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[Music]

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we all love stories we all understand

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stories we tell stories we certainly

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watch read listen to stories told in all

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different ways whether they're you know

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comic books novels uh movies TV shows

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commercials whatever they might be

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and you know most young

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directors basically go on that on that

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instinct and they build on it and

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because they love the medium they've um

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they've actually absorbed you know much

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much more of the language than um than

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than other people because they've you

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know there's just something about it

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that they love and that they've

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connected with I had all of that plus

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the advantage of growing up around the

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creative problem solving so I really had

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a behind the scenes look a huge

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Advantage but I still found when I

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became a director that there there there

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were these mysterious

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uncontrollable you know

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unpredictable um aspects of the process

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that I found frustrating by the way I

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still do but I've evened out some of

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those over the years by continuing to

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learn by continuing to explore by by

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continuing to ask questions by

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continuing to read and make notes I

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began organizing those thoughts about I

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don't know 15 years ago or so and adding

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to it and I now have a checklist and I

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go to this checklist usually a couple of

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times during the course of a project

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early on when I've I've I've fallen in

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love with

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it I'm getting

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engaged but I

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recognize that there are some aspects of

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the screenplay that might be stronger

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than others and at that point I'll do a

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quick

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evaluation just to give myself a sort of

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a 30,000 foot view of the

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[Music]

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project I'll finish reading the script

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maybe for the second or third time and

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uh I'm very much leaning into saying yes

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to the project and just to sort of test

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it

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where this

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screenplays strengths lie and perhaps

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where there may be some weaknesses that

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could use some deeper thought or they

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may be U fatal fatal flaws for that

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screenplay I'll look at genre and

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analyze that I'll try to understand what

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what genre is this story living in um

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mystery thriller

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fantasy um you know uh

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inspirational true story um you know

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what is it and I'll I'll rate on a scale

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of 1 to 10 how well I think it actually

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fulfills the promise of that genre

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because we've all come to learn that

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certain kinds of stories are meant

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to um instigate a reaction from us the

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best thing in the world of course is

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when something not only

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achieves the the promise of the genre

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but it you know it exceeds it it

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surprises you in some other way that's

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you know fantastic when uh when that can

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happen so I'll do that I'll quickly look

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at the characters are the characters

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interesting are they driving the story

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are they reactive characters or

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proactive characters who's in Conflict

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do they need to be in conflict or is it

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forced is it is it is it um you know

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could they could could they could the

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antagonist and protagonist simply walk

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away from one another um those are sort

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of fundamentals that I've come to really

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believe in and if they're not there I

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like to identify it so I'll rate the key

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characters the lead characters um

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structure structure is about momentum

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it's

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about suspense and yeah I know that's an

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odd term to use in sort of some

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all-encompassing way but I do believe

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that all stories need to be suspense

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pieces in a way it's that that it's that

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question of is it a page Turner is one

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scene pulling you along to the next

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whether it's a comedy fantasy um you

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know or drama or or suspense thriller um

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you know does this story structurally

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offer some twists and surprises

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audiences love that it makes

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us um you know

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vulnerable to the

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possibilities that the story may not end

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the way we

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predict you know my feeling is that with

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most sophisticated audiences who've seen

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a lot of shows and

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movies probably if you stopped a story

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about halfway through and said how do

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you think this is going to end whether

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it's a true story and you know the

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ending or not and up at the majority of

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people could guess it so as a

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Storyteller you have to find ways to to

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put them off balance so they're not so

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certain that you're going to resolve in

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the way that they expected it to of

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course it's fantastic when a story

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doesn't resolve in in uh you know in the

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way that audiences would anticipate

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that's great but you can't always have

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that um because it that has to be

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organic and a and a and a sort of a

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natural uh answer to the big narrative

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questions of the of the story that's the

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other thing about

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structure is there a thematic narrative

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question that's being asked and is it

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answered because without that you know

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it's not very fulfilling storytelling

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also when looking at structure and

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rating it I like to think about

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sequences I really believe Less in a

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three-act structure and much more in

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sequences of sort of you know kind of 8

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to 12 Pages roughly about 10 minutes and

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that work almost like chapters in a

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story and good good stories nobody's

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better at building a story this way than

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Steven Spielberg by the way they work in

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sequences and when you have the

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overarching narrative question the

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characters in Conflict but the sequences

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have their own beginning middle and end

