The Inner Game of Screenwriting: 20 Winning Story Forms by Sandy Frank

Author:Sandy Frank [Frank, Sandy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Drama, Film, Non-Fiction, Performing Arts, Screenwriting
ISBN: 9781615930616
Google: gqn5tgAACAAJ
Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions
Published: 2011-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Those are the Myth Archetypes. Overall, think of it this way — if the Morph Inner Game is a screenplay's skeleton, then the Myth version is still a skeleton, but it's an exo-skeleton, like the one an insect has. It's on the outside, where you can see it, but it's still what gives the screenplay its shape and support. It stands in for the Morph skeleton.

MORPH/MYTH HYBRIDS

Now that we've introduced both Morph and Myth stories, note that the two types are often combined in a single screenplay. In the course of a Myth story, a character can simultaneously work on overcoming a character flaw, resulting in a Morph/Myth hybrid.

This is actually quite common, but the screenwriter has to take some care to keep the Morph and Myth stories compatible.

Gran Torino does it right. Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, an ornery widower who finds that his neighborhood has become heavily ethnic, affording him Hmong neighbors. Kowalski is withdrawn and unconnected, feeling nothing but annoyance toward both his nice neighbors and the Hmong gang that threatens them.

So Kowalski has to Evolve to the point where he can kill the monster. He has to learn to let down his guard, which allows him to get closer to his neighbors, especially the teenage boy who wants revenge when the gang rapes his sister. When Kowalski allows himself to care for them, then he's ready to put into action his plan to trick the gang into shooting him in front of witnesses so they'll go to jail and never threaten the neighborhood again. His Evolution leads quite logically to killing the Monster.

A more problematic fit is on display in Philadelphia. Tom Hanks won his first Best Actor Oscar for portraying Andrew Beckett, a lawyer who gets fired by his firm when he contracts AIDS and, in response, sues them with the help of lawyer Joe Miller (Denzel Washington).

It's not Beckett who Evolves in this story; it's Miller. Joe Miller is openly homophobic, and he doesn't much want to take Beckett's case. He has to Evolve in order to help his client do battle in court against the Monster of homophobia represented by the law firm. And that's a bit circular. Miller has to Evolve by overcoming his inner flaw of homophobia in order to kill the monster by bringing a lawsuit that is symbolic of overcoming homophobia. A little redundant. Better to follow the Gran Torino model, in which the character's Evolution equips him to kill a different monster.

MYTH COMBINATIONS

It's also possible to sometimes combine two Myth Archetypes. A wonderful example is the movie Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

Ruthless businessman Edward Lewis (Gere) pays hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Vivian Ward (Roberts) to stay with him for a week. Inevitably, they fall in love and end up together. Many have noted that Vivian's story is a Cinderella story, but it's fun to notice that Edward changes from emotionless financial killer to fully alive man in love in a classic Sleeping Beauty story. Cinderella meets Sleeping Beauty, and the result was a huge success.

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