The Act II metaphor

One of the many 'expert' books on the subject of screenwriting is Viki King's How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method. It focuses on getting you to push through and write a first draft of a script (no matter how rough), but it also teaches a formula which is based firmly on Syd Field's 3-Act theory. I suspect her method works best for highly visual people.

 
The book's one original contribution to the subject of screenwriting is her reference to something she calls 'the Act II metaphor.'  "This is usually a small scene with symbolic overtones... (which) ... gives us a clue to the resolution." King is rigid about the place where this scene occurs in the script—page 45 (in a 120 page script)—"the start of your character's growth."

  
I spent some time recently contemplating confrontation scenes in movies. One of the films I looked at was You've Got Mail, and I was interested to see that the major confrontation scene in the movie includes an Act II metaphor. 

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are business competitors. He runs a giant discount book sellers chain; she runs a tiny specialist children's bookshop. When he opens a new store in her neighborhood, she is threatened with extinction.

Tom Hanks scoops up the caviar..

They run into one another at a P.E.N. dinner, where his actions mirror his business position—he scoops up all the caviar garnish on a salmon mousse. This symbolises the threat he poses: he is going to scoop up all of her business. Her response is to take the caviar back, which represents what she will do by the end of the movie: she will lose her shop, but will take it all back, by capturing his heart.

... and Meg Ryan takes it all back.

Watch the movie sometime, it's a good one. 

Just for the record, the event occurs 37 minutes into a 115 minute movie. That's 32%, not the 37% suggested by Viki King's page-45-out-of-120-pages, but who's to quibble?

First posted: 25 September 2011

P.S.:  There is a Bollywood movie around which contains many of the elements of You've Got Mail, but with a different ending to the story, called The Lunchbox. It's set in Mumbai and draws on practices unknown elsewhere in the world. (There are no dance scenes in it either, believe it or not.) All round, an interesting film.

Disguising the exposition

I've been looking at confrontational dialogue scenes in movies lately, the ones where he and she face off, and maybe get a few home truths off their chest. I expected to find lots of them in romantic comedies, but was surprised to discover how few rom/coms have such a scene. 

You don't believe me? It's true. Think of the (financially) most successful rom/com of all time, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). Lots of conflict, but it's with the family, not the boyfriend. In What Women Want (2000), the second most successful, the conflict is with himself, his daughter, his boss and most of all, the weird ability he suddenly develops. Or think of movies like Sleepless in Seattle (1993), or Serendipity (2001), where the happy couple barely get to exchange opening pleasantries, forget about having time to work up to a righteous indignation. 

There's a great confrontation scene in Jerry Maguire (1996), where she slugs Tom Cruise, but that's the old girlfriend, not Renée Zellweger. There is a face-slap scene in When Harry Met Sally... (1989), something I've discovered even aficionados of the movie don't remember (but that's a subject for another time). In Only You (1994), Marisa Tomei gets to beat up Robert Downey, Jr., and in You've Got Mail (1998), Meg Ryan confronts Tom Hanks; but I had to go to an action movie like Die Hard (1988) for a great spousal confrontation scene, or Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), where the Best Punch Award goes to Karen Allen, not Harrison Ford. 

Some of the finest confrontation dialogue scenes take place between married couples. Check out the first meeting between the exes in That Old Feeling (1987) for a great example of two people building up a full head of steam.  

When exes meet, there's liable to be some friction.

Another is The Out-Of-Towners (1999), a remake of an old Jack Lemmon movie. It was while watching it again that I came to appreciate just how far you can go in disguising an exposition scene. 

Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn play a married couple who are in New York so he can attend a job interview. He needs the job because he just got fired for being too old, but he hasn't told his wife yet. Now comes the moment when she has to be informed. It could have been the dullest piece of exposition imaginable; instead, it's the funniest

Steve Martin tells the group, "I got fired!"

scene in the movie. They seek refuge in an old church to escape the close attention of a large and aggressive dog, only to find themselves being welcomed into an AA-style meeting for people with sex problems. Check out the movie to see just how well a simple piece of exposition can be turned into a classic encounter.

