Video: “Seven Set Pieces”
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.
Recently, Jonathan released Season 3, Episode 3. In it, he posits that most movies feature 7 set pieces. He refers to them as:
- Cold Open
- Call to Adventure
- Fun and Games
- Midpoint
- Ordeal
- Magic Flight
- Climax
Cold Open, Midpoint, and Climax are conventional Hollywood screenwriting term. Call to Adventure, Ordeal, and Magic Flight originated with The Hero’s Journey. Fun and Games from Save the Cat.
Here is Jonathan’s video in which he analyzes these movies: The Matrix, Terminator 2, Star Wars: A New Hope, The Dark Knight, Skyfall, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Armageddon.
As any longtime reader of Go Into The Story knows, I don’t like using the word “rule” when it comes to screenwriting. Pattern? I can live with that.
One more caveat: How to define set piece? I tackled that in this article: Is My Screenplay Big Enough to Be a Movie, Part 3: Set Pieces. Apart from the origin of the term — a scene or series of scenes which required the movie production team to build or use a set — nowadays with CGI, it basically means a trailer moment.
So seven set pieces? That feels about right and pretty much aligns with the Whammo theory of screenwriting: that is every 10 pages or so, you need to have something go “whammo”.
I’d be interested to apply this take on dramas. If we accept that a set piece is scalable to fit any genre, I’ll bet this theory applies there as well.
In any event, however many set pieces your script may have, make sure those events are tied to the story’s underlying emotional life. Without that, a set piece is little more than spectacle and noise.
For more videos in Jonathan Stokes’ excellent Raising the Stakes series, go here. While you’re there, why not subscribe? There are more videos to come in S3 and by subscribing, you won’t miss them.
For more background on Jonathan W. Stokes, you can go here.
By the way, I recently interviewed Jonathan. Look for that chat later on this summer.