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ARTICLE: Genre Fools, but Structure Rules

Each generation of screenwriters searches in their own way for the elusive clue to Hollywood’s eternal question: What makes a movie work for audiences?

Most great movies have similar elements: brilliant characterizations that are well-acted, surprising action that is well-executed, and an involving plot. Lower (probably much lower) on the list of qualities that hook audiences is movie structure– how the characters are revealed and how the story unfolds. Yet, without a solid structure to support the characters, action and plot, the impact of these elements would be greatly diminished.

Building Story Structure

How do you build a unique and powerful structure for a story?

Many writers don’t bother building a unique structure for their story; they merely grab their script’s genre by the throat and cling to it as their lifeline. The genre cliches become the spine of their story.

If they’re writing a love story, then they know the genre demands the boy must meet the girl, then the boy must somehow lose the girl, and then he must win her back. These genre demands become their structure. They balance their brilliant characterizations and surprising actions on this rickety, tired structure.

Genre and structure are NOT the same thing.

Don't Confuse Genre with Structure

I'll repeat: Genre and structure are not the same thing.

Genre refers to the story elements the audience expects the movie to explore, like romance, danger, humor, horror, war, alien worlds, crime, or technology. The structure of a movie is the arrangement of scenes that reveals character and unfolds action - path of the storytelling.

Don’t let your story genre limit your structural choices. Writers are often led to believe that a romantic comedy unfolds a certain way; and an action picture must unfold another way. These are generational prejudices. Great story structure transcends any trendy genre elements that attempt to stifle it.

Learn from the Pros

Let’s explore some magnificent movie scripts. We’re looking at these movies in script form so we can concentrate on the structure of the storytelling. Sometimes film performances are so persuasive, they overcome weak story structures. Or the action in the set up of the story can be so riveting, we are unaware of the intricate structure that supports the roller coaster ride we’re taking.

Each movie script we will examine is by an award winning screenwriter. Each script attracted a brilliant cast and a very successful director. Yet, it is not the movie stars or the director’s tricks alone that create the impact of these stories. Hidden within each of them is a secret audience magnet: stellar story structure.

The movies I’ve chosen to explore span 60 years of movie history. I've chosen movies from diverse genres. The talent pool is completely different on each one. They are worlds apart in subject matter. The one constant they share is that they are structured brilliantly, memorably, uniquely.

A close look at these scripts will reveal that the writers sweated out each step of the story, scene-by-scene, line-by-line. That’s why we experience the same thrill reading them in print as we did when we saw them on the big screen.

Six Gems of Screenplay Structure:

THE DAWN PATROL (1938)

The original 1930 classic was directed by Howard Hawks and starred Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; but I suggest you read the script from the remake directed by Edmund Golding and starring Errol Flynn, David Niven, and Basil Rathbone. It’s an action drama of World War I pilots in France that depicts the grueling pressures of battlefront command as Rathbone is forced to send up green recruits.

John Monk Saunders wrote the original story that won the Academy Award in 1930 (adaptation by Howard Hawks and Seton I. Miller). Saunders’ story held up even more beautifully in the 1938 version that was adapted into a screenplay by Seton I. Miller and Dan Totheroh. The relentless rhythm the writers create between the frantic preparation for the night raids and the underlying expectancy of disaster build to an amazing climax – inevitable, yet thrilling.

These dramatic effects are amazingly achieved with very little onscreen action. The story is told through the reactions of those left behind on the ground, through their reactions to the sounds from the sky and the sights on the runway as the squadron leaves at dusk and returns at dawn. Very soon into the movie, we realize that we are never going to cut away from this little squadron of men, and we don’t; yet we are riveted to the tragic events they play out. This script is a powerful manifestation of an ‘inevitable’ style story structure. We know these men are going to be sacrificed one by one, and yet we can’t desert them. Read the script and figure out how they achieved this.

SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)

This movie is a masterpiece of comic structure. The script melds outrageous characterizations, racy dialogue, and the slapstick charms of Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe. To spice things up, there is jazzy music, lethal gangsters, and even a little cross-dressing.

This movie script typifies the ‘pile-on’ structure of story telling. The central characters are drawn unwittingly into an adventure and each effort they make to extricate themselves from their situation propels them into deeper trouble (and funnier predicaments). Lemmon and Curtis play two unemployed musicians who innocently witness the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. To avoid being rubbed out by the mob, they take refuge (disguised as women) in an all-girl jazz band bound for a gig at a Miami resort.

This award-winning screenplay was a collaboration between writing giants - Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, from a story by M. Logan and Robert Thoeren. Comic complications develop when Tony Curtis falls in love with Monroe, and a millionaire (Joe E. Brown) falls in love with Jack Lemmon. These two unlikely love stories captivate us brilliantly. But the movie’s energy and appeal ratchets up several notches when the gangsters from the opening sequence show up at the Miami resort.

The mix of danger, slapstick, sex, and frustration is tantalizing. The gangster plot and the show biz love stories feed off each other, without distracting us or one plot diminishing the other. We are so involved with each ball that Wilder and Diamond juggle in the air; we’re unaware of cut-aways. You must read this script to appreciate the craft. Viewing the movie is not enough; you’ll be distracted by the brilliance of the performances. The story structure is the unacknowledged star here. Read this script and see how magic is made on the page.

THE PROFESSIONALS (1966)

This rousing, spicy western tells the tale of a band of American mercenaries sent to Mexico by a wealthy rancher (Ralph Bellamy) to rescue his wife who’s been abducted by a vile bandit played by Jack Palance. Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin lead these soldiers of fortune on the rescue mission. Many obstacles are thrown in their path as they attempt to right this wrong and rescue Bellamy’s wife.

