The Screenplay
The Essentials…
• Character with Weakness/Need (empathetic bond)
• Early Inciting Incident (disruptive event)
• Creates a strong/desperate desire
• He/she must overcome obstacles to attain desire, which tests character
• He or she succeeds or fails, but in the process learns something and is changed.
• Story is told for maximum emotional impact and audience engagement
Story
• Consists of all the narrative events that are presented on screen
• Consists of all the events that are implicit or that we infer to have happened but are not
explicitly presented
Plot
• Structure for presenting everything we see and hear in a film
• Chosen events from the story
• Why does this distinction matter?
Exposition
• Facts: the info about setting, biography, and characterization that the audience needs to
know to follow narrative
• Should be dramatized
• Examples? Shot/Scene/Sequence
• Shot: smallest visual unit
• Scene: series of shots
• Sequence: series of scenes
Premise
• Theme
• Essence
• Creates coherence
• Why does it matter?
• Personal connection
