WORLDS

One of you wisely asked :"Dave, you mentioned "worlds" a lot in class- did you mean the second screenplay should be centered around a larger world, as in, the ten pager we just did was character based and the new screenplay should be "the protagonists' actions affect the world" based?"

My answer: I meant you take us into a world. a screenplay where setting is important. Would think it would be hard to affect the world (like Spiderman 2 :) ) in 10 pages, but sure, if you can, sure. I'm intrigued 

But minimally, just take us into a specific world. . . high school, prison, science fiction, an army base, etc. Same rules apply though: You can't take 3 pages explaining the world. Line 1 (ideally) what's the problem and go from them. So we just have to assume the world OR discovery aspects of the world as you're dealing with a specific problem.

Now if you're tricky (like the Twilight Zone): We think we're in one world but in fact we're in another. So the question is not just the "normal" question (i.e. how do I survive this person holding a gun to my head) but also there's a hidden, bigger question -- i.e. wait -- i thought we were on earth. But are we? 

but mostly just enjoy setting your story in a world you want us to be introduced to OR that you'd enjoy creating (all in 10 pages :) ) .

I watched the 2009 Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Thought about: Why do I care more about the dragon girl story than the reporter's story. Answer: Because I see her brutalized over and over whereas I'm not sure what's at stake for him, and he seems a little creepy obsessing about some dead girl. MIDPOINT: the two of them realize they need each other and get together. I liked him a lot better after that, as he tries to get inside this girl's head, he seems to care about her. I also liked the second half of the movie more.

I also thought about: in a shorter movie, we wouldn't have seen the brutalizing, it's just her unspoken backstory that informs her character. What would that movie have been like? . . . And did she have experienced SO MUCH brutalizing. Then again. . . it's not like I didn't buy it. . . just difficult to watch. And if she had been a black box not just to him but to us as well.. . what would that have been like?

So backstory vs. flashback vs not putting anything (just informing the character by what isn't on the page).

And then I thought about the midpoint of Jurassic Park 2 (welcome to my brain which has many loose synapses) -- the evil company come to rape the dinosaur land and the "greens" wanting to photograph and preserve the dinosaur land. They are both attacked (one is literally thrown over a cliff, all supplies gone, destroyed, "over the edge"/no turning back) so . . . at the midpoint they need each other, they need to work together.

Enemies needing to work together is another common way you divide your script in half and turn it at the middle. first enemies, then coming together, but still the potential to turn on each other again once things get better.

African Queen I think follows this structure as well.