A Story within a (Toy) Story

In great movies, structural principles apply to more than one level: story, act, sequence etc.

Once you understand how drama functions, you can apply it to EVERY level of the story.

Earlier we have looked at how the Mentor Sequence in The Untouchables was conceived as a mini 3-act story.

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Structure: The Untouchables

David Mamet has never equaled the tremendous power of his eighties screenplays. The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, The Untouchables and even his own directorial debut House of Games, starring his then wife Lindsay Crouse.

The Untouchables has always been my favorite. De Palma turned the script into the most cinematic of Mamet’s writing.

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Screenwriting Best of the Web 18/10/09

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Here’s my weekly selection from the blogosphere. Feel free to recommend anything or give your feedback in the Questions and Comments below.

And don’t forget you can subscribe to our posts so you don’t miss any of this, ever.

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Structure: A Beautiful Mind

A structural overview of A Beautiful Mind (2001). It took me a while to appreciate this gem by Akiva Goldsman and directed by Ron Howard. Not sure why. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, so I had a good reason for looking into it. Screenwriter Goldsman had a personal attachment to the … Read more

Structure: Up

A structural overview of UP (Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Thomas McCarthy 2009 I’ve been a big Pixar fan since stupidly missing out on the theatrical run of The Incredibles. In 2008 the festival potential of my own short animation Tin Can Heart – wr/dir. by Rod March – vaporised when Wall-E appeared weeks after the … Read more