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SCREENWRITING
& SCREENWRITERS – BEYOND SYD FIELD by Kal Bishop
Without denigrating the work and
contribution of Syd Field to the art of screenwriting, it is about time many
screenwriters moved on.
Syd Field gave us the plot point - a clearer
definition of what was previously known as the “twist” - as well as
other concepts such as the “pinch” and midpoint. His work is still a
valuable start point for screenwriters.
Syd Field’s midpoint
analysis moved us towards four-act structure, which is well established in many
cultures, whereas western culture still tends to dwell on three acts.
It seems as though Syd Field had some issues with the mid-point, one of
them being that the inclusion of the mid point and consequently four act
structure does not fit well with all stories – his attempt at preciseness
resulted in a consequential lack of broadness and hence greater critical
analysis as a template.
Hollywood has implicitly accepted four act
structure – most movies now have a high point midway – usually a
catastrophic event for the protagonist. Resistance to four-act structure is
probably a result of our theatrical heritage.
But moving light years
ahead in terms of structure is the Hero’s Journey.
Ironically,
Campbell published Hero with a Thousand Faces before Syd Field published his
work. Vogler wrote an easy to read update in 1992 (The Writer’s Journey).
The Hero’s journey is a well established anthropological analysis of
stories across cultures.
Depending on the interpretation, there were
17, 18 or 19 stages to the Hero’s Journey. But a modern, detailed analysis
reveals at least 106.
There is some rejection of the Hero’s
Journey as a universal template primarily because the archetypes (Mentor, Shape
Shifter, Threshold Guardians etc) refer to the Quest, Fable, Fantastic et al
genres. However, this is a misunderstanding as a metaphoric and symbolic
interpretation leads to such classics as Midnight Cowboy and Get Carter, the
original Michael Caine classic.
Ultimately, the Hero’s Journey is
a much more sophisticated study of Story Structure than Syd Field’s
analysis – and story structure is the most fundamental and critical of the
skills that screenwriters need to possess.
Other theorists, such as
McKee in Story are not as structure orientated, but their input when debating
structure, is also indicative to it’s importance. For example, McKee
rightly states that the screenwriting process should involve a step-outline,
treatment and then a words-on-paper first draft.
The thing that held
us back was this idea that a template had to be broad, which made sense if that
template had to explain many stories. But a conceptual leap is the
understanding that detailed templates, which may not each explain large numbers
of stories, when taken together, can be more useful tools.
Further,
whereas Syd Field’s analysis left the screenwriter with yawning gaps - the
need to fill 30 and 60 pages – detailed templates overcome this problem.
Whereas Syd Field had difficulty with four acts, we are now playing
with story structures with potentially 150 acts. This is the natural result of
analysing sequences as opposed to acts.
It is like comparing
today’s scientific analyses to Middle Aged analyses using Fire, Water,
Earth and Air.
In conclusion, it is time screenwriters moved beyond
Syd Field.
A detailed Hero’s Journey analysis and related story
structure templates can be found at
http://www.managing-creativity.com
You can also
receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.
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. He is a passionate
traveller. He can be reached on
http://www.managing-creativity.com
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StoryScribe.com (URL:
www.StoryScribe.com)