ScriptFaze

Screenplay Genre: ADVENTURE

“Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf

Think foreign lands and exotic locales. The adventure film hero may travel the world in eighty days or shrink to the size of pin and spend ninety minutes trapped in their basement. Either way, your hero is going somewhere new, and returning home ain’t gonna be easy! A close cousin of the action genre, adventures films are no marguerita on the beach; they are fast moving, often perilous journeys full of unexpected obstacles and un-asked for sidetracks. Act One ends when your hero realizes he/she can’t go back; Act Two ends when he/she realizes there might be a way after all!

Adventure heroes live by their own rulebook, and often narrowly escape their antagonist early in the movie. Often average folk, adventure heroes find themselves in situations beyond their physical abilities, and are usually forced to entertain some very creative problem solving ideas. As the plot snowballs toward a final event, the hero must outsmart rather than outfight their antagonist, and is often forced to go it alone. When it’s all said and done, the hero will usually see a clear path back home; whether they take it or not is up to the screenwriter!

Adventure movies to watch: Apocalypse Now, The Goonies, Children of Men, Seven Samurai, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Genre Hybrids: Star Wars (Sci-Fi Adventure), North by Northwest (Thriller Adventure), The Wizard of Oz (Fantasy Adventure), Deliverance (Horror Adventure)

Screenplay Genre: ANIMATION

“Yes, that’s right, I saw the Terrance and Phillip movie. Now who wants to touch me?”
Cartman in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

A versatile and ever-changing format, animation films have pushed the boundaries of cinema and taken on nearly every movie genre. From Winsor McCay’s experiments with Gertie the Dinosaur in the 1910s, to the fast-paced computer-generated graphics of today, animation films have always ridden the wave of technology. Although often associated with children’s films, an influx of adult-oriented titles has reshaped the genre since the late 1980s. Borrowing heavily from the framing and story conventions of their live-action counterparts, the best animation films also take full advantage of the medium, utilizing line, texture and color to establish mood and atmosphere.

Animation is a hybrid genre, and writers of this format are well-served by first studying the conventions of their project’s live-action cousins. That said, animation films can go much further visually, and can get away with a lot more controversy. In recent year, live-action filmmakers have even begun to steal ideas from animators, and this trend is likely to grow more common as computer technology continues to improve. The most memorable animation films tend to be those that mix cutting-edge graphics with meaningful storylines; beyond that, the test of a great animation flick is no different than for live-action. Whether they’re dwarfs, puppet or Canadians, your characters should be dynamic and relatable. If you’ve got that, you may just have yourself the next Shrek.

Animation movies to see: The Incredibles, Spirited Away, Fantasia, Shrek, Pinocchio, Watership Down, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Triplets of Belleville, 9

Stop Motion movies to see: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicken Run, The Curse of the Were Rabbit, Team America

Screenplay Genre: CRIME/GANGSTER

“I don’t feel I have to wipe out everybody, Tom. Just my enemies.”
---Michael Corleone in The Godfather: Part II, written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo.

Crime films blasted their way onto the silver screen in the 1910s, and have been a regular fixture of world cinema ever since. Inherently dramatic, films of the crime/gangster genre are violent by nature, and commonly based on real-life criminals and events. In crime films, the bad guy is often the dominant character. To make him likeable, our hero is usually a one-time underdog who rose from unlikely circumstances to become a figure of respect and power. Beneath their façade of cruelty is often a softer soul who is capable of great kindness and bouts of class; but don’t piss them off, or their murderous nature will be quickly revealed. The crime protagonist is usually more than just a part of the story; he or she IS the story, and they’re not gonna let you forget it!

At the end of Act One, the criminal mastermind usually realizes he’s gonna have to start to do things differently; either the cops have gotten too smart, his business has grown too large, or his competitors have made a move into his territory. At midpoint this anti-hero on top of the world, and success seems inevitable. By the end of Act Two, they’re still in control, but their pesky antagonist must now be dealt with directly. It is the rare crime gangster movie that does not see it’s crime lord die in a blaze of violent glory in the Act Three climax, but some of the best films have found ways to keep their heroes breathing. The good life must always comes with a price, however, so if it’s not the death of the boss himself that caps your crime script--it’s probably that of those nearest and dearest.

Crime/Gangster movies to watch: The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, The Usual Suspects, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, The Big Sleep, Reservoir Dogs, Dog Day Afternoon

Genre Hybrids: (Gangster Drama) On The Waterfront, (Road Movie Crime) Bonnie and Clyde, (Crime Drama) Boyz ‘N the Hood, (Crime Thriller) Dial “M” for Murder (1954)

Screenplay Genre: DRAMA

Real people. Real world. Real life.

Drama writers have been grappling with these deceptively simple terms for centuries, and for screenwriters, they are goals no less daunting. While drama and dramatics are the stuff of all great movies, and every memorable action/western/comedy is ultimately grounded in a little home-spun drama, the drama genre is distinct unto itself, and boasts some of the most lauded films in cinema’s history. Drama storylines are often smaller in scope, but broad in thematic ambition. However intangible, the ultimate goal of drama films is to capture reality in some form, and through it to offer some worldly observation and/or judgement.

Drama film protagonists must usually weigh their outward ambitions against inner conflicts, and often the first will work aggressively against the second. Over the course of two hours, drama films show their heroes at their very best and at their very worst, and it is usually power, or a struggle for or against power, that will push them to these heights. Half-way through Act Two, drama protagonists stop following the path laid out for them, and start to play an active part in their own destinies. In contrast to action/adventure films, drama protagonists tend to discover that a life alone is not worth living, and that their inner demons are best handled when confessed to a trusted friend or loved one. While most drama films end with a reaffirmation of life, there is a long and noble tradition of ending the drama with its protagonist’s nose landed face-down in the mud!

Drama movies to watch: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Place in the Sun, Twelve Angry Men (1957), Manhattan, Shawshank Redemption, Do The Right Thing

Genre Hybrids: Thelma and Louise (Crime Drama), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Sci-Fi Drama), Raging Bull (Sports Drama), Y tu mama tambien (Road Drama)

Screenplay Genre: ACTION

Explosions, chases, stunts, and uber-violence! If this is the stuff of your screenplay, then you’re probably writing an action movie. Usually armed with a fast-paced plot and a super-human hero, action movies are high-stakes adrenaline rushes designed to keep their audiences glued to their seats.

Action-film protagonists are usually exceptional human beings from the start of the movie; spies, ninjas, elite cops, cyborgs and soldiers are regular actors. Usually pulled into the chaos by a man-made disaster, the action hero is generally called in to save the day by otherwise helpless stooges. The antagonist is quickly identified, and is usually both smarter than the hero and adept at exploiting the protagonists’ innermost flaws. Act Two starts when the hero realizes who the bad guy is; Act Three starts when the hero realizes who the bad guy really is. The hero in action films will regularly face off with death, and will arrive victorious only when they realize: a) they can’t do it alone this time, or b) they had what it takes all along.

Action Movies to watch: Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Fist of Legend, Speed, Bad Boys, Rambo, La Femme Nikita, Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Genre hybrids: Matrix (Sci-Fi Action), Blade Runner (Sci-Fi Action), Never Say Never Again (Action Adventure), Spiderman (Action Comic), Terminator 2 (Action Fantasy)