The 3 decisions before you outline.

One of the most consistent errors I made in my early writing was that I would start to write a screenplay too early.

I call impatience, laziness, and indecision the three cardinal sins of the pre-outline phase.

While indecision keeps you frozen, impatience and laziness result in leaping too far into your writing before you're ready.

I used to do this all the time. All the time.

The only screenplays where it ever worked out well were those that I was forced to spend a whole lot of time rewriting.

It was far more common, however, that the screenplay went nowhere and no amount of rewrites were able to fix it.

I've been writing a long time, and of course I teach it as well, so I've developed processes that help guide me through this now.

Part of that process is that I make three key decisions before I dive full force into a project:

1. What is the dramatic question?
2. What is the story?
3. What is the concept?

The amount of work you save is immeasurable.

This is where fighting off impatience and laziness comes in. Focus on stories that are ready. Keep stories that aren't ready yet on the back burner.

I may be in this pre-outline phase for a month; it may be 12 years. It takes what it takes.

I may take notes, write down dialogue, even write out whole scenes, but a project will not take center stage in my time until I'm outlining, and that means these three questions have been answered.

Why?

Because all your decisions are found in the three questions.

Do this right, and there is not a choice you make in your screenplay that isn't dictated by one of these three decisions.

You do not need a logline to start outlining.

I hear this said a lot, and I am sympathetic to it, as I think it is close to what you really need. But the truth is that you do not need an actual logline.

What you need are the makings of a great logline.

You can worry about the logline itself later. There's a lot of work on language, structure, and how you're going to put it together. You don't need to waste time with that now.

None of that stuff is really what makes a logline special.

What makes the logline special is the concept.

What makes the logline functional is a protagonist, a want, and some stakes.

You will know all these things when you answer these three questions.

The 3 Questions

If you have subscribed to the Weekly Email for any length of time, there is no way you have not heard me talk about all three of these things at some point before.

It's how I break the structure of a movie. It's how I break down and analyze a movie that's already been made.

I believe a big part of education is repeating the same stuff over and over and over again until it becomes ingrained and somewhat of an automatic response.

I was speaking at the Houston Media Conference this weekend, and I was talking about the difference between having the information and committing to the information.

None of this information really matters if we don't commit ourselves to it, if we don't accept it and embrace it.

And this often requires tons of repetition first.

What is the story?

This is the emotional throughline of the piece.

As you may know, I define story as:

The transformational journey of a human being.

Who changes, and how?

Is it the protagonist changing, or does the protagonist remain steadfast and change those around them? Or perhaps it's a tragedy, and the protagonist changes for the worse or changes too late.

It is your job to know this and to define it. This is the story you're telling.

This decision influences and even sometimes dictates:

• Sequence 1.
• Act 2A.
• The midpoint.
• Act 2B.
• The realization.
• Sequence 8.
• The sacrifice.

If you ever want to know what the story is of a movie you've watched, just look at who the characters are in the beginning and who they are at the end.

That's your story.

What is the dramatic question?

This is the narrative throughline of the piece.

Who wants what and why? Will they get it? Will they succeed? Sometimes called the main tension. The audience hopes for one outcome and fears a different one.

If you're not sure about the dramatic question for a story, look to:

1. What does the protagonist want? What are they trying to achieve? Or, simply…
2. What problem are they trying to solve?

The most traditional placement for this is at the end of Act 1. This dramatic question is posed, and it is answered at the end of the movie.

For example, will they defeat Thanos?

On much more rare occasions, we do not get a plot-focused dramatic question until the midpoint.

On other rare occasions, we can answer the dramatic question at the end of Act 2, and immediately pose a new one for Act 3.

(That said, I have never seen a dramatic question asked at the midpoint and answered at the end of 2A. I don't see how that form could be effective as the primary tension.)

This decision influences and even sometimes dictates:

• The inciting incident.
• End of Act One.
• Sequence 3.
• Sequence 4.
• The midpoint.
• Sequence 5.
• Sequence 6.
• The Act 2 break.
• Sequence 7.
• The setback.
• Sequence 8.
• The sacrifice.
• The resolution.