Sending soldiers of fortune on an errand of mercy sets a tone of intriguing contradiction that keeps us captivated till the end. The story structure that writer/director Richard Brooks creates from Frank O’Rourke’s novel ‘A Mule for Marquesa’ is solidly balanced on top of a vicious secret which the mercenaries discover as the story unfolds. This is a fine example of a ‘hidden agenda’ story structure. We are carried right along with the heroes and only learn each piece of the puzzle when they do.

Many critics claim this story is far-fetched, and perhaps it is; but the hidden agenda style of storytelling holds our attention nonetheless and creates a taut excitement that leads us to an outrageous, memorable climax.

ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)

This movie is one of the best films ever made about the theatre. The screenplay won an Academy Award for Joe Mankiewicz (he also directed). Bette Davis plays a brilliantly bitchy Broadway star who takes in an adoring fan, Eve (played by Ann Baxter). Eve reveals herself to be a vilely ambitious actress who menaces Bette, eventually taking over her career and her husband, and usurping her fame.

In this story, the audience knows more than the characters do because it is played out in flashback with bookends ‘in the present’ up front and at the end. The writer begins the tale very close to the end of the story, and then flashes back to the meat of the conflict. The menacing ‘Eve’ is fresh in our minds because we’ve seen her in full bloom up front; while the characters in the movie are oblivious to her potential evil until it is too late. This structural device creates a tantalizing suspense that permeates the entire movie and keeps us riveted.

The script was based on a short story by Mary Orr that was reprinted a few years ago in Zoetrope’s short story magazine All Story. After you’ve read the script, read the short story. The brilliant structure is there in the story; you’ll miss the witty and chilling Mankiewicz dialogue but the heart of the thrill remains.

THE FRONT (1976)

This is a bold motion picture, mixing comedy and drama in an entertainingly emotional way. It is set in the McCarthy Era. Woody Allen plays a politically naive dupe who fronts for blacklisted TV writers by submitting their scripts with his name. This dark period of our national history is handled with intelligence, feeling, and humor. The screenwriter Walter Bernstein and the director Martin Ritt were both blacklisted themselves, as was costar Zero Mostel.

This script plays out its ‘temptation-redemption’ story structure beautifully. We laugh as we watch witless Woody being drawn into the fame-and-fortune game, a game he learns to play surprisingly well. Woody reaps the rewards; and then he must pay the price. Read the script to discover how cleverly Bernstein entices us to enjoy Woody’s worldly seduction and lets us believe we have nothing in common with this self-interested chump. Our moral superiority is bulldozed flat at the end, when we discover we’re more like him than we want to admit. This is a masterful rendering of a seductive story structure.

THE SIXTH SENSE (1999)

M. Night Shyamalan wrote (and directed) this stunning example of a flash forward story structure. The movie opens with a dramatic shooting incident, and then flashes forward eighteen months and the rest of the movie dramatizes the aftermath of this disaster.

This is a phenomenal script, one worth studying on the page, scene by scene. The author keeps his chilling secret from us till nearly the end of the movie. Yet if you read it carefully, you’ll discover each scene adds little clues for us which fall like crumbs that we think are leading us home; but instead they lead us on a spooky but thrilling journey to that candy house in the deep recesses of the forest where the wicked witch waits.

Recognize Your Genre Prejudices

Don’t allow your story genre to interfere with your ability to build a powerful structure for your script. One useful exercise to turn your genre prejudices on their heads is to examine how writers in other genres structure their stories.

If you write action-adventure stories, read SOME LIKE IT HOT or THE FRONT, learn from the genius within those pages.

If you write romantic comedy, breakdown the script of THE PROFESSIONALS or THE DAWN PATROL to see how obstacles and expectations are setup and paid off.

If you write techno thrillers, read ALL ABOUT EVE or SOME LIKE IT HOT to understand how comic diversions and human foibles can add pace and dimension to a story.

Genre supports structure -- but doesn't replace it!

Hopefully, this exercise will sharpen your instinct for structure, blast the heck out of your genre prejudices, and open your mind to fresh storytelling techniques. Genre will never be a successful substitute for story structure. Perhaps people choose to see a particular movie because of its genre; but it is the story structure that holds them in their seats till they find out what happens.

Take full advantage of those writers before you who struggled and triumphed over the same story telling challenges you face each day. Let William Goldman’s famous phrase ‘screenplays are structure’ take on a whole new dimension in your scripts.

Online Sources for Movie Scripts:

Harvest Moon (www.harvestmoon.com) publishes award winning shooting scripts in their professional format with the author’s permission. This company is non-profit and has the cooperation of the Writers Guild Foundation.
Simply Scripts (www.simplyscripts.com) offers free downloads of movie scripts for educational purposes. These scripts are not always properly formatted and may not necessarily be the shooting draft of the script.
Movie Script Database (www.iscriptdb.com) is a search directory for scripts online. Some scripts are free downloads, others require a fee. Most of these scripts are properly formatted and the draft is identified.

Lenore Wright has fifteen years experience writing screenplays and marketing them. She has sold spec scripts and movie pitches to many major production houses: Columbia, Universal, Cinemax, MGM-TV, ABC, CBS Theatricals, and Hallmark.

For up-to-date script marketing tips and tools, SUBSCRIBE to her FREE newsletter: Script Market News.

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