First posted: 12 September 2011

The Act II metaphor

One of the many 'expert' books on the subject of screenwriting is Viki King's How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method. It focuses on getting you to push through and write a first draft of a script (no matter how rough), but it also teaches a formula which is based firmly on Syd Field's 3-Act theory. I suspect her method works best for highly visual people. 

The book's one original contribution to the subject of screenwriting is her reference to something she calls 'the Act II metaphor.'  "This is usually a small scene with symbolic overtones... (which) ... gives us a clue to the resolution." King is rigid about the place where this scene occurs in the script – page 45 (in a 120 page script) – "the start of your character's growth." 

  
I spent some time recently contemplating confrontation scenes in movies. One of the films I looked at was You've Got Mail, and I was interested to see that the major confrontation scene in the movie includes an Act II metaphor. 

Tom Hanks scoops up the caviar...

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are business competitors. He runs a giant discount book sellers chain; she runs a tiny specialist children's bookshop. When he opens a new store in her neighborhood, she is threatened with extinction. 

They run into one another at a P.E.N. dinner, where his actions mirror his business position -- he scoops up all the caviar garnish on a salmon mousse. This symbolises the threat he poses: he is going to scoop up all of her business. Her response is to take the caviar back, which represents what she will do by the end of the movie: she will lose her shop, but will take it all back, by capturing his heart.

... and Meg Ryan takes it all back.

Watch the movie sometime, it's a good one. 

Just for the record, the event occurs 37 minutes into a 115 minute movie. That's 32%, not the 37% suggested by Viki King's page-45-out-of-120-pages, but who's to quibble?

Disguising the exposition

I've been looking at confrontational dialogue scenes in movies lately, the ones where he and she face off, and maybe get a few home truths off their chest. I expected to find lots of them in romantic comedies, but was surprised to discover how few rom/coms have such a scene. 

You don't believe me? It's true. Think of the (financially) most successful rom/com of all time, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). Lots of conflict, but it's with the family, not the boyfriend. In What Women Want (2000), the second most successful, the conflict is with himself, his daughter, his boss and most of all, the weird ability he suddenly develops. Or think of movies like Sleepless in Seattle (1993), or Serendipity (2001), where the happy couple barely get to exchange opening pleasantries, forget about having time to work up to a righteous indignation. 

There's a great confrontation scene in Jerry Maguire (1996), where she slugs Tom Cruise, but that's the old girlfriend, not Renée Zellweger. There is a face-slap scene in When Harry Met Sally... (1989), something I've discovered even aficionados of the movie don't remember (but that's a subject for another time). In Only You (1994), Marisa Tomei gets to beat up Robert Downey, Jr., and in You've Got Mail (1998), Meg Ryan confronts Tom Hanks; but I had to go to an action movie like Die Hard (1988) for a great spousal confrontation scene, or Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), where the Best Punch Award goes to Karen Allen, not Harrison Ford.

When exes meet, there's liable to be some friction.

Some of the finest confrontation dialogue scenes take place between married couples. Check out the first meeting between the exes in That Old Feeling (1987) for a great example of two people building up a full head of steam.  

Another is The Out-Of-Towners (1999), a remake of an old Jack Lemmon movie. It was while watching it again that I came to appreciate just how far you can go in disguising an exposition scene. 

Steve Martin tells the group, "I got fired!"

Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn play a married couple who are in New York so he can attend a job interview. He needs the job because he just got fired for being too old, but he hasn't told his wife yet. Now comes the moment when she has to be informed. It could have been the dullest piece of exposition imaginable; instead, it's the funniest scene in the movie. They seek refuge in an old church to escape the close attention of a large and aggressive dog, only to find themselves being welcomed into an AA-style meeting for people with sex problems. Check out the movie to see just how well a simple piece of exposition can be turned into a classic encounter.