Screenwriting : Resolution vs Ending by Nikki April Lee

Well I think the issue is that this plot structure worksheet is pretty incorrect. I'm not sure where you got it from, but there should be no Exposition, Conflict should be at EVERY step - not it's own step or structural point, And I have no idea why there would only be 3 structural beats for the first 85% of the story and 4 beats for the last 15 pages. I would strongly suggest finding a different plot structure/beat sheet to use as a guideline. In terms of your actual question, the resolution and denouement are the same thing. I've honestly never really heard "Falling Action," but perhaps it means REACTION or consequence to the climax? I'm not sure about that one.

Yup, I third Danny. That's a dreadful beat sheet. Burn it.

THE BLAKE SNYDER BEAT SHEET (aka BS2) http://www.savethecat.com/ Nikki, I agree with the guys above. Have you tried Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet? It works nicely for me when I make my screenplay outlines. Enjoy! Opening Image – A visual that represents the struggle & tone of the story. A snapshot of the main character’s problem, before the adventure begins. Set-up – Expand on the “before” snapshot. Present the main character’s world as it is, and what is missing in their life. Theme Stated (happens during the Set-up) – What your story is about; the message, the truth. Usually, it is spoken to the main character or in their presence, but they don’t understand the truth…not until they have some personal experience and context to support it. Catalyst – The moment where life as it is changes. It is the telegram, the act of catching your loved-one cheating, allowing a monster onboard the ship, meeting the true love of your life, etc. The “before” world is no more, change is underway. Debate – But change is scary and for a moment, or a brief number of moments, the main character doubts the journey they must take. Can I face this challenge? Do I have what it takes? Should I go at all? It is the last chance for the hero to chicken out. Break Into Two (Choosing Act Two) – The main character makes a choice and the journey begins. We leave the “Thesis” world and enter the upside-down, opposite world of Act Two. B Story – This is when there’s a discussion about the Theme – the nugget of truth. Usually, this discussion is between the main character and the love interest. So, the B Story is usually called the “love story”. The Promise of the Premise – This is the fun part of the story. This is when Craig Thompson’s relationship with Raina blooms, when Indiana Jones tries to beat the Nazis to the Lost Ark, when the detective finds the most clues and dodges the most bullets. This is when the main character explores the new world and the audience is entertained by the premise they have been promised. Midpoint – Dependent upon the story, this moment is when everything is “great” or everything is “awful”. The main character either gets everything they think they want (“great”) or doesn’t get what they think they want at all (“awful”). But not everything we think we want is what we actually need in the end. Bad Guys Close In – Doubt, jealousy, fear, foes both physical and emotional regroup to defeat the main character’s goal, and the main character’s “great”/“awful” situation disintegrates. All is Lost – The opposite moment from the Midpoint: “awful”/“great”. The moment that the main character realizes they’ve lost everything they gained, or everything they now have has no meaning. The initial goal now looks even more impossible than before. And here, something or someone dies. It can be physical or emotional, but the death of something old makes way for something new to be born. Dark Night of the Soul – The main character hits bottom, and wallows in hopelessness. The Why hast thou forsaken me, Lord? moment. Mourning the loss of what has “died” – the dream, the goal, the mentor character, the love of your life, etc. But, you must fall completely before you can pick yourself back up and try again. Break Into Three (Choosing Act Three) – Thanks to a fresh idea, new inspiration, or last-minute Thematic advice from the B Story (usually the love interest), the main character chooses to try again. Finale – This time around, the main character incorporates the Theme – the nugget of truth that now makes sense to them – into their fight for the goal because they have experience from the A Story and context from the B Story. Act Three is about Synthesis! Final Image – opposite of Opening Image, proving, visually, that a change has occurred within the character. THE END

Not all stories can be shoe horned into a 'one size fits' all beat sheet. The main things, in terms of structure, that you need are a Setup (Act 1) Conflict (Act 2) Resolution (Act 3) Start with a well defined complex character, with well defined goals, obstacles in the way of those goals and consequences for achieving and failing along the way. Nice video on sequences here: http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/structure/the-sequence/45-the-eigh...

Eoin, as Danny said earlier, calling any one part of the script "Conflict" is a bit odd. Is that video teaching that?

You guys are totally right, it explains why I've always been stumped filling out this worksheet. I bought the book from Barnes and Noble. The book is called The Screenplay Workbook. You can fill out worksheets that help break down your script. I suppose I should burn it. I heard Save the Cat is good. My university sent me a copy for one if my screenwriting classes. I haven't even opened it up yet.

Save the Cat is good. Syd Fields' books are also good. Both authors will give you a nice skeleton to help you develop your screenplay. Then, you create from there. At the top of my wordpress blog, I have tabs you can click - one that will take you to a list of excellent screenwriting books, and one that gives a mini screenwriting tutorial. It's at - http://dailyshard.wordpress.com/ Good luck with your writing!!

Never heard of that one. Yes, you're way better off with Save the Cat as your introductory text.

I believe the beats are from Freytag’s Pyramid. It's actually a five-act structure. But number of beats are irrelevant. There's a couple of seven stage beat sheets out there including; The Syd Field Paradigm and Billy Mernit's 7 Basic Romantic Comedy Story Beats.

