Write the Damn Thing!

DAY 20

Yesterday we talked about Midpoints. Not all movies have a super well-defined Midpoint, but we are writing a pilot here. This means we need an act break to send the audience guessing and lost to the commercial break. They might be watching a coke ad, but they will be thinking of your story. What’s going to happen next?

As we discussed yesterday, today we’ll go over…

Key aspect of screenwriting: Great Midpoints from TV and Film.

JURASSIC PARK

So now you probably want to go and watch Jurassic Park again, great. But first let’s talk about the scene. Before the T-Rex comes and trashes the whole place, the characters were basically having minor inconveniences throughout the park. A sick dino here, a missing dino there. Not much. They were on “the new world” but their life was not in that much danger. Cue midpoint. Cue giant killing Jurassic machine.

Everything has changed, the stakes of the story just went through the roof. Nothing is ever going to be the same. Have the characters changed from “Reactive” to “Active”? Sure, you could argue they were reacting to a subpar theme ride, then they are actively running for their lives.

GONE GIRL

A bit of a different type of midpoint. Here’s the audience that changes, and with them so does the story. They see everything under a new light.

We’re at the halfway point of the film and we’re all convinced that Nick killed his wife then BOOM. Turns out Nick’s been truthful all along. Not only that, but the audience discovers that the wife is basically a cold-blooded psychopath. Everything changes from this point on.

This is not “classic” midpoint by any means, but it shows us what’s important. Keep the audience on the edge of their seat. Keep them guessing. What’s going to happen now?

THE GODFATHER

So far Michael didn’t want to be an active member of the mafia, he had his own thing going on, a new wife, and about to start a family. But then the responsibility to take over his father empire starts knocking at the door. There have been multiple assassinations attempts on his father’s life, and it’s pretty clear they are not going to stop… unless Michael does something. Unless Michael gets involved.

In this scene, Michael makes a choice. He enters the restaurant as Michael but leaves as the next Godfather. He is now fully involved in “the family”.

No turning back now.

BREAKING BAD

You thought I was not going to use an example from Breaking Bad? Oh how wrong were you…

In Breaking Bad they do exactly what we should be doing in our pilot. Using the Midpoint as the second act break.

Walter makes a choice here, he will make crystal meth to make money. He has become an ACTIVE part of the story, he is no longer reacting to the bad news. Now he has a plan. The man is driven.

Day 20 task:

Finish up the 2nd Act. Leave us hanging off a cliff. Is the main character going to make it? Make us hate the commercial break we are about to endure. Write 2 or 3 more pages.

We’re almost there! Happy writing!

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