UPDATED : 03/06/2002  

Plot:  Defined as  a carefully outlined pattern of action taken by a specific group of characters who move from a beginning through a logically related sequence to a logical and natural outcome. 

Elements of a plot:

1.    Central characters in a situation appearing to be hopeless.   This is the core of any plot, whether dramatic, comedic, or commercial.  Think of some examples:

• Sitcom:  Lucy trying to do the commercial for Vitameatavegemin.

• Commercial:   The Trix rabbit trying to get the cereal or person trying to get whiter teeth.

• Drama:   

Blum addresses some of these situations in his book, claiming that there are only eight real plot patterns (or conflict types) from which writers have drawn multiple variations.  Those are:

• Love and Romance

• Jeopardy and Survival

• Vengeance 

• Success and Achievement

• Search and Quest

• Group and Family Ties

• Fantasy

• Return 

If you think about it, you can probably classify quite a few examples fairly quickly in each of these categories.  Now try to think of a story that doesn't fit.....

The stronger the audience identification with the star and other characters, the more empathy and involvement they will have.    You want the audience to vicariously participate with the characters and their struggles.  

• Identification is the key to tapping audience emotions

• Audiences have a continuing need to 

  • identify with a hero figure

  • worry over his / her fate

So Drama can be defined as a person with a problem.

But in order for us to care about the problem, we have to identify with the character.  If we don't do that, there is no drama, no involvement, no concern.  Have you ever watched a show where the characters were so distasteful that you didn't care what happened to them?

Emotional Involvement originates with

sympathy:  -- caring about the down-trodden, the under-dog, etc.  So writers make the bad guys really bad, so the main characters will appear to be at a disadvantage.

empathy: understanding the characters' thoughts or feelings, maybe even vicariously experiencing them.  If you've been dumped by your girl friend, you can empathize when it happens to Kevin Arnold in Wonderyears.

antipathy:  audience joins the characters in hatred or rejection of bad guy or his behavior.

Protagonist:  the hero who has the problem.   

Antagonist:   person fighting the hero --- i.e. causing the problem.  Can it be non-human? (Discuss)

Sometimes a protagonist may be pulled in opposite directions by two antagonists:  (Commander Riker vs. Borg; Riker vs. Shelby in "Best of Both Worlds")

2.    The issue of hopelessness creates suspense.

• Defined as: What is going to happen next?

• Creates involvement and tension in the audience which causes increased attention to the creative work.

• Key question in plot: Will he/she achieve desired goal?

  • faces adversarial forces?

  • foreshadowing indicates possible directions 

• protagonist must feel strongly about attaining the goal

3.    Plots are always based on conflict:

• There are several  basic types of plot conflict:

  • man against nature

  • man against man

  • man against self

  • man against authority/government/power

  • man against God 

• Conflict must emanate from the character  (see earlier discussion of character)

• Character Foils are frequently used to generate conflict:

  • Foil: (def) anything that serves to set off another thing distinctly or to advantage or contrast

  • Minor characters are usually used for this purpose

4.    Sub-Plots:  Separate story arcs which involve minor characters

• May be created to utilize the foil and thus by contrast emphasize something important in a major character

• May be used to parallel the primary story arc and thus by repetition or similarity emphasize something important in the major character

• May be used for relief:

  • Crisis relief

  • Comedy Relief

  • Passage of time

Structure of Plot:

1.    Basic elements of the dramatic curve:

• Exposition

• Conflict

• Complications

• Crisis 1

• Crisis 2

• Climax

• Denoument or resolution

Chart plot structure in a graph where  the vertical axis represents audience interest level and the horizontal axis represents the passage of time.

This structure -- 

• orders the plot

• creates willing suspension of disbelief

But where do you start?  Professional writers will use what they call action points.

Action points:   Key events or happenings in a story which provide the impetus for the story. 

Dramatic beats: Another word for action points.

These beats or action points are organized into sequences which are arranged to make the plot of the story.  

• They may be arranged for dramatic action rather than chronological action.  (i.e. the use of flashbacks)

• They are arranged for maximum effect  (to achieve the highest audience interest)

• Their arrangement may be reconsidered up until the final draft of the work.

