Lecture 1b:
Storytelling
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Professor Christopher Bradley
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Previous Lesson
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What kind of distance
learning course is this?
How can you succeed
in this course?
What do we study in
this course?
What are the
assignments?
Thelma & Louise (1991) Written
by Callie Khouri
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In This Lesson
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How do I find inspiration?
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What is the writing process?
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Exercise #1
Shakespeare in Love
(1998) Written by Mark
Normand and Tom
Stoppard
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Finding Inspiration
Disturbia (2007) Written by and Christopher B.
Landon and Carl Ellsworth
Lesson 1b: Part I
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Writing is a Challenge
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Aristotle said, “We become brave by
performing brave acts.”
Every writer, no matter how great or
famous, confronts the blank page.
Barton Fink (1991) written by Joel &
Ethan Coen
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Meeting the Challenge
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Meeting the blank page
courageously brings
endless rewards.
The truth can be terrifying.
Poltergeist (1982)
For example, what might
Written by Steven
Speilberg
your writing reveal about you?
(Wouldn’t it be cool to find out?)
The more you write, the more you
become who you really are.
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Strategies for Starting
• Use your current habits.
• When are you most productive?
• Associate joy to writing.
(It’s Terrific!)
• Reward yourself!
(A cookie a page?)
Written by Orson
Welles (1941)
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Examples of Strategies
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Write at the same time each day.
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Write at the same place each time.
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Before you write, read, watch a film or
listen to music that inspires you.
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Have everything you need right there so
you won’t have to get up.
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“Warm up” with “freewriting,” writing
whatever comes into your mind.
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Journal Keeping
• Think of a journal as a gold mine. You
can go to it again and a gain for
inspiration and ideas.
• A journal is an excellent place to
practice.
• You might write down:
– Story ideas
– Conversations you overhear
– Events that made you react passionately
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The Writing Process
Cat People (1982) Written by DeWitt Bodeen, Alan
Ormsby and Paul Schrader
Lesson 1b: Part II
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Writing is a Process
• Even when great art looks like it “just
happened,” but almost without exception,
the artist did extensive studies and
planning to get that “unplanned” look.
• Narrative is like architecture.
• There are so many aspects to writing a
great screenplay– shaping the story itself,
building characters, creating authentic
dialog, staying true to the theme–
planning is imperative!
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Steps in the Process
• The Story
• The Logline
• The Treatment
• The Step Outline
• The First Ten Pages
Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiter)
(2007) Screenplay by Stefan
Ruzowitzky
• Rewriting and the Next Twenty Pages
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Step #1: The Story
• Inspirations for writing:
– Personal Battles and Victories
– Personal Lessons and Losses
– The News
– Listen!
• “Write what you know.”
• And find out what you don’t know!
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The Story
• Bring your experience to the table, not as
an end, but as a jumping-off place.
• Don’t just dictate what happened,
reinvent what happened as a metaphor.
• Take what actually happened and ask,
“What if…?” What if I could bring him
back to life? What if I could have
controlled that roulette wheel with my
mind?
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Choosing a Subject
• Write about what ignites your passion!
• Questions that might lead you to a story
might include:
– What makes you angry?
– What makes you terrified?
– What do you want very badly? Even if you
don’t think it’s possible?
– Who made you a different human being?
• Freewriting and journaling can help with
discover these!
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Writing in a Genre
• Not everything in your writing comes
from your own life. Writing movies often
involves writing genre stories such as
the thriller, Western or romantic comedy.
Unforgiven (1992) written by David Webb Peoples
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The “Size” of Your Story
• What is the overall tone of your story?
• Is it an epic?
• Is it small, intimate and observed in
detail?
• Pause the lecture and watch the two
clips, one from the epic Dances With
Wolves, the second from the pilot
episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
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Being Original within a Genre
• Copying another movie’s elements can
make your story stale. You want a fresh
story!
• It’s okay to take inspiration from other
movies, but ultimately you must add
something of yourself to make it
interesting.
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Step #2: The Logline
• You should be able to tell your story in
three to four sentences.
• For example:
THE WIZARD OF OZ: A young girl is transported by
a cyclone from the drab plains of Kansas to the
magical world of Oz. A fraudulent wizard promises to
transport the her home if she destroys the great
enemy of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West. She
succeeds, but the wizard is unable to make good on
his promise. She learns she can transport herself
back to Kansas using tools she already has.
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The Logline
Build a logline by asking yourself:
1. What is the conflict or dilemma my protagonist faces?
2. What major complication makes the problem
something that seems insurmountable?
3. How does my protagonist overcome the problem (or
how is my protagonist defeated by it)?
