8 Elements Of The Nutshell Technique (Story Structure) - Jill Chamberlain

Film Courage: Can you touch on briefly what those eight elements are [mentioned in Jill's book]. Jill Chamberlain, Script Consultant/Author/Writer: Sure and you know and I'll remind you that folks can also download the forms and themselves from my website Jill Chamberlain [dot] com. So you can see it for yourself but I'll point out what the elements are so I do have a few moments in time and by moments in time I'm talking about the first scene and the last scene so we're going to identify in the first scene what a character wants and then we're gonna have a next moment that identify is what I call the point of no return this is the big event it's gonna push us into the main part of the story it's the event that makes this movie this movie everything else on here is internal to the character the point of no return is the one moment and it's external to the character it's the one thing that has to happen to them so so we're talking about Groundhog Day right so the the point of no return is when he wakes up and discovers it's the same day again right and it should feel like it's this moment makes this movie this movie without that scene you wouldn't have the movie Groundhog Day right it's absolutely essential so it's important like moment like that that's gonna drive the rest of the story it's also external you notice it wasn't the point of no-return is never somebody decides to do something there's an element of fate that is involved when we're looking at the point of no return so of all the elements it's the one thing that's external that had to happen to him he could have not had that happen it woke enough and it was February 3rd and then this movie wouldn't be this movie but for whatever reason he woke up and it was February 2nd all over again that's outside of his control if we were going to look at the movie Tootsie sometimes people say oh the point of no return is when he goes to audition for the part that's a choice right so the point of no-return needs to be external to the character so I would not identify it as he goes to audition what and what you want to identify is the moment outside of his control so the part where ever thing really changes is when so he could have blown that audition and he almost blows that audition he comes very close to blowing it but the female producer likes him right and at one point she says I like him I like her we're gonna hire and she leans over and says you got the part I'm sending the contract to your agent that's the point of no return that because that moments outside of his control right that would had nothing to do with his choice he could have blown that audition he almost did blow that audition but that's the moment boom now or in the movie known as Tootsie what another thing I like to think of a great example of this is the differences but going from act 1 and act 2 is the Wizard of Oz Wizard of Oz act 1 it's a black and white point of no return is she thinks that a tornado has lifted her house up and dumped her in the land of Oz and boom weren't Technicolor we want that feeling when we enter act 2 we're in a whole new world wait in Kansas anymore right so it's a whole new world they're facing it's one thing Michael Dorsey decides to audition one day as a woman it's another thing he's got to fool everybody 24/7 into thinking he's a woman that's the main story or in Groundhog Day he's now trapped in a cycle where every day is grandma day that's the main part of the story so there are two kinds of stories I talk about in the book comedy and tragedy and these are not these definitions don't come from Joe blame me if you don't like them they're from Aristotle these are the original academic definitions of comedy and tragedy so when I say comedy I'm not talking about a haha comedy I'm talking about an Aristotelian comedy and so in Aristotelian comedy according to Aristotle by definition is where we have a protagonist who overcomes a flaw so flaws can be the next element I'm going to talk about and that there they're going to go through change and then eventually they're going to have a happy ending structurally we also have tragedies a tragedy is going to be the opposite so we have the same set up we have the character wants something they get it in a point of no return but instead of going down down down then coming up and having happy ending we're gonna go in the opposite direction they're gonna go up up up up before they come down and have their sad ending 95% of stories are going to be comedies by the way oh yeah at least 95 percent and by the way this applies both to feature film and also to episodic television episode episodic TV works structurally just like little each episode is the like a little mini feature film they have all of these eight elements just like you find in a feature film forgive me sorry for interrupting but us who then the tragedy it doesn't necessarily mean that like a death occurs it just means that they don't change is that right that's right absolutely I'm sad ending oh okay so that they should you know it they have an unhappy ending typically but it is and it's not just an unhappy ending you know the way we colloquially say that oh that's tragic in life it probably is not the same as a tragedy in Aristotelian sense because you might just say something sad happens to people who have a sad ending that's that's not as structurally a tragedy structurally a tragedy is because of their own flaw so it would have to be their flaw contributes in some way to their downfall so they fail to change from that flaw and that that's part of the downfall and and so when we're looking at the protagonist as the the backbone there are other elements of the story but the nutshell we're looking at the protagonist as the the main backbone structurally to structure everything around it yeah and then like I said another major part of it was the flaw what's the carrot the flaw is really the DNA of the whole story it's a good strong flaw as a writer as one of your best tools to make sure your story is strong because if you don't give your character a strong flaw you're not really giving them anywhere to go that change is what the story's really about so if we took Sunset Boulevard we know what Norma Desmond her flaws are but the screenwriter what were his flaws he was desperate he was too naive he was tricking her uh yes so he's the protagonist and yeah is that he's cynical right he's cynical he is just a no-good writer he's always putting himself down he's putting down you know that voiceover that's one of the purposes of the voiceover so for us to hear that very cynical voice he has where he talks about when he's reading Norma's screenplay and he says you know it's amazing just how bad how bad bad writing can be right that's all happening in voiceovers that cynical voiceover that cynicism is the part in that part of him that refuses to find hope that life could be different that actually maybe he could find actual true love right he starts to think he's falling in love but that cynical voice kicks up and gets in the way he could have been happy he could have walked away that's what makes a perfect tragic figure right it's he's not a victim of circumstances it's his own flaw that is his downfall he could have walked away she you know the love interest is when he brings her to the house you know she keeps saying I've not seen any of this she's willing to completely forgive him for his sordid situation let's just go let's just leave he won't let her he won't let her do that he forces her to see it and then pushes her away so that cynicism