What is the concept?

What promises the great scenes? What generates the great scenes?

To be more specific, I call this "The Fun" in my classes. But the exact definition of this is a bigger topic than we have room for here as it involves a multitude of things.

So to simplify, we will call it the concept. It is the concept that generates the great, unique scenes that make a movie stand out.

What generates great scenes in JURASSIC PARK? Cloned dinosaurs.

What generates great scenes in OBSESSION? A supernatural, psychotic obsession.

What generates great scenes in BARBIE? Barbie in the real world.

What generates great scenes in SINNERS? Music and vampires in the Depression-era South.

What generates great scenes in CODA? The conflict of family loyalties as one's own passion is pitted against the challenges of a deaf family business operating in a hearing world.

Low-concept ideas can be more challenging because you don't have that concept to generate the scenes.

You will have to generate the great scenes yourself, and do so out of context of a main idea.

It's not impossible. This describes so many of our favorite smaller movies already, right? But it is more challenging.

Your concept is how you deliver fun, thrills, and excitement to the audience, and it's how you execute many of your story points mentioned above.

For many, it will be what defines your movie. It is the big idea behind it.

And as this choice promises great scenes, it is your job to deliver.

There is no specific order.

One may come much faster than the other two, and there's no telling which one that will be.

One may be a holdout that seems to last a decade!

This is not a step-by-step process and there is no telling how long it takes to figure out all three.

Two recommendations.

1. No matter where you are in the pre-outline, keep generating scenes in your head. Until you have all three decisions made, be writing down ideas, brainstorms, and possible scenes.
   • If you know your dramatic question, generate scenes that explore that. Write down the idea of the scene. You do not have to write the scene itself.
   • If you know your story, generate scenes that explore that character. For example, the ordinary world, or the realization, and what it would take to transform that character.
   • If you know your concept, then not only will you be generating scenes, you'll be generating great scenes as well.
   • If you write the scene, that's fine, but if you do, be prepared to throw it away. You have to stay nimble and you haven't made the decisions yet that will determine whether you even want that scene
2. If you have two of the three choices, focus your energy on the two decisions you have made. Do not linger on the one you have not determined yet. As you devote more energy to exploring the choices you have, the elusive one will eventually make itself clear.

Five Great Scenes

This is the last step I have before I go to outline. I make sure I have five great scenes. Now, the truth is, if I've been doing the pre-outline right, I likely already have them, and this is no big deal.

But if my concept was unable to generate five great scenes, it might be a signal that this idea, this concept, this structure is not ready yet.

Now dive feet first into the outline.

Start putting all those scenes together. Put them in order. Put the ones you're not using into a file. Generate new ones.

1. You know what story you want to tell.
2. You know the narrative throughline.
3. And you know why this is going to be fun and exciting and thrilling to watch.

Sounds easy, right?

Well, it's not! But this does make it 100 times easier than it would be without it.

You have legitimate criteria for every one of your choices.

Even better, as you move through each phase (pre-outline to outline to treatment to screenplay), you'll make new discoveries at every level.

But those discoveries will be more productive because you'll know which ones help you tell the story you're trying to tell and which ones are sending you down a blind alley.

It's how you move from the question of "What can happen?" that freezes so many with its infinite answers…

To the much more fun and much more productive question of "What needs to happen?" in order to tell the story you want to tell.

STORY AND PLOT PRO

Thanks so much for being a part of the community at Story and Plot Pro. Be sure to take advantage of a writing sprint this week, and get yourself into a Mastermind!

That's a wrap for this week!

This was a big weekend in Texas for movie makers. Houston had the Houston Media Conference, and Fantastic Fest premiered a bunch of great new movies, including PLAY HOUSE by friend of the email, Nic Curcio (written with Kirby Gladstein.)

I had some serious FOMO not being there. Fantastic Fest is getting bigger every year, and the energy seems more and more attractive.

I don't take advantage of these things enough, and I should.

We all should. There are almost certainly fun festivals near each of us. We should be making that point to be there

The next one for Houston is the Cinema Arts Festival in October.

But before then, I will see you next week!

Tom