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we all love stories we all understand

stories we tell stories we certainly

watch read listen to stories told in all

different ways whether they're you know

comic books novels uh movies TV shows

commercials whatever they might be

and you know most young

directors basically go on that on that

instinct and they build on it and

because they love the medium they've um

they've actually absorbed you know much

much more of the language than um than

than other people because they've you

know there's just something about it

that they love and that they've

connected with I had all of that plus

the advantage of growing up around the

creative problem solving so I really had

a behind the scenes look a huge

Advantage but I still found when I

became a director that there there there

were these mysterious

uncontrollable you know

unpredictable um aspects of the process

that I found frustrating by the way I

still do but I've evened out some of

those over the years by continuing to

learn by continuing to explore by by

continuing to ask questions by

continuing to read and make notes I

began organizing those thoughts about I

don't know 15 years ago or so and adding

to it and I now have a checklist and I

go to this checklist usually a couple of

times during the course of a project

early on when I've I've I've fallen in

love with

it I'm getting

engaged but I

recognize that there are some aspects of

the screenplay that might be stronger

than others and at that point I'll do a

quick

evaluation just to give myself a sort of

a 30,000 foot view of the

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project I'll finish reading the script

maybe for the second or third time and

uh I'm very much leaning into saying yes

to the project and just to sort of test

it

where this

screenplays strengths lie and perhaps

where there may be some weaknesses that

could use some deeper thought or they

may be U fatal fatal flaws for that

screenplay I'll look at genre and

analyze that I'll try to understand what

what genre is this story living in um

mystery thriller

fantasy um you know uh

inspirational true story um you know

what is it and I'll I'll rate on a scale

of 1 to 10 how well I think it actually

fulfills the promise of that genre

because we've all come to learn that

certain kinds of stories are meant

to um instigate a reaction from us the

best thing in the world of course is

when something not only

achieves the the promise of the genre

but it you know it exceeds it it

surprises you in some other way that's

you know fantastic when uh when that can

happen so I'll do that I'll quickly look

at the characters are the characters

interesting are they driving the story

are they reactive characters or

proactive characters who's in Conflict

do they need to be in conflict or is it

forced is it is it is it um you know

could they could could they could the

antagonist and protagonist simply walk

away from one another um those are sort

of fundamentals that I've come to really

believe in and if they're not there I

like to identify it so I'll rate the key

characters the lead characters um

structure structure is about momentum

it's

about suspense and yeah I know that's an

odd term to use in sort of some

all-encompassing way but I do believe

that all stories need to be suspense

pieces in a way it's that that it's that

question of is it a page Turner is one

scene pulling you along to the next

whether it's a comedy fantasy um you

know or drama or or suspense thriller um

you know does this story structurally

offer some twists and surprises

audiences love that it makes

us um you know

vulnerable to the

possibilities that the story may not end

the way we

predict you know my feeling is that with

most sophisticated audiences who've seen

a lot of shows and

movies probably if you stopped a story

about halfway through and said how do

you think this is going to end whether

it's a true story and you know the

ending or not and up at the majority of

people could guess it so as a

Storyteller you have to find ways to to

put them off balance so they're not so

certain that you're going to resolve in

the way that they expected it to of

course it's fantastic when a story

doesn't resolve in in uh you know in the

way that audiences would anticipate

that's great but you can't always have

that um because it that has to be

organic and a and a and a sort of a

natural uh answer to the big narrative

questions of the of the story that's the

other thing about

structure is there a thematic narrative

question that's being asked and is it

answered because without that you know

it's not very fulfilling storytelling

also when looking at structure and

rating it I like to think about

sequences I really believe Less in a

three-act structure and much more in

sequences of sort of you know kind of 8

to 12 Pages roughly about 10 minutes and

that work almost like chapters in a

story and good good stories nobody's

better at building a story this way than

Steven Spielberg by the way they work in

sequences and when you have the

overarching narrative question the

characters in Conflict but the sequences

have their own beginning middle and end