• The action points or beats make up the spine of the story -- the skeletal action

Sometimes a beat sheet is created which simply lists the dramatic beats in a story.  This is used frequently in comedy writing.  Treatments or step outlines are used for drama and film.

Implementation of Structure:

1.      The entire purpose of television is to grab the audience attention

• hooks:  plot elements which are designed to do this using suspense or emotional involvement to draw the audience into the show

  • The quick set up --establishes everything we need to know to get the story moving

    • 1/2 show: may take only a scene or two

    • 1 hr. show: may take 3 to 4 scenes (8 min)

    • sometimes it can be set up in a teaser

2.     Madeline DeMaggio established some basic rules about implementing the structure of a television script:

• The audience must be emotionally involved with the star.  That should be established early and it is very important. 

• Twists and Turns in the plot hold the interest of the audience:

  • Twist: unexpected turn in the story.  (Roz Shaze's plunge down the elevator in L.A. Law; Dr. Green allowing a patient to die in E.R.)

  • Turn  a more natural turn in the story. It may not be totally expected (an shouldn't be) but it's doesn't pack the shock value of a twist.

• A Good Runner:  A runner is a device that "runs" or pops up through the story

  • provides a window into the character's personality

  • it may be a "bit" that off-sets the story, even part of a sub-plot that supports the main story

  • examples:

    • Data's attempts at humor throughout ST:TNG

    • The bad bagels in an E.R. episode that kept popping up and ultimately made all who ate them nauseous.

  • Important:  Runners are played three times.   That three-time repetition creates a rhythmic emphasis which is a very important technique.

• Powerful Act Ends:

  • Since you must have a hook at the end of the act, the strong the end of the act, the stronger the hook

  • Must be plotted very carefully

  • "pull 'em back from the refrigerator'

• Use Buttons: these are punches or "exclamation marks" in the plot that happen at the end of a scene.

  • They "put a cap on it"; button it up, etc.

  • Sometimes they are ironic

  • May even be visual joke

  • Examples:  

    • Data actually says something funny without meaning to

    • The bagels a finally thrown away

• Use Teasers: brief scenes that start the show  and set up what's going to happen

• Use Tags:  brief scenes that end the show and tie up loose ends or clarifies what we've already seen-- epilogues. (Star Trek shows usually use both teasers and tags)

When examining a plot or creating one, it is important to remember that drama and real life are not the same.  Drama is heightened life; it's richer, more compact, more emphatic.  

While we have "reality" television today, most people understand that's it's not all that real.  The situations are contrived, the sets designed, the people participating are hand-picked for their ratings appeal.  When "real life" was actually filmed in the famous PBS documentary series, An American Family, 300 hours were edited down to 12 hours.  The "reality" stuff was eliminated in favor of the unusual, confrontational or crisis situations. Even then it was criticized for being long, boring and rambling. Why? Because real life usually is.  If our conversations are rambling, convoluted and lack focus, certainly our behavior frequently is as well.  

So while drama may not be real, it must be realistic.  (What's the difference?) 

So how is drama different from real life? How are dramatic plots different?

Drama is economical in three essential areas:

• dialogue

• character

• scenes

We're discussed how dialogue has to be economical and how characters have to be drawn quickly.  The same is true for the number of scenes.   If a scene does not move the plot forward, it must be eliminated. (Back to the concept of unity again.)

Drama is logical, often life is not. 

Here is the area in which we see the greatest application to plot development. 

1.    Events which occur must be related logically to events which happened or were established in the previous act. Solutions or behaviors can't just happen serendipitously or miraculously.  Audiences won't buy it.

2.    Coincidences may occur which defy logic, but only under specific circumstances:

• At the beginning of a story to set up the situation about which the story is based

• When the coincidence will complicate the protagonist's situation even more

But even these coincidences don't have to be illogical if you set them up earlier in the story.  (For example was it a coincidence that Gary Mitchell, Kirk's best friend from the Academy was on the Enterprise in "Where No Man Has Gone Before?"  No.   It was established early in the script that Kirk has requested his assignment to the ship.  The fact that they were best friends made Kirk's decision to kill him even more difficult.)

How are plots constructed?

1.  The treatment:   (or story outline)  This is a summary of the story in narrative form, told like a story.  

• Treatments can range from very short (one or two pages) to very lengthy, detailed accounts of all the action in the story. 

