18 QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO KNOW THE ANSWERS TO
BEFORE YOU BEGIN WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT OF YOUR SCREENPLAY
1. Title: Victor, Charlie
(the comma is there on purpose)
2. Genre: Absurdist Dramedy; Maturation/Education Plot; War Movie
3. Tone: Catch 22
4. Logline: Shipped out to the Vietnam War after college, a stoner officer-in-training faces challenges from his back-home new love who is an anti-war protestor, a senior officer who has a vendetta against him, and the Viet Cong who want to kill him.
5. Who is the hero? Charlie
What he wants: To survive his Vietnam tour and return to his new love
What is in the way: The Viet Cong and Major Dick, his evil Executive Officer
6. Why do we care if the hero succeeds? We want him to survive and grow into adulthood.
7. What is the theme? “War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.”
8. Who is the intended audience? Adults
9. Type of movie: Studio
10. What is the inciting incident? Charlie decides to obey orders calling for him to report for active duty, over the objection of his new love.
11. Act One break: Charlie decides to obey orders to report to Fort Lewis as a basic training officer to train infantry soldiers. This is bad news because Charlie had joined ROTC to try to avoid being shipped off to Vietnam as an infantryman.
12. Midpoint (high point): Charlie survives an ambush and meets his love in Hawaii for R&R (Rest and Recuperation).
13. Act Two break (low point): A nearby advisory unit is overrun by the Viet Cong, as U.S. units withdraw from Vietnam. Charlie is beat up by Major Dick whose friend is killed.
14. Resolution: Charlie survived his tour in Vietnam, is awarded a medal for building a swimming pool for his the unit, and flies back to US and his wife.
15. What is the main character’s inner struggle? Dutifully participating in a war he believes is immoral and useless, while missing his new love.
16. What is the main character arc? Charlie grows up a little, learns about women and life.
17. Source of conflict: Who/what is the villain? An angry new wife (sort of), Major Dick, and the Viet Cong
18. What is the ticking clock? Will the Viet Cong win the war before Charlie goes home?
BUT REMEMBER
M. Night Shyamalan said he didn’t know
Bruce Willis’s character in The Sixth Sense was dead
until ‘about the fifth or sixth draft.’