Jimmy Stewart at the Palace

The Louisville Palace is in the midst of their 2011 Classic Movie Series, featuring a great list of Hollywood icon, Jimmy Stewart films. In the spirit of their series we're going to review the screenplays of a few of the films they've yet to show--and there's some good ones. Follow the links to check out the screenplays we've already reviewed: Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Anatomy of a Murder.

"I Like Your Nurse's Uniform, Guy": Max Fischer's Coming-of-Age

The term “coming-of-age” describes a type of story that focuses on the development of the main character or group of characters. These characters are usually young, yet on the cusp of adulthood. The coming-of-age story details an emotional journey a character must take in order to grow and mature towards adult hood.

Rushmore, a screenplay by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, tells the story of Max Fischer’s coming-of-age. Using Rushmore as an example, a screenwriter can see that the basic process of telling a coming-of-age story is this: establish an emotionally immature mindset, tear it down, then build a new, more mature mindset.

Discussion: How Many Acts Should a Screenplay Have?

Of course Syd Field says three. And his 3-act paradigm is the most widely accepted model for screenplay structure. And let's not forget Campbell's myth structure, which can be classified as having three acts. I often make the case for five, as do others. But still I must admit that the 5-act paradigm fits perfectly inside the 3-act one, it just breaks things down into smaller pieces.

Hearing Voices: The Art of Narration

It’s what most readily snags an audience’s attention. It instantly conveys the exact attitude of a film, faster even than music, cinematography or direction. It’s also what screenwriting guru Robert McKee calls one of the laziest tools at a writer’s disposal: the voice-over. By voice-over, I mean voice-over narration, not If you build it, he will come.

On page, it looks like this:

Balancing Acts: Character Introductions in Children of Men

A masterful character introduction is one of the screenwriter’s most valuable tools.  Characters are the writer’s link to his audience, so their introductions must be vivid.  These introductions, also called character description, must create a mental picture of the character for the reader by detailing physical characteristics; however, the screenwriter must also give the reader some notion of the character’s internal emotional identity.  And he must do so with just a few lines of description.  In their script Children of Men, screenwriters Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton beautifully illustrate the balancing act that is character description because each introduction of a major character offers details of physicality and psychology using a mixture of language that is both abstract and concrete.

"You Know Bob, We've Been Friends a Long Time...": Writing Exposition That Doesn't Bore

Every screenplay has it, which means every screenwriter has to know how to do it. Yet few do it well. We're talking about Exposition--revealing necessary plot information to the audience through images and dialogue.

The rule of thumb is to show, not tell, but films were synced with sound in the early twentieth century for a reason. So, you're going to have to rely on dialogue to get information across to your audience.

Now there are more theories on how to do this than one can shake the proverbial stick at. Whichever theory you adhere to, remember this--Drama is conflict. That means if at all possible deliver your exposition through some sort of conflict.

Let's see some examples of exposition being dealt with expertly...