Roadmap into the industry: "Changing in Place"

Day 27: Roadmap into the industry

Screenplay structure: "Changing in Place"

Professor Ron Friedman tells his introductory screenwriting students that movies filmed in the U.S. have a global audience. In order for a play, or movie to resonate, from the country's earliest days Americans had learned to tell stories so that people from many cultures who had settled in the United States could understand and enjoy the storytelling.

While watching some movies I squirm and never feel comfortable. After 15 minutes I feel as if I've been sitting for 10 hours. Ten miserable hours. When other movies are over, the hour-and-a-half has passed in what seems like only a few seconds.

For years I tried to figure out why. What has been included that makes me lose track of time and become lost in the story?

Last year I was thrilled when the USC School of Cinematic Arts' Writing Division gave me permission to attend Don Bohlinger's Screenplay Structure class.

I had never tried harder or studied more. I'd never worried about grades while studying writing, but just before the midterm I was afraid that I wouldn't earn a "C."

I'd study the assigned films more than once before class and would watch them again as Don showed them in class and narrated. The class discussions were amazing; Don patiently explained the various elements to the class (most were directing students), and he even asked if he could add some of my thoughts to future lectures.

He also invited our class to sit in on any of his future lectures, especially if we were working on a screenplay similar to a film his class was studying.

Slowly, I began to understand the subtle elements the audience anticipates and expects as part of masterful storytelling. The Screenplay Structure final test was open book; that may sound easy but it wasn't. I searched through detailed outlines Don had spent hours preparing, scribbled with notes I'd taken during class. And I learned about screenplay structure until the moment I completed the final, attached the file to an email and pressed "send."

While taking the final test I learned about a storytelling technique used in American Beauty. It's called "Changing in Place.

Near the beginning of the movie the Lester Burnham character (Kevin Spacey) is in the kitchen. He returns to the kitchen at the end of the story. He is surrounded by the same objects and decor; but at the beginning of the story he is unaware of a family picture in front of him. His family means nothing to him; and as the story begins he tries to relive his teen years.

Lester changes during the story, and the audience understands how much he has changed when, at the end of the film he's once again in the kitchen. He notices at the family portrait that he had been so blind to when the story began. He picks up the photo and gazes at the picture of his family; the image has new meaning for him. He's standing in the very same place as he was at the beginning of the movie, but now he is a changed man.

I used this storytelling technique recently as I wrote about a child who needed surgery to correct a cleft palate. As a newborn, she would begin to choke on her tongue when she slept. She needed to wait until she turned one to have corrective surgery, and though her parents were given a special monitor, they never left her side. Every night they took turns staying by her side as she slept, so they would know immediately if she began to struggle to breathe.

At the end of the story, the little girl has recovered from corrective surgery. Her mom tucks her in and says goodnight, then turns off the light and closes the door. The imagery is powerful; the same little bed, but the child now sleeps soundly and her mother can relax, assured she is OK.

Finally the magician's techniques began to be revealed. I learned how to use screenplay structure to create a better screenplay. And Screenplay Structure class provided dozens of future topics to review and to write about here.

NOTE: These entries are inspired by the final assignment for The Business of Writing for Screen and Television, a School of Cinematic Arts' course taught by Frank Wuliger. Hoping to help his students become working screenwriters, he asked us to create a personal, five-year road map into the industry. This post is "Day 27."