A TRIP TO CAMBODIA, 7 ACT STRUCTURE & THE ART OF THE OUTLINE

[spb_text_block pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] A TRIP TO CAMBODIA, 7 ACT STRUCTURE & THE ART OF THE OUTLINE By Jacob Krueger [/spb_text_block] [divider type="standard" text="Go to top" full_width="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] [spb_text_block title="A Trip To Cambodia" pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] This week, we’re going to take a break from analyzing other people’s movies, to talk about 7 Act Structure and Screenplay outlining in a different way, by adapting a trip I took to Cambodia many years ago into the structure of a not yet written film, in order to demonstrate an organic approach to structure. What we're trying to do, when we’re thinking about structure, is not trying to "solve the script." Because whatever we come up with anytime we start thinking about structure is always wrong. Every path that we think we’re going to take through the forest is always wrong. If we were planning a trip to Cambodia, Probably we've never been to Cambodia before. And that means we are probably going to do some planning. There are different people who are going to travel in different ways. If it's me, I might just show up, because I love just showing up, and that’s the way I move through the world. I am going to show up in Cambodia; I am going to book my first night in a hotel; I'm going to go to a bar. I am going to talk to somebody at the bar. I am going to find out what's cool to do in whatever city I happen to be in, and the next day that's what I'm going to do, and if I like the people from the bar, I'm going to hang out with them, and if I don't, I'm going to do it alone and then I'm going to go to a bus stop, because that's where you meet people, and I'm going to meet somebody at the bus stop. You want to meet people in a foreign country? Go to the bus stop, look for someone with a map; that person's a tourist.   Structure begins with our goal. Without a goal you can't have structure. Your goal might be wrong. But that’s okay. I still need that goal. I might think I am going to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. It turns out I am going to meet the love of my life. Had no idea, right? So now I think I am going to Cambodia to meet the love of my life. We spend one day together, hate each other; it turns out I am going to Cambodia to escape. So oftentimes our goal is wrong, but if we don't know what our goal is, it's impossible to know if we are on the right trip. It's impossible to know if we're making a decision about our trip. And without those decisions, it's impossible to track our structure. So what we're really looking for is simply goals and decisions. The first goal that we care about is what is our goal for the script? What are we trying to do? What are we trying to say? What do we want it to be? We're probably wrong. It doesn't matter. We're probably wrong but it's nice to know where we are and what we think we want, so that if we deviate from it, we're deviating consciously and we're finding structure in our own lives. We're saying “you know what, I thought I wanted to write a movie about this; instead I want to write a movie about that.” At the same time, without a goal for ourselves, it is impossible to know how to focus our writing. So we need a goal, even if it’s wrong, for both ourselves and for our characters. When I'm working with beginners, or when I am working with struggling professionals, I always set the goal the same way to help them find their voice and connect to their character. Because the only reason the professionals are struggling is because their writing is disconnected, and the only reason that the beginners are struggling is because their writing is disconnected If you're not connected to your voice, nothing else matters. That's why I always set the goal for beginners: to connect to your voice.