Many years ago, when I was a young
writing fellow, new to Hollywood, I was at a lunch with a Very Big creative
executive who had written a Very Big story structure memo that had become the
industry standard for writing Very Big epics. This Very Big CE had just
finished consulting on a Very Big movie that had grossed Very Big summer box
office.
Very
Big CE asked our awed table what we thought of that movie. Unfortunately, I had
hated it. And when Very Big CE singled me out for my reaction to the film, I
decided to tell the truth. I said, “I didn’t know what it was about. There
wasn’t really a middle to it. Nothing happened in the movie.”
The
whole room shifted into icy silence. But Very Big CE smiled and said, “Exactly.
I fought with them every day on the story for that movie. Then at the end, they
said, ‘So what? We made a billion dollars!’”
(Literally.)
And
Very Big CE had replied, “Yeah, but if it had been structurally sound, you
would have made three billion.”
That’s
when I fell in love with story structure. That’s also when I realized that in
Hollywood, no one will ever agree on what makes a hit movie.
Just
get your script sold.