The Social Network Analysis — How David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin Craft a Perfect Fall Arc

in the hundred plus years of filmmaking and thousands of years of storytelling there are really only four ways to end a story in today's video we'll cover one of these endings with an oscar-winning script by aaron sorkin sorkini give me one second what sound is he making is that like a tisk like a glottal stop good one i'm really happy i ended up here that's exactly what i wanted and directed by david fincher action he's wired in who is he yes how about now you're still wired in the social network and at the end of the video we'll provide a free downloadable worksheet to help you plot out your ending welcome to facebook this is part four of the four endings in every film the bittersweet ending in the last video we saw charlie babbitt achieve his need it's funny i just realized i'm not pissed off anymore my father cut me out of his will while sacrificing his want in a semi-sweet ending i like having it for my big brother but this time we'll lay out mark zuckerberg's path of destruction this doesn't need to be that difficult i'm currently in the middle of two different lawsuits let's gut the freaking nerd i'm afraid if you don't come out here you're gonna get left behind leading to a bitter sweet end we've imported the screenplay into studio binder so we can highlight the necessary plot and character beats that create such a pitiful and poignant ending now in constructing a protagonist in either a positive or negative change arc you need to establish what writer km wyland calls the lie the character believes as she explains your character is incomplete on the inside i'll let you know how the party is he is harboring some deeply held misconception about either himself the world or probably both this misconception is the quote unquote lie it is the lie that often inspires the character's want so let's meet mark zuckerberg and see if we can spot the lie he believes first an awful lot of people live in china but here's my question how do you distinguish yourself in a population of people who all got 1600 under sats i don't know they take sats in china they don't i wasn't talking about china anymore i was talking about me you go to 1600 yes our introduction to mark reveals an extremely intelligent individual who also happens to be extremely insecure in fact look at salkin's initial description of mark on page one a sweet looking 19 year old whose lack of any physically intimidating attributes masks a very complicated and dangerous anger this is our first clue to understanding mark's lie which is revealed along with his want on page five i'm just saying i need to do something substantial in order to get the attention of the clubs why because they're exclusive and fun and they lead to a better life mark's want is to do something to get the attention of the final clubs the lie he believes is that living an elite and exclusive life will bring him personal fulfillment like his earlier dialogue suggests mark knows his stellar iq alone won't help him achieve the social status and the better life he so desires if i get in i will be taking you to the events and the gatherings and you'll be meeting a lot of people you wouldn't normally get to me well i want to try and be straightforward with you and let you know that we're not anymore what do you mean i'm not dating anymore i'm sorry this is a joke no it's not you're breaking up with me for every lie there is a truth and it is the truth that defines the character's need erica reveals the truth to mark on page eight i think you are probably going to be a very successful computer person you're gonna go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd and i want you to know from the bottom of my heart that that won't be true need is to recognize that it is his own insecure and selfish personality as he's preventing him from happiness and personal fulfillment but will mark be able to reject this lie and embrace the truth this breakup propels mark to blindly and aggressively pursue his want weiland describes this as a full ark in which the protagonist will reject every chance for embracing the truth and will fall more and more deeply into the morass of his own sins usually dragging others right along with him mark's fall begins immediately on page 10. mark's first victim is erica erica albright's a [ __ ] do you think that's because her family changed their name from albrecht or do you think it's because i'll be you girls during a revenge fueled hacking session mark creates face mash and leaves a trail of victims and destroyed relationships along the way but it also attracted the attention of divya and the winklevoss twins on page 26. you guys hear about this the exact elites that mark was hoping to impress two nights ago a sophomore choked the network from the laptop of kirkland really at 4am how much activity was there on this thing 22 000 page requests 22 000. cam this got half the facebook seven houses you know what i think way ahead of you this is our guy mark are you mark zuckerberg yeah camera wiggle boss hi tyler victor boss are you guys related it's good funny never heard that before so what can i do for you we have an idea we want to talk to you about you got a minute so you ever been inside the porcelain no all right we're gonna stay we can't take you past the bike room because you're not a member on page 34 they hire mark to help develop their social networking site we have something that we've been working on for a while and we think it's great it's called the harvard connection you create your own page interest bio friends pics and then people can go online and see your bio request yeah how is that different from myspace or friendster harvard.edu harvard edu is the most prestigious email address in the country the whole site's kind of based on the idea that girls uh not to put anything in delicate girls want to give guys a good harvard tiffany and my brother don't have trouble putting things in doubt the main difference between what we're talking about in myspace a friendster or any of those other social networking sites exclusivity right right remember to get the attention of the final clubs i'm just saying i need to do something substantial in order to get the attention of the clubs mark wanted to do something big to distinguish himself from the crowd we would need you to build the site write the code and we'll provide all that what i meant it's at this point that mark's want is crystallized to create the most exclusive and prestigious social network awesome that's what you said it was three or four years ago i don't know what i said working on the winklevoss site would have achieved that but mark wants all the glory for himself talking about taking the entire social experience of college and putting it online it would be exclusive that's good right it's like a final club except for the president we'll split it 70 30. 