Occasionally in my web traversal I trip over a nugget of screenwriting wisdom. Just a dusty little nub poking from the ground that catches my boot and makes me stumble.
So I stop and take a closer look. I sweep away the surrounding dirt to expose more. Huh, I think to myself. Shiny. Dazzling. Mesmerizing. Yep, this looks like the real deal. I dig deeper, revealing more payload. And more.
In this case -- me stumbling over Rob's
"Eradicating Bad Screenwriting Forever" site -- the more I dug, the deeper I plunged, the more I realized how big this payload was. This was the mother load. This was story-structure gold.
Rob's story break-down fit well with my own story model. Importantly, Rob's observations added clarity to my understanding of the screenplay last act.
His "superfreak" analogy perfectly describes that epiphany moment, that "fuck it" moment -- that is to say, the "no fucks given" moment -- when the protagonist stops fighting their inner demons. That moment of inner acceptance when the switch flips, the mask falls away, the end of the road is reached, the well of denial runs dry. The protagonist faces their demon, willingly succumbs to it, is consumed by it, obliterating their old self... only to discover one terrifying, mind-expanding, blissful moment later: not only did they survive their greatest ordeal but the experience let them master their demon... or subjugate it or at least demote it to the status of equal partner.
The SUPERFREAK. Thank you so much to Rob Edwards and Michael Arndt for that new plot point on my story model chart.
Here you go. Rob's concise master class all nicely linked for your smooth and sexy screenwriting pleasure:
- Theme and the Underdog Elixir
- The 5 Keystones to Writing a Dynamic Script!
- Class 1, Unit 1: Heart, Head & Hand
- Class 2, Unit 2: Shopping List
- Class 3, Unit 3: Brainstorming, Part 1
- Class 4, Brainstorming: Unit 3, Part 2
- Class 5, Brainstorming: Unit 3, Part 3
- Class 6, Brainstorming: Unit 3, Part 4
- Class 7, Brainstorming: Unit 3, Part 5
- Class 8, Brainstorming: Unit 3, Part 6
- Class 9, Breaking Story: Unit 4, Part 1
- Class 10, Breaking Story: Unit 4, Part 2
- Class 11, Breaking Story: Unit 4, Part 3
- Class 12, Breaking Story: Unit 4, Part 4
- Class 13, Breaking Story: Unit 4, Part 5
- Class 14, Breaking Story: Unit 4, Part 6
Sadly, the master class halted after that last post of Nov 17, 2014. Rob promised to continue. I very much hope he will.