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denouement, HALLOWEEN, IT FOLLOWS, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, PREDATOR, teaser, THE EXORCIST, THE RING, THE WAILING, three-act structure - October 26, 2022

HORROR STORYTELLING PART III: THE RETURN

Horror scripts are like any other screenplay; it’s of value to apply structure to the storytelling. However, I have a pet theory when it comes to structuring horror storytelling in particular. Which is this: Above and beyond the mechanics of standard three-act feature film narrative construction, there are three acts that correspond with the level of knowledge the in-world characters have about how haunted they are, and a teaser and denouement that are typically directed more toward the audience. To wit… Teaser. We open with a scene or sequence that acts as a “statement of intention.” It’s a horror movie,...

THE 20/80 STRUCTURE

Most everyone is familiar with the standard three-act structure. We’ve got our first-10; inciting incident on pg 17; plot point one on pg 30; midpoint turn on pg 50; plot point two on ppg 70-75; climax, and denouement. Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat offers a slightly different model, but it’s pretty much in the same ballpark. There is another structural model. It has no name, so I’ve just been calling it the “20/80” because, simply put, plot point lands on pg 20, and plot point two is on pg 80. It’s the minor key of screenplay structure. The other hallmark...

Plot Point

Screenwriting often works best when it adheres to a very strong three-act structure. Does every movie in the entire history of cinema have a tight structure, or need one? No. But. Especially when it comes to “commercial” writing, as much as possible we want the script to plug into structure. The idea being that structure offers a guide for both the story/writer, and the audience; we know what the story is doing and where it is going, thus giving the narrative contour and momentum. There are several plot points, but here let’s focus on plot point one. Plot point one...

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