation about originality is just that: masturbation.
I've been on a movie watching kick for the last couple months and I've been identifying structure types / plot types and they're all pretty much the same. What makes them interesting is what's being discussed.
I'll give you three movies:
1.) Adventures in Babysitting [1987]
2.) O' Brother Where Art Thou? [2000]
3.) Joe Dirt [1991]
Each of those movies is essentially Homer's Odyssey retold with wildly different details.
Here are another three movies:
A.) Looper [2012]
B.) Terminator 2 [1992]
C.) Casablanca [1939]
All of those end with self sacrifice for the greater good.
Variations on theme. If you want to write a bank heist I say do it. I can name a shit ton of heist movies. Some of my favorite movies are heist movies (Ronin, No Country For Old Men, ). Remember: the heist is only one aspect of the move. It's merely the plot. Who are these people? What are their values? What values are in conflict? Which values triumph and why? These are infinitely more entertaining and engaging than any old "original plot."
I've seen attempts at "original plots" and you know what? They tend to suck. The emphasis on 'originality' is the worst narcissism. Do not fall for it. There's nothing wrong with doing things you like. Write it. And write one you'd want to watch. Originality be damned: "Good artists borrow - great artists steal."
Also, look into story structure. I've found that mythology has been a huge influence on me. I'm very much a Jungian man so the overlap made it easy for me. I'm reading a book by John Truby called 'The 22 Steps of Plot" or something like that. It's the best book on movie structure I've read so far. I think he's a bit vague and I flatly disagree with him in some areas, but I'm finishing it because I'm still earning new things. He cribs a lot of Joseph Campbell. That's worth noting. Read Joseph Campbell and you'll see what the fuss is about.
Also; one of my favorite conspiracy theorists liked Joseph Campbell.
His name was Bill Cooper. And Bil Cooper also talks a lot about Luciferianism and its symbology. This is an amazing and rich symbol set that I use very often. I've become an arm-chair Egyptologist because of it (the current short story I'm working on is directly inspired by an Egyptian myth). Look into what Bill had to say about Luciferianism - it'll open up whole new fields of thought.
http://youtu.be/Ie50peFKpdg
One thing I've been thinking a lot about is how novels might just make a come back. If there's a technology crash then people will still want their entertainment - and novels don't require batteries or power plants. Something to consider.
Don't worry about filming the movie. Just write one. If it's shit that sucks. You'll write another. One day at a time. One idea at a time. You don't climb Mount Fuji in an afternoon. You don't build Rome in a day. Be patient with yourself and don't beat yourself up (others will do that for you). I went from a hack idea to something worth filming. It's been taking longer than I'd like, but I'm a step closer and I'll be even closer still by the end of the week. Baby steps.
Look into plot structure and do a few tests of ideas. Fool around with how ideas would play in a movie. You wouldn't believe how many ideas I've generated that I'll probably never get around to writing (maybe I should start writing them . . .). The point is, have fun and try not to take it too seriously. If you think about success or failure you'll never do anything because you'll be afraid to fail. But if you're just having fun and don't mind success or failure then it's not so bad. Then when you fuck up it's just a learning experience. You get to continue having fun and you'll even be a little better at it.
You sound like you have a self confidence issue. I can relate. I still have that problem. I compensate by pretending that I don't when I feel it creeping up. Usually I forget that I have a self confidence problem fairly quickly and then resume whatever it was I was doing.
In the case of your writing just learn. Read. Read about plot structure and watch movies and apply these ideas to the movies. Skip Syd Field and skip Robert McKee. Those guys are borderline retarded. They're dogmatic douches. I say this as one who has read them. Don't waste your time on them. Another one to read is this one abut the Sequence Approach to movie writing. I hear it's good and I'll be picking up a copy later this year (tight budget).
http://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Sequence-Approach-Paul-Gulino/dp/0826415687
Keep positive.
There are people who will support you and there are people who would watch what you make. I know this from personal experience. You're not going to do it over night so be patient with yourself. Baby steps.
https://www.amazon.com/Screenwriting-Sequence-Approach-Paul-Gulino/dp/0826415687