Screenwriting The Sequence Approach

by Gulino, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780826415684
• ISBN10: 0826415687
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-27
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

The great challenge in writing a feature-length screenplay is sustaining audience involvement from page one through 120. Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach expounds on an often-overlooked tool that can be key in solving this problem. A screenplay can be understood as being built of sequences of about fifteen pages each, and by focusing on solving the dramatic aspects of each of these sequences in detail, a writer can more easily conquer the challenges posed by the script as a whole. The sequence approach has its foundation in early Hollywood cinema (until the 1950s, most screenplays were formatted with sequences explicitly identified), and has been rediscovered and used effectively at such film schools as the University of Southern California, Columbia University and Chapman University. This book exposes a wide audience to the approach for the first time, introducing the concept then providing a sequence analysis of eleven significant feature films made between 1940 and 2000: The Shop Around The Corner / Double Indemnity / Nights of Cabiria / North By Northwest / Lawrence of Arabia / The Graduate / One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest / Toy Story / Air Force One / Being John Malkovich / The Fellowship of the Ring>

Author Biography

Paul Joseph Gulino is Associate Professor of Screenwriting at Chapman University in California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Author's Note	xi
Foreword	xiii
1 An Introduction to Sequences	1	(19)
Why Sequences?	1	(2)
The Origin of Sequences	3	(1)
How A Screenplay Works	4	(8)
How Sequences Work	12	(8)
2 Toy Story: Firing on All Eight	20	(21)
3 The Shop Around the Corner: Fractured Symmetry	41	(23)
4 Double Indemnity: Flashback to the Future	64	(16)
5 Fellini's Nights of Cabiria: Nocturnal Episodes	80	(17)
6 North by Northwest: 1,700 Miles in Nine Sequences	97	(17)
7 Lawrence of Arabia: Sixteen Sequences and an Intermission	114	(31)
8 The Graduate: Passive Main Character	145	(13)
9 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Midpoint Reversal	158	(14)
10 Air Force One: Eight Sequences Eight Miles Up	172	(10)
11 Being John Malkovich: The Disappearing Lead Actor	182	(17)
12 The Fellowship of the Ring: The Shotgun Approach	199	(26)
Sources	225	(2)
Index	227