CJ takes a sip. "Oh, a '79 Freytag," he announces. Showoff.

Kerry, if there was some way of Googling wine I would make an excellent taster.

Hi Nikki, why turn your story into a chore? Just write it and then work out what goes where. Creation comes first; perspiration follows. Robert

The couple times I haven't outlined first, the script descends into mush and I never finish it. Some of us need our outlines and our beat sheets.

Good point Kerry. But from what I read originally in Nikki's post seemed to not be about an outline structure of an "existing story" which was in her heart and head, but rather the creation of a skeleton in the correct order that would one day be fleshed out from her heart and head. Bob

http://classroom.synonym.com/difference-between-resolution-ending-writin...

I'm lost without a outline. I have to have some sort of Venn diagram, character Webb, beat sheet, plot structure chart or something to produce a script. I have a mountain of paperwork before I write the first scene. I envy those who can pump out a readable script without much help from outlines and beat sheets.

Hi Nikki, I understand your dilemma. I have been preaching for 46 years and in the first few years I needed an outline, but as I grew more familiar with my topic etc I finally was able to bring my outline down to one page of points and then nothing. Take time out and watch Finding Fewster with Sean Connery, I know you will learn a lot from it. Try imagining yourself watching your movie and type what you see. Get down as much as you can before you ever start to format the outline. Once you run out, then go back and add and turn out an outline as you think of new scenes, events, characters, dilemas etc. Bob

Nikki, I have to have outlines and at least a good idea of what my structure will be in order to knock out the first draft. It may change while I'm writing the story, and change again in the next draft, but I require a place to start. It's a matter of what gives us access to our creativity, and that varies from person to person.

I see way too much of this structure vs. story conundrum over the years and I ask myself why it’s such an issue for so many. It’s the old chicken or egg question. It finally dawned on me – it’s much easier to teach the rules of checkers/screenwriting than it is to teach the strategy/story. The vast majority of writers have been taught to put ‘this’ on page 5, ‘that’ on page 7 and start your ‘B’ story on page 30 or to use a story formatting software that wants ‘this’ in the first box, ‘that’ in the next box… on and on. I’ve concluded that there really are very few real story smiths out there but there are a jillion of wannabe screenwriting box-filler-outers. I am of the opinion that Blake Snyder and Syd Field have done irreparable damage to the fine art of storytelling that we will be struggling with for decades.

It seems to me that most people in this thread are conflating structure with formula--just because a person writes an outline before beginning their first draft does not mean that they are slavishly following a formula rather than writing an original, thought-through story of their own. Most of us who regularly use outlines are adapting them, or using them to keep track of character beats, or of setups and payoffs (I write mysteries, I have to be detail-oriented). We're choosing to do some of the heavy work up front, rather than write a ton of different full-length drafts as we fumble around for the order of our scenes or the throughline of our character's growth. It just shows how every writer's brain works differently: some prefer to use outlines (even adapting formulaic ones) and some prefer not to.

Story structure and formulaic story telling are two very distinct concepts and neither has, nor should have, anything to do with outlining process (I use cards.) Many writers know and understand how a story arc flows through a naturally occurring three act structure. The difficulty for most is the tendency to blindly follow some predetermined story formula extracted from some previously developed and written successful stories. Just because my script sets up my story on pages 1 – 10 with an opening image on page 1 that also appears as the closing image, my theme is stated on page 5, my call to action is on page 12, my hero refuses and the debate runs from page 12 to 25 with the break into Act II on page 25; does not mean that your story must conform to that same formula. To develop and show a compelling story, you must do it your way. If it’s a good and compelling tale, its arc will follow a traditional three act structure naturally. You need not force it – it’ll come to you naturally, or it won’t.

Doug, perhaps you could explain why you think structuring your story and outlining have nothing to do with each other. That sounds nonsensical to me. For me--and this is true whether I am scripting a feature or writing a prose short story--the structure of the story is one of the things I work on when I create an outline. This process helps me find the beginning and end of my story and helps me keep track of all the pieces within it, all the things that my story needs, not because a formula says I need "X or Y", but what the story and characters are asking of me. Outlining is a means of thinking through how I want to structure my story before I spend months writing a draft. That's why I said that outlining (and indeed any structuring of a story) is NOT the same as a formula. Some people have detail-oriented minds. I cannot write a story straight from scratch; I must do the background work (character, plot and structure) first. I have friends who don't need that, but they usually need someone to give them specific notes on structure afterwards because their characters are amazing but their story needs significant restructuring to even follow the traditional three-act structure.

A well shown/written cinematic story naturally flows from a protasis/beginning, through the epitasis/middle to a resolution/end – that’s a given (per Mr. Aristotle of long ago) which we buy into yet. The outline is the map you intend to follow to tell your story and it will change as you deem appropriate. The story is the upshot of the entire process, not the outline. Keep in mind that you are in charge of your story; not your outline. A formulaic story is one that clings to a predetermined pattern resulting in a story that is predictable and boring. And how many of those have we seen?