So now you have a beginning, middle & end
for your story.
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Step #3: The Treatment
• Think of the Treatment as a short story.
You already know the beginning, the
middle and the end.
• For the first draft of your treatment, tell
the story to yourself from start to finish.
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Give Yourself Room!
• A first draft is meant to be the time
when you lay out your ideas in rough
form. A first draft is generally messy and
repetitive and full of mistakes--and
that's just fine! Get the basic story and
characters down. Get a general idea of
how the beginning, middle and end will
fit together. The story will likely grow
and change in the process.
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Re-Writing
• As you re-write, imagine telling the
story to someone else. Does everything
make sense? Do your characters’
actions make sense given who they
are? Does the story make sense?
Does it build to a strong Act Climax?
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Step #4: The Step Outline
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Sometimes called a “Beat Sheet”
Once you have a completed treatment,
you will want to break your story down into
beats or steps.
Most screenplays have between 35 and
45 beats.
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The Step Outline - 2
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The Screenplay Structure Guide should be
thought of as just that– a guide. Don’t let it
restrict you, but do let it guide you.
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For instance, the Screenplay Structure
Guide says that by about page 4, it should
be clear what you’re story is about. If
you’re on page 25 and it’s still not clear
what your story is about, you may have a
problem!
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The Step Outline - 3
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You will go through your short story and
list each of the events as they happen.
If you get to the end and you only have 10
story events, you’ll probably need to
expand your story as you likely don’t have
enough story for a 110-page screenplay.
The guide will help you do this.
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The Step Outline - 4
• Once you have 35 to 45 steps or
events, you’ll look to see how they fall in
the story. Have you created Act 1 very
thoroughly, but the events are sketchier
in Act 2? It will become clear where you
need to flesh out your story.
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Step #5: The First 10 Pages!
• In the first 10 pages, you’ll give us your
opening hook and we’ll see your
character in their “ordinary world.” That
is, how they live when they’re not in
crisis (as they soon will be).
• We’ll see the first ripple of unrest in
their world and their unsuccessful
attempt to address it.
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Editing
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Before you turn in your first 10 pages,
carefully examine it for errors in
grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
This is college-level work.
Spell-check will catch a lot, but not
everything.
Pay attention to Grammar Check, too!
Your dialog may be colloquial, but not
your action and description!
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Editing (continued)
• We also edit also in the interests of
professionalism. You want to see your
work produced! Script readers, the
gatekeepers for producers, will view an
error-filled, badly formatted script as
amateur. They won’t finish it! Don’t let
poor spelling and/or formatting knock
you out of the game!
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Feedback
• You will give constructive feedback to
your fellow writers, and they will give
constructive feedback to you.
• You don’t have to take your classmates’
feedback, but you’ll need to cite examples
of several pieces of feedback that you
either took or didn’t take, and say why. I
need to see you’re taking the feedback
you’re receiving seriously!
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Step #6: The Next 20 Pages
• Unrest in your story has built to the first
mini-crisis (about page 10). It becomes
clear that your protagonist won’t be able
to solve their problem with the tools they
currently have. Something greater will
be required of them.
• By or around page 30, they take major
action to become the person they need
to be in order to address the challenge.
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Editing
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Again, before you turn in your final pages,
check carefully for errors in grammar,
spelling, or punctuation.
Is your dialog tight? Not padded with
unnecessary chatter? Is your description
vivid, but spare? Does the story have a
strong build? Is the climax of Act 1
gripping? Does it leave your reader
needing desperately to know what
happens next?
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A Final Point on Process
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Keep your standards high! But know that
writing is a process of re-writing and
refining.
Think of writing as sculpture. You
continually refine your drafts to create your
masterpiece.
To be successful with your writing, you
must stick with it! You’re in this for the
long haul!
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Assignments
Meet the Parents (2000) Screenplay by
Jim Herzfeld and John Hamberg
Lesson 1b: Part III
Reading
• Read the chapter “Introduction” in
Robert McKee’s Story. Take the selfquiz to be sure you’re clear on what
you’ve read!
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E-Board Post #1
• In the chapter “Introduction,” McKee
gives several examples of what story
should and should not be.
• Post an example of a film that you assert
illustrates something McKee says story
should be, and an example of what he
says it should not be.
• Respectfully discuss your classmates’
examples.
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E-Board Post #2
• Post 3 potential story ideas to the
eBoard.
• Give your fellow students feedback on
their 3 ideas. Which of their ideas is
your favorite? Why?
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End of Lecture 1b
The Exorcist (1973) Screenplay by
William Peter Blatty
Next Lecture: Story Ideas
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