• Treatments are always written in present tense

• Treatments are done to look at the story in detail and examine it for strengths, weakness and structure.   The problems can be discovered in the story before the dialogue and scene construction are attempted.  It saves time and effort.  Alan Armer compares writing a screenplay without a treatment to trying to build a sky scraper without a blue print.

2.  The Step Sheet or Step Outline:  scene by scene progression of the plot

• This will usually be done after the treatment has been accepted

• Establishes contents of each scene, location, participants, etc.

• Shows early on which scenes may  not be necessary or where holes exist in the progression.  Sometimes writers will put these on note cards and pin them on a bulletin board.  The cards can be arranged and rearranged as the story comes together and the progression is established.

3.  Progression:

Progression is a key term which refers to how the story builds.  

• Each scene, each act, each crisis must have greater audience interest (hence greater drama) than the one preceding it.

• Progression can also refer to character development or how a character arc reveals the growth or development of a character.

The elements of the dramatic curve make up the progression of the story.  Each type of television program will have it's own special format or structure of progression.  Let's look at each of these individually in more detail:

• Exposition:  

  • The first element of the progression.  Usually occurs in the beginning of the story.  

  • Audience receives all the information they need to understand the story.

    • All major characters

    • The main problems those characters face

    • The context of the problems and relationships

  • Act 1 is the expository act

    • It should be simple in structure

    • Don't hit the audience with too much information at one time

  • Expository information may be revealed

    • visually 

      • through actions

      • set decorations, props, etc. (i.e. newspaper clipping)

    • through dialogue

    • through conflict (verbal or behavioral)

• Conflict:

  • This is where we find out that everything isn't all hunky-dorey (as Mom used to say).  There's trouble coming. We may not know exactly what, but something isn't just right....

  • May occur in the first act, even as part of the exposition where the main problems are established.

• Inciting Action:  While not always listed in elements of a plot, this is a useful term.  It is something which happens early in the story to which causes the character to get into action.  In "Where No Man...", it would be the attack on the Enterprise which resulted in Gary Mitchell's changes.  In that case the conflict would happen after this event. In some cases conflict might occur before, and it did as the Enterprise responded to the distress call that led them to the dangerous region of space.

• Complication: 

  • Here we learn that the conflict/problem is now more serious.  In stead of helping another vessel with a distress call, now Kirk realizes his Enterprise is in jeopardy, and something is wrong with his friend.

  • Complications raise the stakes by demonstrating what can be lost.

• Crisis I, II,  III, etc. :

  • In the series of crises that follow, the stakes are raised.  

  • Example from "Where No Man has Gone..."

    • Gary Mitchell is reading fast, eyes look strange; something is wrong

    • Mitchell now poses a threat and Kirk must do something before he jeopardizes the Enterprise

    • Kirk must decide to abandon his long-time friend on an isolated planet with no hope of escape.

    • Kirk must kill his friend to save himself and his ship.

  • Each of those represents a crisis in the script, and each one asks some greater sacrifice of the protagonist.

  • Crises occur when the protagonist and antagonist "square off" to do battle.

  • Between crises, there will be multiple additional complications Consider these complications before the second crisis in "Where No Man has Gone...'

    • Gary's eyes look strange, he's reading faster and faster, he has tele-kinetic powers

    • Kirk and Mitchell have tense conversation

    • Spock is concerned and suggests to Kirk that he's  threat; Kirk doesn't want to hear it

    • Kirk has personal struggle deciding what must be done

• Reversal:  These are changes in direction of the story brought about by the Crises, so reversals usually occur at the ends of acts.  Kirk must see Gary as a threat.  Kirk must consider abandoning Gary on the planet.  Kirk must kill Gary.  All of those are changes in direction of the plot brought about by the threats established in the crises.

• Climax: 

  • Occurs at the end of the last act, only after building through several complication/conflict/crisis progressions.

  • Is the final, major conflict/crisis between the protagonist and the antagonist

  • Is the last moment at which the audience does not know what will happen in that conflict or if/how the protagonist's problem will be solved.

