$14.95/ $17.25 Can. "What David Howard has done with The Tools of Screenwritin is to n The Tools of Screenwriting, David reveal for me and for all readers just Howard and �dward Mabley illuminate how stories work; he shows that the essential elements of cinematic there are no absolute rules, but there storytelling, and reveal the central principles that all good screenplays share. The authors address questions of are principles that can help a begin­ ning writer gain understanding of all · the elements that go into the cre­ ation of a'good story well told.' " dramatic structure, plot, dialogue, charac­ ter development, setting, imagery, and other crucial topics as they apply to the '�is the special art of filmmaking. best primer on the craft, far better Howard and Mabley also demonstrate than the usual paint-by-the-numbers sort of books that abound." how the tools of screenwriting work in six­ teen notable films, including Citizen Kane, � .T., One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rashomon, The Godfather, North by Northwest, Chinatown, and sex, lies and videotape. "As my screenwriting teacher, David The Tools of Screenwriting is an essen­ Howard made the underlying princi­ tial book for anyone who studies film or ples of screenwriting clear, accessi­ wants to write a screenplay. ble, and useful. The same can be said of his succinct and elegant book, which I've already used as a much needed refresher course. It's sitting "David Howard calls this book 'a writer's guide.' I think it's a wonder­ next to my computer now, right next to the thesaurus." ful and indispensable producer's guide to story, storytelling, and screenwriting." ISBN-13: 978-0-312-11908-9 ISBN-IO: 0-312-11908-9 I 9 "780312 119089 51 495> 1 I PRAIS E F OR THIS "David Howard and Edward Mabley's B OOK The Tools of Screenwriting is a prac­ tical, comprehensive guide for writers at all levels. If I had this book four years ago, I wouldn't be paying off film school tuition today. " -ADAM BELANDFF, STAFF WRITER, "The Tools of screenwriting WINGS AND MURPHY BROWN tosses aside ponderous paradigms and takes you directly to the heart of good writing. I hope every aspiring screenwriter reads it. " -JOHN FURIA, JR., PAST PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE WRITER'S GUILD OF AMERICA, WEST "This is not simply a book about making bucks with your screenplays. . . . The authors show an important connection between learning to screenwrite and examining the elements of theater. " -FILM THREAT "Howard and Mabley dearly define the building blocks of storytelling. " -BOOKLIST "An excellent volume for the student of screenwriting at almost any level. Recommended. " -CLASSIC IMAGES THE TOOLS OF A WRITER'S GUIDE TO THE CRAFT AND ELEMENTS OF A SCREENPLAY • AND St. Martin's Griffin New York ' THE TOOL'S OF SCREENWRITING: A WRITER S GUIDE TO THE CRAFT AND ELEMENTS OF A SCREEN­ PLAY. Copyright © 1993 by Gregory D. McKnight. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010. Quotes from Paddy Chayevsky, William Goldman, Ernest Lehman, and Robert Towne are taken from The Craft of the Screenwriter by John Brady. Copyright © 1981 by John Brady. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Designed by Beth Tondreau Design I Mary A. Wirth Production Editor: Suzanne Magida Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Howard, David The tools of screenwriting I David Howard and Edward Mabley : introduction by Frank Daniel. cm. ISBN 0-312-11908-9 1. Motion picture authorship. /. Mabley, Edward. PNI996.H73 2. Television authorship. II. Title. 1993 808.2'�c20 93-22787 CIP 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 Books are available in quantity for promotional or premium use. Write to Director of Special Sales, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, for information on discounts and terms, or call toll-free (800) 221-7945. In New York, call (212) 674-5151 (ext. 645). To Vick- Without your love, comfort and support, this would still be only an idea, not a reality. All my love always, -DAVID CONT E NTS FOREWORD ix PREFACE xi AC KNOWLEDG MENTS xv INTRODUCTION xvii A BOUT SCREENWRITING 1 The Screenwriter's Task Stage Versus Screen Adaptation The Auteur of a Film The Screenwriter's Relationships A Cautionary Note BASIC STORYTELLING What Makes "a Good Story Well Told" The Division into Three Acts The Worid of the Story Protagonist, Antagonist, and Conflict Externalizing the Internal Objective and Subjective Drama Time and the Storyteller The Power of Uncertainty SCREENWRITING TOOLS Protagonist and Objective Conflict Obstacles Premise and Opening Main Tension, Culmination, and Resolution Theme Unity Exposition Characterization • 3 6 9 12 14 16 19 21 33 37 41 43 46 47 49 52 55 63 vii viii • Contents Development of the Story