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that are satisfying it really pulls you

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along and suddenly you know you can't

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wait for the next chapter uh and uh um

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and so that's something that I really

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like to look at and then very important

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for me

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to identify the theme or

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themes now it's a weighty idea you know

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if you're doing a a superhero movie The

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themes might be kind of obvious of good

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versus evil but I believe that that that

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modern storytelling carries with it a

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kind of Matrix of themes and that

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various characters and subplots carry

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other themes that can be more subtle

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more sophisticated Beyond good versus

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evil or the big overarching themes but

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they all need to be there and they need

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to be uh you know represented some

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stories aren't you know aren't about how

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fresh exciting or profound the the focus

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on the thematics are um sometimes it's

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about sort of relevance for us so a true

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story might not have themes that

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surprise us or are you know are are that

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thought-provoking or or or revealing but

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they may be about characters that were

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fascinated by and that gives it a kind

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of a its own kind of thematic relevance

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superhero movies can

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exist very correctly and rightly because

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you know we love Batman Batman

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represents a certain thing a kind of a

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character a sort of a vigilante a

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troubled vigilante uh and you know we

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want to see that very familiar character

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linked with that theme play out against

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another kind of villain and that's as

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valid as a true story that

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probes um you know uh uh cautionary

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aspects of society but you need to

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identify them in order to really be able

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to appreciate them so once I go through

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I feel like oh look the characters are

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promising I'd rate them a seven or an

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eight oh the genre is working pretty

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well it's a it's a nine uh oh wow the

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theme is not so fresh you know it's a

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five um but I wonder if I could Elevate

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that in some way maybe through the

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character um the structure is only about

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a six but the characters are so strong

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that if we can you know find a way to

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focus the structure make sure that the

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payoff is stronger get it you know to

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the point where we feel it's an eight

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you know now you're talking about a very

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strong screenplay that's working on a

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lot of different levels

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[Music]

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this is based largely on a a few books

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that I've read um and um and you know

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and then and then just a lot that I've

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picked up one of the books is a book my

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dad turned me on to when I was young

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like a teenager he was studying with

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Leos Agri and it's the art of dramatic

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writing and uh uh agre someone that I

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really really connected with uh and my

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dad certainly did my father rant and we

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spent you know a lot of time talking

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about some of these ideas mostly

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focusing on characters and the way that

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they drive a story The Way their

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motivations and their relationships with

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each other actually push along the story

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create structure um reflect the themes

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and um and um you know and and create

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the conflict that is drama so I learned

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a lot from him in his book and I really

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recommend it another great book is

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making a good script great by Linda

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Seager now this is all about rewrites

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but I found it invaluable even when it

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came to understanding how to Stage a

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scene edit a scene build sequences in

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addition to looking at rewrites but it

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asks a lot of the questions that I've

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sort of baked into my checklist if

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something's bothering you about about a

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script

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or you know you like a story turn or a

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Twist or a character moment but other

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people are sort of bumping up against it

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finding it slow or tedious or confusing

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or something like that very often if you

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can go to those fundamental questions

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and ask you know are we following the

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logic of the character did we set up in

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the First Act this transformation that

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we're going to witness later on or does

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it come out of the blue you know

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sometimes there are there are the

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answers to these questions suggest that

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with a very simple adjustment you can

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make that idea um you know land in its

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very best form for the audience there

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are a lot of other great story analysts

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uh Sid field is one he wrote a book

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called screenplay that's great Robert

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mcke wrote a book called story you know

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he lays out very specific goals for the

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writer uh sometimes um I don't agree

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with with the specifics like you know a

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certain plot turn has to happen by a

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certain page nice kind of a goal but I

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don't think this should be RI rigid

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they're not it's not a formula not

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templates but I do think that that all

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of these projects they mean to make us

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understand the way narrative works and

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and it makes a case for you know the the

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way narrative works best at least as

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it's based on these these people it's

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all a matter of taste

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and judgment and it comes back to you

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know the storytellers the filmmakers

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because I my view might be different

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than you

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know you know anybody else's and people

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who are going to make great movies may

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not um you know view a story analyze a

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story the way I would so it's kind of a

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way of taking what personally excites

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you about a story and beginning to

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deepen your understanding understanding

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of why it might excite

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you um Beyond some personal connection

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to a kind of an emotional and

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intellectual sort of intersection and

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then you can build upon that