• Denouement:

  • Final resolution after the climax at the end of the last act

  • Ties up loose ends

  • Gives audience a sense of satisfaction, fulfillment

Structure of screenplays and television scripts:

Each are made up of 

• Acts

• Sequences

• Scenes

The number of acts will depend on the format of the program or film to be written.  The number of sequences or scenes may vary, but there are some constants you need to understand about these terms:

Events:   Key actions taken by the characters which move the plot forward. ( Gary Mitchell moves the cup of water tele-kinetically across the sickbay room )

Interchange between characters:  Exchange of dialogue between characters.  (Spock tells Kirk he must get Mitchell off the ship while he still can.)

Scene:  A single event or interchange between characters which occurs in a specific place and time.  (Note when time or location changes, the scene changes)

Scenes are the building blocks of plot or narrative structure, so scene development is very important:

• scenes should be as economical as possible (get to the point and be done with it)

  • You don't have to show people doing all the things we normally do in day

    • driving to work

    • walking down a hall

    • bushing our teeth

  • Those things are unnecessary if they don't contribute something specific to the plot

  • So writers "cut ahead" to the next significant action in a story-line

  • Another method is to begin a scene at the last possible minute and then get out of it early

    • Think about E.R. scenes in the trauma room

    • They rarely show a person being rolled in all the way down the hall or being prepped for a procedure

    • Only the most significant stuff is shown

    • May cut away from the trauma room until something significant is happening again

  • What are some examples from other programs we have discussed:

    • What didn't we see in "Trials and Tribbilations" ?

    • What did we see, and why? 

    [ Some of the best stuff from TWT was cut out, like the Kirk-Scott scene -- "We're big enough to take a few insults...." Why?]

     

• scenes can be as long or short as necessary:

  • 1/8th of a page  [ tribble bomb exploding in space...]

  • 6 to 8 pages [ long interrogation scene in NYPD Blue ]

   

• What is necessary?   Scenes must advance the story:

  • add a new plot point

  • provide significant new information

    • contribute to movement of the action

    • about the character in that situation

  • add to tone or mood, but 

    • must be essential to the story (necessary)

    • must be relevant to the story (connected to, logical)

  • It the scene doesn't do one of those things, it should be cut

   

• scenes must have tension:

  • Alden writes, "Audiences need to worry." ( p. 51)

  • Protagonists can't reach their goals too quickly or you don't have story

    • challenge isn't hard enough

    • no audience involvement (Remember our love of the under-dog?)

  • obstacles create tension

    • prevent the accomplishment of the main character's goal

    • make the accomplishment of the goal more difficult

  • obstacles are created by

    • placing the scene in an obstacle-laden environment  (confusing, cold, noisy, dangerous, distracting )

    [ What are some examples of scenes in which the environment was laden with obstacles? -- beaming into the Borg ship; Luke, Han and Leah in the compressing dump on the Death Star; Indiana Jones crawling through the tunnel of bugs.....] 

     

    • add characters who create obstacles

      • Major characters, minor characters can fill the role

      • Even minor-minor characters can do this   (The chief is trying to follow the bad guy on foot through a crowd and a little old lady steps in front of him, asking about protection for her senior citizen's center....He looks at her and loses the bad guy.) 

    • change the circumstances   (Sisko and company know Darvin is trying to hurt Captain Kirk, but then they learn there is a bomb set to go off....)

    [What were the obstacles that Sisko and Jadzia faced in Trials and Tibbilations  in the storage compartment?]

Scene Sequences:  Blocks of scenes

•  held together by a single purpose

• accomplish larger amounts of action that is possible in a single scene

• Examples:  Shelby, Data, Crusher and Worf aboard the Borg Ship in Part 1 of "Best of Both Worlds" ; Picard rescue sequence in Part 2. 

Dramatic Action:  the events, content of scenes

• May be

  •  physical action

  • narration -- reflects emotional/intellectual change in characters

  • new revelation

• Purpose:

  • defines characters:  who they are is reflected by what they do (Sisko meeting Captain Kirk in one of the final scenes in "Trials and Tribbilations."; Kirk willing to fight Spock in hopes of saving his life in "Amok Time.")

