Story and Screenplay Structure

Structure is beneficial to creative output in a number of ways. There are at least two types of structure, work processes and frameworks:

a) Work processes such as incremental production produce more output than a "do your best" approach. Writing four pages a day completes a words-on-paper first draft screenplay in one month. A "do your best" or "waiting for inspiration" approach can take months or years.

b) Work processes such as separating creative from critical thinking allow the build up of large idea pools using creative thinking and the reduction of those pools into feasible ideas using critical thinking.

c) Frameworks reduce complex problems into their component intellectual parts. For example, story structure can be reduced to three or four acts or The Hero With A Thousand Faces (Campbell, 1973). Frameworks increase output by reducing complex problems into smaller, more manageable problem solving exercises. In screenwriting, frameworks tell the writer where to start, where to finish, what to write and what should be happening at a particular stage of the story.

Additionally, a structured approach improves performance in a number of ways, including:

a) Simply being prolific improves performance. The single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when creator is being most prolific. Experience refines knowledge and methodology towards optimal levels.

b) Engagement in the tasks results in problem identification and triggers the mind into working on those problems at various cognitive levels. Problems incubate until answers become apparent. Increasing the incidence and frequency of problem identification increases the incidence and frequency of insight. In other words, simply engaging in the project generates good ideas, insights and inspiration, which is why screenwriters often find that their best ideas come to them when they are in the middle of writing a screenplay.

c) Increased problem identification (coupled with motivation) increases the incidence of solution seeking, through active search for stimuli and intellectual cross pollination through networks and collaboration.

A range of Screenplay and Story Structure Templates can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

---

How Logic Puzzles Can Help You Become a Better Problem Solver

I have to admit that I am a confirmed puzzle-head.... Read More

Why Creative Visualization Works

Experience has shown that creative visualization works. It is quite... Read More

Telling It Like It Is (Or Can Be)

When you hear, "tell me a story," does your mind... Read More

I Want To Create...

What would you like to create? A peaceful life, a... Read More

Creativity, Innovation, and Science ? Separate and Distinct or Not?

There is a pervasive belief that creativity and innovation are... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management : Why Products Fail!

There is no sure fire route to commercial success but... Read More

SoulCollage - Combining Collage Fun with Spiritual Practice

SoulCollage? is a unique blend of spiritual practice and the... Read More

Innovation Through Concept-Combination

There are many creative problem solving techniques used by inventors... Read More

The Power Of Your Intuition

We all have enormous reserves of mental capacity that we... Read More

Are You Inventive Enough to be an Inventor? Some Guidelines to Invention Success!

Inventors make a ton of money when the invention is... Read More

Take Time To Think

I recently saw a program on television wherein the participants... Read More

Charge Your Imagination (1)

"The challenges are not in the marketplace. They are in... Read More

Connect With Your Creative Dream

We get so busy in our day-to-day life, with all... Read More

Gift of a Letter

"What cannot letters inspire? They have souls; they can speak;... Read More

Connect with Your Inner Artist

In the "Roadblocks to Creativity" e-course, we look at the... Read More

Gifts of the Inner Voice

Now that I no longer awaken to the sound of... Read More

Five Basic Steps to Benefit from Your Creativity

The ability to exercise your creativity is even more important... Read More

Shyness - Another View

We are all born shy, aren't we? When we see... Read More

Creativity Management ? Finish What You Start

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

The Source of Growth and Creativity

Bare attention (to objects, people and circumstances) is what brings... Read More

Unleash Your Creativity and Think Your Way Out of the Box

The brain is a strange organ. It works in ways... Read More

The Sylvia Plath Pattern Of Creative Flow

* Sylvia Plath teaches a valuable lesson about the Even... Read More

How To Let The Subconscious Mind Do The Creative Work

From time immemorial mankind has wished for an Aladin's lamp,... Read More

Codifying Creativity

Can we codify creativity? Within these few words are a... Read More

Courage and Creating

Doing anything creative often brings up fears, anxieties, insecurities. Courage... Read More