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STORY AND
SCREENPLAY STRUCTURE by Kal Bishop
Structure is beneficial to creative output in
a number of ways. There are at least two types of structure, work processes and
frameworks:
a) Work processes such as incremental production
produce more output than a "do your best" approach. Writing four pages a day
completes a words-on-paper first draft screenplay in one month. A "do your
best" or "waiting for inspiration" approach can take months or years.
b) Work processes such as separating creative from
critical thinking allow the build up of large idea pools using creative
thinking and the reduction of those pools into feasible ideas using critical
thinking.
c) Frameworks reduce complex problems into their
component intellectual parts. For example, story structure can be reduced to
three or four acts or The Hero With A Thousand Faces (Campbell, 1973).
Frameworks increase output by reducing complex problems into smaller, more
manageable problem solving exercises. In screenwriting, frameworks tell the
writer where to start, where to finish, what to write and what should be
happening at a particular stage of the story.
Additionally, a
structured approach improves performance in a number of ways, including:
a) Simply being prolific improves performance. The
single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when
creator is being most prolific. Experience refines knowledge and methodology
towards optimal levels.
b) Engagement in the tasks results in problem
identification and triggers the mind into working on those problems at various
cognitive levels. Problems incubate until answers become apparent. Increasing
the incidence and frequency of problem identification increases the incidence
and frequency of insight. In other words, simply engaging in the project
generates good ideas, insights and inspiration, which is why screenwriters
often find that their best ideas come to them when they are in the middle of
writing a screenplay.
c) Increased problem identification (coupled with
motivation) increases the incidence of solution seeking, through active search
for stimuli and intellectual cross pollination through networks and
collaboration.
A range of Screenplay and Story Structure Templates can
be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kal Bishop is a management consultant based
in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and
for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led improv,
creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los
Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays.
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