  • creates corresponding RE-action)

  • which in turn creates another re-action, etc. which moves the plot forward  

Theme: The point the story makes

• Underlying meaning of the story

  • John Q = father's love

  • Law and Order =  crime doesn't pay

• Sub-text of the story which is recognized

  • consciously by audience

  • unconsciously by audience

  • immediately

  • retrospectively

• Emerges from actions of the characters, not from their dialogue

• May not be in mind when writer begins, but may emerge as characters and story develop

  • story will be better if writer is aware

  • reflects writer's values, perspective, interests

  • writers should go back and make sure that all elements support the theme

Paddy Cheyefsky wrote that "Dramatic action (plot)... is essentially a search for reasons." (Armer, p. 60)

• why characters do what they do

• each reason must be demonstrated clearly in at least one scene

• scenes (reasons) then build to a crisis

Plots, then are made up of dramatic actions organized into scenes, scene sequences and acts, all building a dramatic curve to involve the audience and hold their attention until the ultimate climax of the story.  There are specific formats or structural formulas which must be followed for varying types of programs or stories.  We'll discuss those structures shortly.

Dramatic Values (from old notes)

1.   Motivated actions-- necessary for believability

2.   Shock Dramatics : Deviation from the expected norm to create a definite reaction. 

        Twist, turn or may be created through special effects

• The hand coming out of the grave in Carrie

• The shark attacking the boat unexpectedly in Jaws

• Most of the plot points in horror films....

• The scenes in "Best of Both Worlds" where we see the destruction at Wolf 359...The magnitude of that was totally unexpected by ST viewers.  Nothing like that had ever been seen in the series before.  How could Star Fleet be defeated to that degree?

• When Obe One was killed in Star Wars, or when Luke found out that Darth Vader was his father.

3.   Structural Unity: everything has to contribute to the whole; nothing which does not is there.  Everything must contribute to the central theme.  (Note economy becomes a manifestation of Unity)

4.   Suspense:  Quality which involves degrees of uncertainty, curiosity, anxiety, sympathy, all of which make the audience want to know what's going to happen next.  

Achieved by:

• Giving the audience a character with whom to empathize

• Don't telegraph important information.

  • provide only the information necessary for the immediate scene

  • dole out information carefully, only as it is needed for maximum effect

• Neither should one withhold important plot items or information

  • such information provides the logical links to the next scenes

  • necessary for believability

• Don't leave off a pay-off

  • characters must settle scores, have their say, etc.

  • audiences have an innate sense of justice and they want that sense of justice satisfied on behalf of the characters with whom they identify

    • In "The Cage," Captain Pike says his piece to the Talosians before they leave on the Enterprise.  

    • In "Amok Time," Spock tells S'Ton that he may find that "wanting is better than having.  It is not logical, but I have found it to be true."  (That's the closest thing you'll ever hear one Vulcan say to another.)

• Fight against time:

  • one of the most effective means of achieving suspense

  • clearly understood, visual, usually with high jeopardy

    • John Q -- will the heart arrive in time?

    • "Trials and Tribbilations" -- will they find the bomb in time? 

• Chase:  

  • very effective means of creating suspense

  • fight against time + action

  • visually interesting because of movement in the extreme

  • visually interesting because of interesting locale 

    • location is dangerous

    • provides obstacles

    • heightens drama

• will fit into almost any story type

  • drama

  • comedy

  • soap opera

  • even reality show  

• sound effects and music are the essential building blocks

  • enhance tone or mood

  • increase excitement level

• chases must have clear direction or goal

• must have elements of the unexpected -- anything can happen

• chase is a mini-plot in itself, and like any scene or scene sequence it has its own dramatic curve

  • character with whom the audience identifies

  • must have clear goal

  • obstacles

  • dramatic curve

  Formats for specific types of television programs:

Half-Hour Sit-Com

(from Dimaggio, pp. 61) 

• Two-act structure

• Character + Dramatic Need = Conflict = Laughter

• The stronger the dramatic need of the character, the more powerful and funny the script.

• Major hook at the end of Act 1

• Act 2 = more obstacles which lead to a climax and resolution. 

