Choosing the events in your account

Once you have chosen the elements of your story, imagine the account you will give of it, in other words the scenes you will use to tell the story. Like a vehicle, your account will move the story forward, while “transporting” the audience.

It is essential to make this clear distinction between story and account. Different accounts can be given of the same story.

Example:

Imagine a character called Ruth.

Ruth’s life is made up of a great many events (each event is marked with an “x”) that follow each other chronologically, from her birth to the present day.

I-X-X–X —- X— X—-X—X – X —X– X X — X X X X X X X X X X X

First comment: Ruth’s life didn’t begin the day she was born. She belongs to a family that has a past. Perhaps you should mention that past.

To tell the story of Ruth’s life, we have to choose certain events among all those that form her existence. How will we make those choices? Why choose one event rather than another? The answer depends on the story you want to tell. You won’t ever tell every detail of Ruth’s life.

Do we want to talk about her childhood, adolescence or family life? Karima, like every one of us, has hundreds of stories: holiday stories, boyfriend, friendship and love stories, school stories and professional success or failure stories. Each contains elements of Ruth’s entire history.

Writing your screenplay, you will choose a particular way of telling a story that is important to you. Always be aware of your alternatives: is this scene necessary? Why not describe what happened elsewhere at the same time? Or focus on the moments before and after the scene you chose to tell? Or both?

A good screenwriter is able to choose or create just the right events and to organize the scenes in the best way to form his/her account of a story.

The Three-Act Structure

So far, we have dealt with the Elements of the story. But these Elements are part of a construction, or rather structure, whose principle must now be explained.

This methodology uses the classic ternary or three-part structure.

A story must have a beginning middle and end, and each of these parts has a precise function. We call the parts Acts 1, 2 and 3. Between the acts, there are two particular moments: the plot points. The first plot point is the moment the audience asks the question at the heart of the story: “Will the hero manage to achieve his/her aim?” The second plot point is the outcome. This is when the central question is answered.