Video: “Magic Flight”
Another in the excellent screenwriting series Raising the Stakes.
Another in the excellent screenwriting series Raising the Stakes.
Jonathan W. Stokes is a screenwriter with a unique credit to his name: Five of his original screenplays have been named to the annual Black List. That alone should get your attention, but there’s also this: Over the last few years, he has produced an excellent video series called Raising the Stakes.
In the Season Two, Episode 5 video (“Magic Flight”), Jonathon focuses on what transpires in Act III. If at the Act II break, the Protagonist faces their darkest moment…
… eventually, they take on their biggest challenge in the Act III Climax:
However, there is a midpoint movement in Act III which “transports” the Protagonist from one point to the other.
Jonathan Stokes calls this the Chase. In so doing, he references the language used by Joseph Campbell when detailing the hero’s journey: Magic Flight.
Here is the video:
As always, Jonathan offers an informative take on story structure. It’s intriguing to note that sometimes the Protagonist is chasing something. Sometimes the Protagonist is being chased. But in all cases, the Protagonist moves toward the Final Struggle.
My term for this point in the story: On the Offensive.
During All Is Lost (Act II end), the Protagonist has what amounts to an existential crisis. They have just suffered a huge blow, a major reversal in fortune. Do they go forward against the odds … or do they go back to where they began? Their Old World life represents an inauthentic existence, but at least it’s something they are familiar with. Since it’s a movie, however, and the audience yearns to see how this underdog story turns out, the Protagonist plunges ahead into an uncertain future.
In order to have any chance of success, they have to summon up every lesson they have learned along the way in their journey up to this point:
- What they have been taught by Mentors which informs their knowledge about the New World and understanding their Self
- What they have experienced with Attractors which has helped them tap into their feelings and wrangle their emotions
- What they have learned from Tricksters which has tested their will and given them confidence they can survive in this New World
- What they have discovered about the Nemesis, their strengths and weaknesses which they hope to exploit in the Final Struggle
Then there’s this: From a psychological standpoint, the entire point of most stories is for the Protagonist to go through a metamorphosis. That transformation is fueled by them getting in touch with their deepest need. It’s something buried inside and once it emerges into the light of consciousness and they embrace it … it empowers them.
I call it the Unconscious Goal.
As Joseph Campbell says, “The journey the hero takes is the journey they need to take.”
From a plotting standpoint, the Chase escalates the action. That action, whether the object of the Chase or the subject of the Chase, moves the Protagonist toward the story’s culmination. And that energy derives in part from the empowerment the Protagonist experiences by putting together everything they have learned during their journey.
Watch Jonathan’s video. It’s not only fascinating, it features lots and lots of footage of Tom Cruise running!
Check out all of Jonathan’s Raising the Stakes videos. They offer an excellent foundation in grasping the essence of screenplay structure.
For more background on Jonathan W. Stokes, you can go here.
You may read my interview with Jonathan here.