Hour Episode:

• Four-act structure  

• Character + Dramatic Need + Obstacles = Conflict = Action

• Suspense is the key element

• "Not knowing" may be approached from two different ways:

  • Superior position: audience knows what's going to happen but characters do not

  • Inferior position: audience learns what's going to happen along with the character

• The more obstacles, more conflict = more action

• Strong protagonist and antagonist is needed (or multiples thereof)

• Villains need  a bold M.O. -- sometimes heroes do too

• Act 1 = set-up act

• Act 2 = confrontation act

• Act 3 = confrontation act

• Both will have strong hooks at the end, but strongest will be at end of Act 2 because major commercial break occurs there

• Act 4 = climax and resolution

• Each act must have a specific purpose in order to move the story forward

  • pointing an arrow:  when there is a potential hole in the logic of the story, or audiences may have a question about why something happens the way it does, the hole is filled by dialogue in which a character asks the question the audience might have and another character answers it.  The idea is to answer the question before the audience thinks of it and suspends disbelief

  • turning point: a point in the drama after the set-up in which a character's life is changed in some way.  It may never be the same again, or it may return to normal.  Good writers and critics learn to identify turning points.  There may (an usually are) be more than one for a character, especially in a drama or movie.

  [ What were the turning points for the captains in 

  • "Where No Man has Gone Before" ?  _____________________________________________

  • "Best of Both Worlds?"     ______________________________________________________ ]

   

• Dramas are structured with more complexity than action shows: multiple story arcs

  • EX.  The 1980s NBC series L.A. Law had the following structure:

    • main story line

    • alternate main story line

    • subplot

    • alternate subplot

    • multiple runners that affected the entire cast

  • each of those story arcs must be developed separately with a beginning, middle and end

  • finally, all are cut and pasted together into the piece you see

  • in fact, for some shows certain writers will be assigned to specific characters and their story arcs; they'll write only for those plot lines

Dramady

• Usually two act structure

• character + dramatic need + obstacles = conflict = laughter/involvement

• has both elements of drama and comedy

• stronger the dramatic need, the bigger the obstacles, the more powerful and funny the script

• Act 1 is set-up

• Act 2 has more complications, climax and resolution

• Example of dramady:  Doogie Howser, The Wonder Years, Sportsnight, 

Two Hour Movies: 

• Usually three -act structure

• Act 1 is a set-up act

  • usually about 1/4 of total time

  • 25-40 pages

  • dramatic need/problem is established

  • turning point occurs at end of the act

• Act 2 is a confrontation act

  • focuses on obstacles to the dramatic need

  • these lead to bigger complications

  • longer -- about 1/2 of total time

  • 45-60 pages

  • major turning point at the end of this act

• Act 3 is the resolution act

  • additional crises lead to climax

  • resolution of dramatic need is achieved or failure is demonstrated

Suggested Assignment: 10 points

Pick a drama and a comedy and do the following:

• Tape the shows so you can go back and look at them again

• Make a list of the action points or dramatic beats for each show.

• Looking at those beats, go back and plot the dramatic curve structure for each show.

• Then go back and see how many of the plot characteristics or elements you can identify such as:

  • button

  • twist

  • turn

  • pointing the arrow

  • elements of suspense

  • turning points

  • reversals

  • runners

  • shock dramatics

  • use of scene sequences

  • hooks

  • pay-offs

  • telegraphing (a "no-no")

  • foreboding

  • comedy relief

  • crisis relief

  • passage of time indicated through subplot

  • hopeless situations

  • use of character foils to create conflict

  • teasers

  • tags

  • economy

  • inciting action

  • cutting ahead

  • sub-text

If you can start recognizing these things as you watch television or motion pictures, you will develop and "eye" and a critical understanding of what you're seeing.  Recognition of these elements should become automatic after a while, and you'll find you'll really appreciate what good writers do as you watch your favorite shows.  It will also prepare you to write your paper and take that inevitable exam that will be coming before long.  JM

Resources:

• Armer, Alan.  Writing the Screenplay, 3rd edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993. 

• Blum, Richard A.  Television and Screen Writing: From Concept to Contract, 4th ed.  Boston: Focal, 2001.

• Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Critical Methods and Applications.  Mahwah, NJ: LEA, 2002. 

• DiMaggio, Madeline.  How to Write for Television.  New York: Prentice Hall, 1990.

• Hilliard, Robert.  Writing for Radio and Television.2nd ed.   Wadsworth, ____ 

 Copyright, 2002 Janet McMullen

Email Dr. Mc: jmcmulle@unanov.una.edu 

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