that are satisfying it really pulls you

along and suddenly you know you can't

wait for the next chapter uh and uh um

and so that's something that I really

like to look at and then very important

for me

to identify the theme or

themes now it's a weighty idea you know

if you're doing a a superhero movie The

themes might be kind of obvious of good

versus evil but I believe that that that

modern storytelling carries with it a

kind of Matrix of themes and that

various characters and subplots carry

other themes that can be more subtle

more sophisticated Beyond good versus

evil or the big overarching themes but

they all need to be there and they need

to be uh you know represented some

stories aren't you know aren't about how

fresh exciting or profound the the focus

on the thematics are um sometimes it's

about sort of relevance for us so a true

story might not have themes that

surprise us or are you know are are that

thought-provoking or or or revealing but

they may be about characters that were

fascinated by and that gives it a kind

of a its own kind of thematic relevance

superhero movies can

exist very correctly and rightly because

you know we love Batman Batman

represents a certain thing a kind of a

character a sort of a vigilante a

troubled vigilante uh and you know we

want to see that very familiar character

linked with that theme play out against

another kind of villain and that's as

valid as a true story that

probes um you know uh uh cautionary

aspects of society but you need to

identify them in order to really be able

to appreciate them so once I go through

I feel like oh look the characters are

promising I'd rate them a seven or an

eight oh the genre is working pretty

well it's a it's a nine uh oh wow the

theme is not so fresh you know it's a

five um but I wonder if I could Elevate

that in some way maybe through the

character um the structure is only about

a six but the characters are so strong

that if we can you know find a way to

focus the structure make sure that the

payoff is stronger get it you know to

the point where we feel it's an eight

you know now you're talking about a very

strong screenplay that's working on a

lot of different levels

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this is based largely on a a few books

that I've read um and um and you know

and then and then just a lot that I've

picked up one of the books is a book my

dad turned me on to when I was young

like a teenager he was studying with

Leos Agri and it's the art of dramatic

writing and uh uh agre someone that I

really really connected with uh and my

dad certainly did my father rant and we

spent you know a lot of time talking

about some of these ideas mostly

focusing on characters and the way that

they drive a story The Way their

motivations and their relationships with

each other actually push along the story

create structure um reflect the themes

and um and um you know and and create

the conflict that is drama so I learned

a lot from him in his book and I really

recommend it another great book is

making a good script great by Linda

Seager now this is all about rewrites

but I found it invaluable even when it

came to understanding how to Stage a

scene edit a scene build sequences in

addition to looking at rewrites but it

asks a lot of the questions that I've

sort of baked into my checklist if

something's bothering you about about a

script

or you know you like a story turn or a

Twist or a character moment but other

people are sort of bumping up against it

finding it slow or tedious or confusing

or something like that very often if you

can go to those fundamental questions

and ask you know are we following the

logic of the character did we set up in

the First Act this transformation that

we're going to witness later on or does

it come out of the blue you know

sometimes there are there are the

answers to these questions suggest that

with a very simple adjustment you can

make that idea um you know land in its

very best form for the audience there

are a lot of other great story analysts

uh Sid field is one he wrote a book

called screenplay that's great Robert

mcke wrote a book called story you know

he lays out very specific goals for the

writer uh sometimes um I don't agree

with with the specifics like you know a

certain plot turn has to happen by a

certain page nice kind of a goal but I

don't think this should be RI rigid

they're not it's not a formula not

templates but I do think that that all

of these projects they mean to make us

understand the way narrative works and

and it makes a case for you know the the

way narrative works best at least as

it's based on these these people it's

all a matter of taste

and judgment and it comes back to you

know the storytellers the filmmakers

because I my view might be different

than you

know you know anybody else's and people

who are going to make great movies may

not um you know view a story analyze a

story the way I would so it's kind of a

way of taking what personally excites

you about a story and beginning to

deepen your understanding understanding

of why it might excite

you um Beyond some personal connection

to a kind of an emotional and

intellectual sort of intersection and

then you can build upon that