Process to Product: From Concept to Script: A practical Guide for the Screenwriter by Brian Herskowitz

Author:Brian Herskowitz [Herskowitz, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Utmost Studios
Published: 2019-01-13T05:00:00+00:00

ESCALATION: An analysis of After Hours

We’ve talked about escalation in the second act, and we’ve talked about obstacles. Let’s take a closer look at how pressure builds on a character. First let’s examine what it means to escalate. The easiest way to do this is with examples. We’re going to examine a dark comedy titled After Hours written by Joseph Minion. If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend renting a copy, and if you can get your hands on the screenplay, even better. Why After Hours? It is a wonderful example of a character’s simple plan going wildly astray and a terrific illustration of the plan/obstacle/new plan concept.

As the story opens Paul Hacket, at work, breaks in a new employee. Every action, every movement, tells us that his life is full of routine, mundane, mind-numbing repetition. He is lonely. He is bored. He has no life. Tired of staring at the TV, he goes to a coffee shop where he eats, and reads a copy of “Tropic of Cancer.” That’s when Marcy, an attractive girl around twenty-five, enters. She starts up a conversation. Still mundane, but at least it is two people sharing. She tells Paul that she is staying with her sculptress friend, Kiki Bridges.

Kiki makes plaster bagel-and-cream-cheese paper weights. Marcy gives Paul Kiki’s number and invites him to come see them. Paul calls and Kiki answers, and then puts Marcy on. She invites Paul to visit. She tells him that the name on the buzzer is “Franklin;” this is the first very small red flag that goes up for Paul, but he lets it pass. He quickly shaves, and hails a cab. Paul only has a single twenty-dollar bill, but the driver assures him he can change it.

Fifteen minutes in, Paul’s on his way to Soho. He takes out the only money he has, the twenty-dollar bill, and places it in the change cradle, but a gust of wind blows it out the window. The cab stops and Paul has to explain that his only cash just flew out the window. The driver glares at him and Paul gets out. He pushes the buzzer and Kiki throws a set of keys to him from an open window.

When Paul gets into the loft, he meets Kiki, but Marcy’s not there. She has run out to an all-night drug store. Kiki’s plastering a large sculpture, she invites him to help. When he drips plaster on his shirt, she insists that he remove it. She then asks him to give her a massage. As he complies, the conversation turns to the topic of scars—how some women are covered from head to toe with nasty, deep scars … and Kiki falls fast asleep.

Marcy enters and leads Paul to her bedroom where she asks him what he did to Kiki. Paul’s taken aback by the question, but Marcy calms him down. Marcy flirts heavily; she tosses sexual suggestions around, telling Paul that she hopes he doesn’t have to get up too early, and that she is going to go wild.

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