Lecture 7:

Rules of Engagement

Shortcuts (2005)
Raymond Carver (Writings)
Robert Altman (Screenplay)

Professor Daniel Cutrara

Previous Lesson

The Problem of
Comedy

Subgenres

Negotiating Laughs

This Lesson

The Story
Spectrum

The Key
Factors

Assignments

The Story Spectrum

In an ideal world art and politics
would never touch. In reality they cant
keep their hands off of each other. So
as in all things, politics lurks inside the
story triangle: the politics of taste, the
politics of festivals and awards, and,
most important, the politics of artistic
versus commercial success.

Mckee

- Robert
Lesson 7: Part I

Classical Design
According to McKee: Classical Design
means a story built around an active
protagonist who struggles against primarily
external forces of antagonism to pursue his
or her desire, through continuous time,
within a consistent and causally connected
fictional reality, to a closed ending of
absolute irreversible change.
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Classical Design- Archplot

According to McKee:
Causality
Closed Ending
Linear Time
External Conflict
Single Protagonist
Consistent Reality
Active Protagonist

Minimalism
According to McKee: Miniplot and Multiplot
are characterized by the following:
Open Ending
Internal Conflict
Multi-Protagonists
Passive Protagonists

Anti-Structure (Antiplot)
According to McKee:
Antiplot is
characterized by:
Coincidence
Non-linear Time
Inconsistent Realities
After Hours (1985)
Directed by Martin Scorsese, Written
by Joseph Minion.

Non-Plot
According to McKee:
non plot is
characterized by:
Slice of life
No character arc
No significant climax
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
John OBrien (Novel)
Mike Figgis Screenplay

The Key Factors

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Written by Michael Arndt

Lesson 7: Part II

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The Key Factors- 2

According to McKee: The key factors that
determine where a story falls on the spectrum are:
Closed vs. Open Endings

External vs. Internal Conflict

Single vs. Multiple Protagonists
Active vs. Passive Protagonists
Linear vs. Non-linear time
Coincidence vs. Causality
Change vs. Stasis

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Closed vs. Open Endings

According to McKee:
Closed Ending - A Story Climax of absolute,
irreversible change that answers all questions
raised by the telling and satisfies all audience
emotion.
Most Action/Adventure fall into this category

Open Ending - A Story Climax that leaves a

question or two unanswered and some
emotion unfulfilled.
No Country for Old Men
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External vs. Internal Conflict

External Conflict - Engaging with obstacles
that are outside of the protagonist: peers,
family, bureaucracy, co-workers, criminals,
etc.
Indiana Jones, Ferris Buellers Day Off

Internal Conflict - Protagonist struggling

with intellectual, emotional, moral and
ethical dilemmas.
The Accidental Tourist
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Single vs. Multiple Protagonists

Single Protagonists - This is the norm for
most Action/Adventure films. It can be split
in Buddy Movies and Romantic Comedies.
Die Hard, Knocked Up

Multiple Protagonists - Each protagonist

has his or her storyline, they may or may
not interconnect.
The Hours, Go, Love Actually
Short Cuts (Most of Robert Altmans films)
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Multiple Protagonists
Pause the lecture
and watch the clip
from Short Cuts.

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Short Cuts
Notice how the opening sequence
introduces the multiple protagonists and
ties them together through location.
The spraying for the medfly connects them
all to Los Angeles, and they are all tied
together in the third act by an earthquake.

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Active vs. Passive Protagonist

Active Protagonist - This is the norm for the
Classic Design. The Hero takes on the
problem, overcoming obstacles to achieve
the goal.
Passive Protagonist - Appears to be
inactive, but inwardly pursues goal.
Pelle the Conqueror

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Linear vs. Non-Linear Time

Linear Time - A story with or without flashbacks
and arranged into a temporal order of events that
the audience can follow. THIS IS THE NORM.
Non-Linear Time - A story that either skips helter
skelter through time or so blurs temporal
continuity that the audience cannot sort out what
happens before and after what is told.
Bad Timing
First time viewers of Donnie Darko may have this experience.

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Causality vs. Coincidence - 1

Causality - Drives a story in which motivated
actions cause effects that in turn become the
causes of yet other effects, thereby interlinking
the various levels of conflict in a chain reaction of
episodes to the Story Climax, expressing the
interconnectedness of reality.
THIS IS THE NORM

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Causality vs. Coincidence - 2

Coincidence - Drives a fictional world in which
unmotivated actions trigger events that do not
cause further effects, and therefore fragment the
story into divergent episodes and an open
ending, expressing the disconnectedness of
existence.
Pause the lecture and watch the Clip from After
Hours.
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After Hours
The erratic driving of the cab driver
appears unmotivated, disconnected from
the needs of the passenger and the traffic.
The twenty dollar bill accidentally blows out
and will appear in a papier mache
sculpture later punctuating the randomness
of life.
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Consistent vs.
Inconsistent Realities
Consistent Realities Fictional settings
that establish modes of interaction between
characters and their world that are kept
consistently throughout the telling to create
meaning.
Whether Action or Fantasy in an archplot
the rules of the world are never broken.
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Inconsistent Realities
Inconsistent Realities - Settings that mix
modes of interaction so that the storys
episodes jump inconsistently from one
reality to another to create a sense of
absurdity.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Waynes World

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Change vs. Stasis

Change - Can occur within the character,
and in the resolution of a story problem,
e.g. the world is saved from nuclear
destruction.
Stasis - Virtually no change in either
character or plot. This is non-plot, one of
the rarest forms. For it to be successful
change must occur in the audience.
Leaving Las Vegas, Naked

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The Politics
Classic Design Archplot is the most
commercial.
Whether you are writing
for film or television
mastery of the archplot
is for all practical
purposes essential.
The Godfather (1972)
Mario Puzo (Novel)
Mario Puzo (Screenplay)
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Assignments

Shortcuts (2005)
Raymond Carver (Writings)
Robert Altman (Screenplay)

Lesson 7: Part III

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Screening Assignment
Watch Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pay attention to the structure, and what you
think makes it an engaging film.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Quentin Tarantino and Roger
Avary (stories)
Quentin Tarantino (Screenplay)

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E-Board Post #1
Revised Outline
List any changes from your previous
treatment that you would like to implement
as you move forward in the script.

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End of Lecture 7

After Hours (1985)

Written by Joseph Minion

Next Lecture:
Departing from the 3 Act Structure