Lessons from the Screenplay — Season 2018

David Fincher recently implied that the MCU is "lassoed and hogtied" by three-acts, so I wanted to investigate this statement. This video begins this process by examining how to define an act using Marvel's The Avengers.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an exciting thriller about an unlikely pair of misfits trying to solve a forty-year-old crime, but it's also interesting from a structural perspective. It uses a non-conventional, five-act structure. This video breaks down the anatomy of an act, to examine how the film breaks the rules while following them at the same time.

Get Out takes a situation that is universally relatable and adds a specific and unfamiliar protagonist. In doing so, the film unlocks new ways of creating tension and establishing trust. This video examines the new storytelling techniques Jordan Peele applied to 2017's Get Out.

The USS Callister episode of Black Mirror is a bit of an anomaly amongst the nineteen episodes of the series. It cleverly introduces the antagonist in an unconventional way, brings the premise of an old Twilight Zone episode into the near future, and manages to constantly be doing multiple things at once.

Michael Mann's 2004 thriller Collateral is a great example of how a protagonist's facade is slowly stripped away as their inner self is forced to rise, and what happens when these two sides of the character collide at the midpoint of the story.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a strange movie. The things it does well, it does very well, and the things it drops the ball on, it really drops the ball on. In this video I look at the character arcs of Finn and Kylo Ren, comparing what works and what doesn't. And finally, I collect my thoughts on the idea of letting the past die.

Jurassic Park is a great example of how theme can be used to design a cohesive and powerful story. Author Michael Crichton and screenwriter David Koepp use the theme as the DNA of the story, creating interesting characters with opposing viewpoints that explore the question at the heart of the film: Is everything we call "progress" actually progress?

Killmonger is a great example of how an antagonist can challenge the hero not just through confrontation and violence, but by representing something that affects the hero emotionally.

The Mission Impossible franchise is full of great examples of how to construct a compelling heist sequence. This video examines the heists from the original film and Mission Impossible — Rogue Nation to reveal the anatomy of a heist.

No Country For Old Men is a film that challenges the audience in the best possible way. It never condescends and refuses to spell things out—instead compelling us to connect the dots and participate in the storytelling. This video examines some of the ways it achieves this.

Sound always plays a particularly important role in the horror genre, but A Quiet Place takes this a step further, making sound itself a key element of the story. So in this video I talk to the sound designers of the film, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn, to learn more about the ways sound can be used in storytelling.

Edgar Wright films are always full of flashy, fun style, but what makes them so memorable is their equal focus on substance. This video looks at how everything in Shaun of the Dead—from supporting characters to the rise of zombies—is designed to enhance character.

The Devil Wears Prada does a great job of setting up its story in a very fun and efficient way. This video goes on a tour of the first ten pages of the screenplay to see how it concisely sets the stage for the entire film.

Good Will Hunting is a film that puts the psychological aspects of story structure right on the surface. This video examines how characters use defense mechanisms to protect themselves, how the supporting characters in a story can be designed to weaken these defenses, and how these elements work together to create a powerful catharsis for both the characters and the audience.

Every genre brings with it a set of expectations that shapes the kinds of stories it can tell and the themes it can explore, and science fiction is perhaps the best genre to openly explore fundamental ideas of existence. So in this video, we investigate how Annihilation takes biological, existential concepts and translates them into narrative elements. We explore how these are expressed in every element of the story, from the characters, to the environment, to the monsters that inhabit it. And we examine how subverting one of the fundamental elements of character creates an experience that is truly alien.