Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach
by Paul Gulino
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paul GulinoEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-04-27
ISBN: 0826415687
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Continuum
Book Reviews of Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach
Book Review: Exceptional Approach to Screenwriting
Summary: 5 Stars
It's been a little while since I went slightly crazy and started buying screenwriting books machine-gun style. I'm much calmer, thanks.
The point is, I've done a bit of reading bout screenwriting. I started with Field and graduated to McKee. Branching out, I discovered some gems (like Teach Yourself Screenwriting and Writing a Great Movie: Key Tools for Successful Screenwriting) but most stuck close to the so-called paradigm of three acts. One, by the way, that I agree with although I may not stubbornly call it "three acts". According to Truby (who vehemently poo-poos the three acts structure), Aristotle--claimed as the father of the three acts--actually said nothing about three acts, only about a story having three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end.
The problem for a writer who sticks to the three acts like a limpet mine is one of approach. Looking at the long journey ahead (starting with that cold, empty page), attempting to jam a story into Field's page breaks, turning points, act breaks and so on is daunting enough. A simpler way could certainly help.
Gulino returns to a now-forgotten method of writing a screenplay using sequences. Frank Daniel's teachings from the 1980s are the linchpin of this approach and even that goes back to the technical limitations of early (very early) screenwriting for early movies. Back then, every reel lasted 10-15 minutes after which they had to be replaced. This hard limit naturally forced writers to break their stories into 10-15 minute chunks, each one complete with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Of course, with time and technological advancements, this limitation disappeared but Frank Daniel realized that continuing to write in this way made a lot of sense. It enabled handling the story in manageable chunks. No more the long line of plot disappearing in the unseen distance, but writing a short 15-minute film that would fit within the longer film is less of a problem.
I really like this idea. It makes sense and it's easy without being simplistic. Gulino has written this book based completely on this idea and it's a success. After the first chapter, which covers the history of the sequence approach, he expands on the approach by showing examples of how some good movies can be broken into sequences. He begins the discourse with analyzing one of my favorite movies, Toy Story.
Supposedly, the movies he analyzes are arranged chronologically. He begins with Toy Story because he really, really likes the movie. I can't fault him on that one. He does go quite far back though and analyzes some obscure (at least to me) movies that I'm having a hard time finding on video. In reality, that slight negative isn't important. What's important is that he proves his point, over and again.
The sequence approach is a valid one and while the casual reader would think Gulino is advocating a radical departure from the venerable three-act structure, he really isn't. In the first introductory chapter, Gulino asserts that sequences actually fit very nicely into the paradigm: 2 sequences in the first act, 4 in the second, and two in the third. Nice.
In summary, this is a good book to have as a reference. Not every movie will fit nor can every story be written by slavish observation of the sequence approach. No matter, for most stories, writing is greatly aided by this method.
Five well-earned stars.
Summary of Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach
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>Movies Books
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