and and that cynicism the same thing that gets him to tell Norma revealed to Norma that where the truth about her fan letters right those call the fan letters she's getting are actually being written by her ex-husband who's the the live-in servant now right and that and that the Cecil B. DeMille wasn't coming to see her he just wanted the car right he still could have survived he lost the girl but he could have survived he could have walked out of the door flying but he had to rub that into some Norma Desmond's face and that's when Norma hurts him right can't just let him walk away that's why she shoots him in the back so if he hadn't done that if he just said goodbye took a suitcase and gone he would have lived it's that that tragic flaw of cynicism that he just can't believe that the world could be kind enough to allow him to have love and hope even though everyone you know he's been giving every opportunity of that he's got this you know this wonderful girl who's completely forgives him this sordid situation and wants to be with him despite everything he won't have it and the fact that the film opens with the ending hmm is that is that something that we should be aware of I mean it does it takes a skilled writer to be able to get a skilled writer yeah well it's great when you can have a beginning and ending image that relate to one another I mean this uses actually it's a very popular device now in television I think Oh Stu Sunset Boulevard the flash-forward which was pretty unique in 1950 when Sunset Boulevard was created it was kind of an anomaly right where we had it broke all the rules we have a narrator we have a dead narrator and we have a story that's in flashback those are kind of three things you know then screenwriting one-on-one they'll kind of warn getting screenwriters not to do doesn't mean you can't do them because look how genius it is in Sunset Boulevard problem is it's hard to live up to something as well as Sunset Boulevard does but the flash-forward device of having is become I think a really popular advice a device for using for television in that in television sometimes you are has a slower pace at that point of no-return I was talking Matt happens in the feature film close to the 25 percent mark in the running time feature film sometimes it happens a little bit later I mean I'm sorry in episodic television it happens a little later sometimes because we're doing so much world building we're building you know in a pilot episode for an entire 10 10 hour series this whole world so sometimes it happens almost close to 50 percent and in the running time can we continue on with the eight critical story elements yeah so the story elements the next important thing to talk about when I talk about the point of no return in the point of no return the character gets something they want they also get something they don't want and that's gonna be what I call the catch so get what you want but with the catch so Michael Dorsey gets a part but he's gonna have to dress up as a woman in ground de Phil Connors only has to spend 24 hours in Punxsutawney that was just want but the catch is it's actually gonna be the same 24 hours done over and over again so the catch is attached so it's a problem we can't just give our character what they want because that deflates conflict so you're giving them something that they want along with something they don't want and the catch is also could be said to be the perfect test of their flaw so the flaw and you know Phil Connors flaw is that he's a self centric this is the that's the catch being that he's going to stuck spending the same same day over and over again it's the perfect test of someone who spa is that they're self-centered in a comedy it's gonna end in a happy ending but they're gonna go down down down down before because you've got to hit rock bottom before you can make a change so it keep in mind in your typical haha comedy and your typical ha ha comedy is an Aristotelian comedy it's down down down now we're laughing as bad things are happening to the protagonists they are not laughing they're not having a good time in act 2 of a comedy so that they're going to go down down now until they're gonna hit rock bottom what I call their crisis the crisis has two requirements one is it's their absolute lowest place and then it is the other requirement is that the opposite of the want actually Groundhog Day has a really interesting one in that he's actually finally spent after being stuck there he finally tells the truth to Rita the love interest about what's going on and they actually have kind of a wonderful day together but it ends in this very bittersweet moment where they're falling asleep and he's says and the terrible worst part is tomorrow you're gonna think I'm a jerk again and what is wonderful about it is this wonderful irony and that's what we're setting up with the crisis being the opposite this irony he only wanted to spend 24 hours and puck so tiny how he wishes the day could last forever because tomorrow she'll think he's a jerk again so we're sending this delicious irony there then the next thing we're going to identify in the nutshell is we're now entering back three the beginning of act 3 is the climax of your movie and the operative word that we're going to use though is the climatic choice at the heart of a true climax your protagonist is making a difficult decision so in Groundhog Day his choice is to start stop to stop fighting it to accept that he's there and start trying to live every day for the fullest and so he becomes a really good person he starts you know doing nice things and saving the day and doing thinking of others because what's the point in living and trying to have short-term gratitude he's got to find a different experiment with a different way of living so he actually starts becoming this town hero of this person who's that known as this good guy because he's got nothing better to do and then finally break some free of the curse and in the final step the final step is the very last structural element timewise the very last scene of the movie and now the characters gonna come to full circle so if his flaw was that he was self-centered he's come full circle towards opposite strength that he now is selfless and right because he's been doing these things for everybody in the town of Punxsutawney and he wakes up that final day and he's actually it's become February 3rd he's free of the curse and he actually wants to stay so those are the eight structural elements and so like I said it's not just moments in time this is not a beat sheet method they are what's important is the glue it's the the structure that holds these pieces apart it's the connection between these parts these are not isolated moments in time and this is a real easy way for writers they can use it with they download the worksheets from my website I also use them in my workshops and in my private consultation we can see right on the piece of paper what's working what's not and if it's not working how to adjust it by seeing that it fits you what do we need to change in order to meet the requirements in order to tell a story effectively you

Channel: Film Courage

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Keywords: Screenwriting tips, screenwriting 101, screenwriting for beginners, screenwriting techniques, screenwriting advice, writing a screenplay, how to write a movie, Jill chamberlain, the nutshell technique, writing teacher, author, filmcourage, film courage, interview, best screenwriting book

Id: 8oTZ_9nLjSQ

Length: 15min 40sec (940 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 05 2019