70 for me 30 for you for putting up the thousand dollars and for handling everything on the business end your cfo and you said i said let's do it and on page 57 tyler cameron and divya discover that they've been bulldozed by mark on his path to success okay i just wanted to let you know that zuckerberg stole our website mark zuckerberg he stole our website it's been live for more than 36 hours [Music] mark runs into erica who once again tries in vain to get mark to recognize his need to be a better person i'd love to talk to you alone right here is fine i don't know if you heard about this new website i launched the facebook you called me a [ __ ] on the internet that's why i wanted to talk to you about the internet why i came over comparing women to farm ends i didn't end up doing that it didn't stop you from writing it as if every thought that tumbles through your head was so clever it would be a crime for it not to be shared i was nice to you don't torture me for it if we could just go somewhere for a minute i don't want to be rude to my friends instead in petulant frustration he doubles down we have to expand now we've reached a story beat called the midpoint defending to yale and columbia dustin i want you to share the coding work with me in a negative change arc wylon describes the midpoint as such when the character experiences a blindingly clear revelation that will see him launching himself into the second half with a series of strong lie based actions mark's revelation he's here i'm sean parker meeting sean parker on page 100 who is living proof of the lie mark believes i don't have anything in front of you no tori hey baby boy can you pronounce some things a lacquered pork with that ginger comfy tuna tartare and the lobster claws that will get us started from that point on it was a shot-a-thon this is no time to take your chips down a million dollars isn't cool you know what's cool you a billion dollars and that shut everybody up on page 116 mark moves the operation to california without eduardo you came to california yeah you made the right choice sean emboldens mark to pursue his want with reckless abandon leaving his co-founder and friend eduardo behind what's up if sean parker represents the lie eduardo is the truth mark needs to embrace want to talk to me a little for a minute sure but he doesn't according to wyland a critical aspect of any negative change arc is that the lie is connected to something the character already possesses but devalues in this case mark's friendship and partnership with eduardo on page 134 mark has allowed shawn to essentially replace eduardo the lie has replaced the truth i did not want that guy representing himself as part of this company you gotta move out here water this is where it's all happening do you hear what i just said connections the energy mark you gotta i'm afraid if you don't come out here you're gonna get left behind i want i want i need you out here please don't tell him i send it what did you just say it's moving faster than any of us ever imagined it what it's moving it's moving fast this is the real tragedy of mark's insatiable quest the fallout with eduardo he set up meetings all over town set up other meetings yes without me knowing anything about new york i'm in new york riding subways 14 hours a day trying to fight what happened how's it going so far wylan continues there will be one objectively good thing in his life and he'll be willing to sacrifice this good thing to pursue the false promise of the lie i was your only friend get one friend which is exactly what happens to mark as his betrayal is detailed throughout the deposition scenes what else did the email say it said that we had to have a business meeting and on page 146 eduardo is ambushed i didn't know whether to dress for the party or for the business meeting so i kind of dressed for both but it didn't matter why not because i wasn't called out there for either one what were you called out there for an ambush wait what is this well as you know we had some new investors that have come what is this what's up mark mark he's wired in sorry he's wired in is he yes how about now you're still wired in security you wish for 24 million new shares of stock you were told that if new investors come your shares diluted how much for his then he puts mark's betrayal into real numbers what was mr zuckerberg's ownership share diluted down to it wasn't what was mr moskovitz's ownership share diluted down to it wasn't what was sean parker's ownership share diluted down to it wasn't what was peter thiel's ownership share diluted down to it wasn't and what was your ownership share diluted down to point zero three percent [Music] you signed the papers you set me up this shocking revelation sums up the depths mark was willing to sink to on his way to achieving his want it won't be like you're not a part of facebook you're not a part of facebook my name's on the masthead you might want to check again it's because i froze the account you think we were going to let you parade around in your ridiculous suits pretending you were running the scene my prod isn't the cleaners along with my hoodie and my few flip-flops you pretentious douchebag security's here you'll be leaving now i'm not signing those papers we will get the signature [Music] in his unrelenting pursuit for his wants which mark achieves he destroyed his ability to obtain what he actually needs meaningful relationships and acceptance and realize that his elite status is not a guarantee for personal fulfillment mark we're done for the day yeah yeah i was just sitting here weiland suggests that the closing scene in this type of arc should drive home the character's final state in the final scene marilyn brings mark's need full circle you're not an [ __ ] mark you're just trying so hard to be and we watch mark perhaps realize that maybe she's right here on the last page alone mark makes a final gesture that hints at the possibility of redemption but we leave him solemnly waiting for a response that might never come the great irony is that mark created a platform for connecting people but failed to become a person who could make any meaningful connections of his own bittersweet endings and negative change arcs can be highly effective when you write a protagonist who refuses to change and leaves a trail of victims in their wake remember when writing your ending you must consider all the criteria for both wants and needs to ensure a compelling ending in the description you'll find a free downloadable worksheet where you can plot these out for your characters understanding how these four endings work will help ensure that you've found the most satisfying ending go home sean now let's be friends hit subscribe and ring the bell to join studio binder social network until next time logging out [Music] you

Channel: StudioBinder

Views: 173,051

Keywords: Social network analysis, the social network analysis, the social network movie analysis, screenwriting, aaron sorkin, sorkin, character arc, character arcs, how to write a character arc, negative change arc, screenwriting tips, how to write characters, the social network video essay, want vs need, creating character arcs, screenwriting techniques, km weiland, aaron sorkin screenwriting, want and need in film, km weiland character arc, k.m. weiland, lessons from the screenplay

Id: unNjjAbrsRc

Length: 18min 10sec (1090 seconds)

Published: Mon May 10 2021