Rage Against The Page

Update: new version of the 4-Act Story Diamond graphic here . Update 2  (2023): Even more 4-act structure , courtesy of Stan Williams. I don't believe in the three-act screenplay story structure. It's four acts, plain and simple. I said so ten years ago on Jack Stanley's Scrnwrit list, and nothing has changed since. Four acts, no more, no less. I'm sorry those screenwriting gurus sold you on three acts and then five acts and then seven acts or -- what are we up to now? Nine? Twelve? Look, we're all grasping for the magic template that will reign in the chaos and tame our wild stories, so I don't blame you for listening to those guys. The four acts were there all along and the screenwriting gurus knew it, or at least sensed it. Certainly Syd Field knew it, although he failed to make a clean break from the dogmatic Aristotle three-act structure . I swear, if I hear once more that line about "Get your hero up a tree, throw rocks at him, then get him ...

"Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around." -- Herman J. Mankiewicz to friend Ben Hecht, urging him to come to Hollywood, circa 1928 (Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia) Before you dust off your screenplay and hot-foot it to Hollywood after reading that quote, remember, this was almost 80 years ago, when Hollywood was starting to get comfortable with the idea of 'the talkies'. Title cards were no more. The technical marvel of recorded dialogue had arrived, and it radically redefined the job of writing for the screen. But for smart former news reporters like Mankiewicz and Hecht, adapting to the new medium was never going to be a problem. In 2006 some things have changed. Screenwriting is a mature craft, we have global real-time connectivity, and moviemaking is a billion-dollar industry. Still there are idiots competing for your screenplay sale -- there's just a lot more of them. A planet full. Ahe...

Update: see this post for a Wikipedia history of Alien 5 rumours. I want to write the next Alien screenplay. I want to pull the franchise out of the toilet and make it potent again. But, alas, people like Paul W. S. Anderson, writer of Alien vs. Predator , conspire to keep the lid down and the toilet door barricaded shut. The Aliens franchise is not escaping the sewers any time soon, if those people have their way. Aliens in the sewers. Wasn't that the plot for Alien 3? Or 4? Now and then I press my ear to the toilet door, and for a second I think I hear splashing and a faint gurgle, like there might still be life in there -- a claw reaching out from the S-bend, perhaps. No. I've pretty much given up hope. Probably Ms Weaver is the sole force that can return the franchise to the screen (but read on for my idea about how to restart the franchise without her). So it's unlikely we'll see another Alien film anytime soon. Unless Ridley Scott tosses his hat back in the ring...

Hi, Folks. Thirteen years ago I wrote the following article. I just googled, and the three hits on "andrew ferguson megaplotter" are dead -- nothing in google cache, either. Those three amigos will surely disappear soon, so I'm blogging it now for posterity. I've learned a lot about story crafting in those 13 years since, and I was tempted to completely overhaul this thing, but I decided to go so far as fixing the spelling errors and leave it there. Raw as it may be, looking upon it now, it does hit the major beats of the Hero's Journey, and it still offers a good starting point for novice writers and screenwriters. Over the coming months I plan to dump in here a plethora of writing research and knowledge, accumulated over decades, in the hope that other writers will find it useful. ----- Version 280293 Compiled by Andrew Ferguson (For clarity, I use a male hero throughout this text. However, reference to one gender is intended to encompass both genders.) ACT ...