Dramatic Irony Preparation and Ajiermath Planting and Payoff Elements of the Future and Advertising The Outline and the Step Outline Plausibility Activity and Action Dialogue Visuals The Dramatic Scene Rewriting THE ANALYSES About the Analyses E. T. SOME LIKE IT HOT NORTH BY NORTHWEST THE 400 BLOWS CITIZEN KANE WITNESS A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE CHINA TOWN TIlE GODFA THER ONE FLEW OVER TilE CUCKOO'S NEST THELMA AND LO UISE DINER RASHOMON SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE ANNIE HALl, HAMLET 70 72 74 76 78 81 84 88 91 95 99 101 103 114 126 135 147 155 166 177 189 202 213 227 240 252 262 274 ADDITIONAL READINGS 289 A80 UT THE AUTHORS 290 INDEX 291 F OR E WORD gome projects in the motion picture industry spend so much time in the developmental process they seem to be irretrievably entangled there. In that kind of project, observers may begin to wonder if the film will ever reach its final form and its intended audience. Seldom, if ever, does one praise the length of time it takes to create a complex project. The Tools of Screenwriting, however, is a project that has benefited from its many years in development. Indeed, much of its value comes from the fact that it has been refined over a period of decades. A series of creative minds have distilled the essence of dramatic construction to explain the basics to screenwriters and script analysts. In New York in the 1960s, Edward Mabley began a train of thought that is the origin of this book. Through his work as a writer and director, he formulated his theories about dramatic construction and used stageplays to illustrate his principles. He applied and refined his ideas as a teacher at the New School for Social Research, and he eventually wrote them down in a book, which was published in 1972. That book eventually went out of print and lay dormant until another practitioner and teacher, Frank Daniel, discovered and adopted it for his own use in teaching screenwriting. Mr. Daniel has directed many of the world's finest film schools and has for many years used Mabley's book as an excellent and concise introduction to dramatic theory and its application to screenwriting. One of the individuals to whom Mr. Daniel communicated his enthusiasm and his theoretical approach was David Howard. Mr. Howard, who later became founding director of the Graduate Screenwriting Program at the University of Southern California, added his insight and experience. His students graduated to write scripts for award-winning, profitable, and popular films. The book continued to be a principal resource long after it had gone out of print. I first encountered the book while T was working at Hometown Films on the Paramount Pictures lot. I had been searching for a good book on screenwriting and found none particularly satisfying. One day a former student .ix x • Fo r e w o r d of Mr. Howard's walked into my office with a thick stack of pale photo­ copies. Because I am the son of a publisher, I was curious why he copied an entire book instead of buying one. He told me the book was unavailable in any other way. It didn't make sense to me that a book that had been the primary text at several of the best film schools had gone out of print and remained unpublished and unrevised for so long. Upon contacting the original pub­ lisher, I learned they had narrowed their focus and were not interested in revising it. They released the copyright to the author's estate and I nego­ tiated the rights to the book. Mr. Howard agreed to rewrite the text to reflect the way its principles apply to screenwriting and to substitute analyses of the film scripts as examples. David Howard dedicated his time, energy, and thought to transforming the original book into The Tools of Screenwriting. Keeping the core of Mabley's ideas and concepts intact, he redirected all of the tools, ex­ amples, and quotations toward film, expanded and explained the critical elements, and analyzed their use in a variety of important scripts. He has crystallized a highly usable vocabulary to discuss the craft of screenwriting. The Tools of Screenwriting is what it is because of the extraordinary talents of the contributors who continually refined it over many years. With each script the teachers and students wrote or analyzed, they honed the ideas and the presentation of those ideas. Although this project has been in development for a very long time, the result has become the book I had in mind when I searched for the perfect book on screenwriting. I thank St. Martin's editor George Witte for his vision and his guidance. I thank Adam Belanoff for bringing the Mabley book to my attention. And, I especially thank my father, Wil McKnight, for his invaluable help through all stages of this project. -GREGORY McKNIGHT