Writer's room, week 3: moving beyond structure to make time stop (Part 1)

The first time I heard Syd Field's name I was beginning my first semester in the USC master of professional writing program. I carpooled about an hour to campus with a friend—she was about a year ahead of me in the program. Classes were from 7 to 10 p.m. once a week and we'd often arrive back home after 11. One of her best friends was working on his thesis and had mentioned to her  how valuable Syd Field's book "Screenplay" had been to him.

I bought the book, and while I'd read more than a dozen books on screenwriting before beginning the writing program, the screenwriting structure that was presented in "Screenplay" was clear, simple, and made the most sense to me.

About a year later a mass email was sent to the students in the MPW program—Mr. Field was looking for someone to transcribe a series of lectures he'd given. I replied to the email and ended up transcribing a series of seminars he'd given in London and class discussions recorded at USC. He used the transcribed notes as he updated "Screenplay." 

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In our improvised writer's room at work I've shared the same stories with my cowriter that I'm sharing here. We've identified our main characters and supporting characters. After two weeks working during our lunch hour it's become easy to put additional characters aside; after brief discussions we agree that they won't make the story better and they aren't needed to create tension.

It wasn't until I took Pamela Douglas's television script analysis class that I understood the difference between character development in a dramatic TV series vs. a dramatic film. As Ms. Douglas teaches, the dramatic arc in television characters' lives can take place over several seasons. The protagonist in the screenplay we're working on must experience insight and change during the story—in less than two hours. That's our challenge this week as we finish outlining the story using 3 x 5 cards. I've drawn and shared a rough sketch of the three acts and plot points and our stack of 3 x 5 cards is growing. By Wednesday (Thursday at the latest) we should be ready to write the first scene.

As we weave the story together we'll include many of the elements I learned from Don Bohlinger in his advanced screenplay analysis course. The semester I took the class most of the students were in the School of Cinematic Arts' directing program. Every other writing/screenwriting/fiction/playwrighting course had been easy for me; advanced screenplay analysis was the first course I thought I might fail. The final test was a take home, open note test and it took me nearly 10 hours to complete. I received the most amazing note from Mr. Bohlinger after I emailed my completed test; I'd received a perfect score and he was planning to use it as a key to grade the rest of the tests. I'd struggled that semester; his kind words gave me the confidence to keep writing.

More in the next post about the precise details that go beyond structure and dialogue that are (I'm convinced) the answer to the mystery about how audiences are transported into a story so deeply that time stops.

None of the books I've read or classes I've taken have presented this theory (and a glance at the top how-to screenwriting books on Amazon doesn't reveal the answer).

It will be fun to write for it's about what I've found to be the most frustrating (at first), mystifying (even after years of careful study) and ultimately exciting part of storytelling and screenwriting.