
Over the Holidays, it might help to think of your script as a football game: 'Who are we rooting for?' and 'Who's winning?'
by Rob Edwards
Article, 3 pages
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Over the Holidays, it might help to think of your script as a football game:
'Who are we rooting for?' and 'Who's winning?'
by Rob Edwards
One of the best thing about the holidays is that they give writers a chance to do two things they don't get to do all year. No. Not write. The holidays are horrendous times to write. I'm talking about...
1. The chance to do live market testing with a diverse group of subjects and 2. A refresher course in what real entertainment is all about
Even a loving family can only sit in the living room staring at each other for so long. Eventually they've got to hop in the minivan and go to the movie theatre. Now is when it gets fun. As writers we get to watch family members pitch the storylines of the movies they want to see and, eventually, the motley gang has to arrive at the one glorious movie that will run the table for holiday dollars. Where else can you see market testing in action like that? Really! Where?
Also, if you're like my family, football is like a religion. I'm from Detroit, so the Thanksgiving game is mandatory. Then there's the University of Michigan versus Ohio game and anything else that involves groups of large men wearing helmets until we're all in our respective Thanksgiving food induced stupors. Two questions get asked by all of the people moving in and out of the room all day...
"Who are we rooting for?" and "Who's winning?"
No matter who we are. No matter whether or not we even care about the game of football. We all want to know two things that are important to our enjoyment of the game... and of all entertainment in general...
WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST?
and...
HOW CLOSE ARE THEY TO GETTING WHAT THEY WANT?
First, let's handle the PROTAGONIST...
I'm stunned at the number of people who hand me screenplays with twelve characters on the first six pages, any of whom could be the protagonist. I keep reading, hoping they'll sort themselves out and they never do. Then I'm hit with the thing that makes me put the script down and stop reading: protagonists that don't "protagon". Okay, I made up the word for emphasis but good protagonists "protagon". They drive. They move the plot forward. Bad ones are blown around by the wind.
So, how do we cure this? Well, there's a great story about a very successful actor who was asked how he picks his parts. He said he reads the first and last pages of the script and, if his character is on both, he takes the part. Okay, now that's probably not the best way to discern quality literature but you get the point. Great movies give you a dynamic protagonist who pulls you along with him as he makes one decision after another from the very beginning to the bitter end.
With that in mind, I was watching IRON MAN recently. It starts with a convoy of military Humvees on a desert road over the tune "Back in Black" by AC/DC. Inside the Hummer, several soldiers are looking nervously at their passenger. All we see of him is his hand... holding a tumbler of scotch. Awesome already, right!? If there's any ambiguity as to who the protagonist is, it's erased in the next few seconds. One soldier is nervous around him, a second female driver gets hit on by him and a third peppers him with questions about dating Maxim cover models. Then -- FATOOM! -- the convoy is under attack!
We learn two things here: 1) A stealth way to showcase your character and get a lot of pipe out and 2) A great way to start with an INCITING INCIDENT and open our movies with a lot of energy. The movie then goes back 48 hours and builds back up to this event but we're already sold on the story and the guy. By the way, the day starts with a video tribute to Tony Stark the prodigy, billionaire visionary. More great stuff! And it leaves you with no question as to who you're rooting for.
Similarly THE INCREDIBLES not only gets a lot of pipe out by having the main character interviewed for television in the first scene but the opening action that follows has him saving 7 sets of people (and a cat.) We know everything we need to know about the guy when he's late to his own wedding because of it. We feel his pain when being a superhero is made illegal because of his actions.
Another introduction I've always loved is the introduction of Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) in 50 FIRST DATES (Come on. It's not that old!) In it, we see quick cuts of several beautiful women (and a guy) talking about the magical week they spent with Henry. Then they all start talking about the gentle excuses he had for breaking up with them. Each makes sense but, in the aggregate, they all start to sound like B.S. Then we meet Henry on the beach with a beautiful woman. "Why didn't you tell me you were a secret agent?" Fantastic! I'm sold!
Much like Tony Stark with the tumbler of scotch and the G.I. asking about Maxim magazine, we know everything we need to know about Henry before we've seen his face. It's like hearing the announcer give the stats on the football player before he enters the stadium.
Now, as for KEEPING SCORE, I look at it this way. Lots of gurus talk about stakes. Basically what will happen if the protagonist doesn't get what she wants. But sports gives us the key here too. The announcers rarely talk about what will happen if a certain team loses the game. It's depressing. And, in movies, it's boring. It leads to speeches like, "If we don't get the blah blah blah, we're all gonna lose our jobs... or go to jail... or die!" You might be able to get away with it once but you'll never survive calling it back in every sequence.
Instead, I like to look at the Super Bowl trophy. The SPOILS. Essentially, the tangible thing the protagonist will hold in their hands after they've walked through the fire of your brilliant story. Maybe it's an actual item. Maybe it's getting to see the antagonist die or go to jail. Maybe it's a seat in the oval office. Whatever it is, know it and dangle it in front of your protagonist from time to time. A driven protagonist will stay focused on it anyway, so it will be very easy to keep score. If you can't for the life of you find a tangible goal, give yourself a good ol' McGUFFIN. Something the protagonist wants that can fuel the plot until you ultimately get to the intangible thing she was looking for all along.
Frankly, it's the closest thing writers have to putting the score on the screen. Use it. Trust me, it will help dig you out of a million screenwriting jams.
One last bonus that we can get from a good football game is this. In the best games, the lead goes back-and-forth. The teams are evenly matched and you never really know who is going to pull it off and win. Blowouts are boring. Also, I don't know why, but I love it when the team I'm rooting for has to work for it in the fourth quarter. When the "bad guys" are up by a touchdown and my guys come from behind and score as the last seconds tick off the clock. My heart's in my throat and I jump out of my chair cheering and high-fiving my family. If it's the little injured tailback who nobody was paying attention to because he was just called up from his job at Home Depot, so much the better. But that's just me.
Happy writing and happy holidays! Class dismissed!
-- Rob Edwards
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Rob Edwards wrote his first professional teleplay before his 21st birthday. Since then he’s written for such TV shows as “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”, “Full House”, “In Living Color” and “Studio 60” and such feature films as Disney's Treasure Planet and The Princess and the Frog (both films were nominated for Academy Awards). Be sure to check out his website (and informative blog) at http://www.robedwards.net |

Rob Edwards
Screenwriter • Producer
Rob is an Emmy-nominated writer whose credits include Full House, In Living Color, Roc and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. His work in animated feature writing includes Disney's Oscar nominated The Princess and the Frog and Treasure Planet, where he worked alongside the celebrated writer/director duo Ron Clements and John Musker. His most recent project The Santa Story is slated for a December 2015 release. He is also credited with creating the NBC sitcom Out All Night which starred Patti LaBelle, Morris Chestnut and Vivica A Fox.
In 2012, Rob and his small team launched his website, robedwards.net, where he provides the tools and tricks that he has learned over the years to aspiring and professional screenwriters. Rob is committed to eradicating bad screenwriting-one student at a time. Rob's passion for teaching has led him to teach Master Classes or lecture at Syracuse University, CTN Expo, UCLA, Boston University Los Angeles, Howard University in Washington D.C., The Organization of Black Screenwriters, The Screenwriters World Conference, Digital Hollywood, The Scriptwriters Network and The Writers Store to name a few.