Broken Frontier

So, we’ve just come off the first culmination. That means we’re now headed into what is often viewed as one of the most difficult of all the sequences: E. Remember that this is the third attempt to answer the dramatic question. Remember also that we will need to follow it with a fourth attempt in Sequence F, but that fourth attempt actually gets to answer the dramatic question in what is known as the second culmination. That means that poor Sequence E, however, is sort of by itself, stuck in the middle.

Often, this is the place where the script can be completely lost. But to the writer who has carefully prepared their structure in advance, sequence E doesn’t have to be difficult or detrimental. In fact, Sequence E is an opportunity to shift gears and change the tension in creative ways.

To illustrate my point, let’s look at the film Collateral, in which Tom Cruise plays Vincent, a hitman who has to kill five people during one night in Los Angeles and Jamie Foxx plays Max, the cab driver he hijacks. We’ll look at their Sequence E in just a minute, but before that, let’s take a look at the way Collateral fits our sequence structure from the beginning.

In Sequence A, we see Vincent arrive at LAX and collect a mysterious briefcase. We also meet Max and see what he has to deal with as a cab driver. This establishes his so-called normal flow of life so that the dramatic intrusion which is about to take place will have some impact. Max also meets Annie, the district attorney, and the two make some kind of connection. Sequence A ends with the point of attack you’ll remember. And in this case, it’s Vincent, getting into Max’s cab and ultimately offering him a lot of money to drive him around LA all night.

Max accepts and in Sequence B, he drives Vincent to the first hit, the body lands on his cab and he realizes that Vincent is a hitman. He helps Vincent put the body into the trunk of his cab and they continue on to the next hit. But they are stopped by the police. And here we find the Predicament: Max can’t get help from anyone -- not even the cops -- or he will be killed by Vincent. This then is the dramatic question: how will Max be able to get away from Vincent before the night is over?

In Sequence C, Vincent kills his second victim and Max makes his first attempt to escape by yelling at some passersby. When they approach and Max shows them his hands are taped to the steering wheel, however, they promptly decide to rob him. Lucky for Max, Vincent arrives and kills the thugs.

In Sequence D, Max and Vincent go to the jazz club where they share a table and a drink with the club’s owner, Daniel. Max is shocked when it turns out that Daniel is victim #3 and Vincent shoots him right before his eyes. Max then gets a call that his mother needs to see him and so they go to the hospital. Max now makes his second attempt at escaping by stealing Max’s briefcase, throwing it onto the freeway, and running for it. This is the First Culmination, of course, because the movie could have ended right there. Without his briefcase, Vincent can’t complete the hits and Max has gotten away. Except...Vincent catches Max and takes him back to his cab at gunpoint.

Which brings us to Sequence E. In this sequence, Vincent tells Max that he has to actually “be” him to meet with Felix and get a copy of the hit list so he can complete the job. What’s especially interesting and effective about this particular sequence is the way that it ratchets up the tension for both Max and Vincent. Vincent must depend on Max in order to succeed and Max must continue to build the attitude he first showed when he threw the briefcase off the bridge at the end of the previous sequence. (Attitude which will be paid off in a very unique way in the rest of the film.) Max is successful. He gets what Vincent needs and returns to the cab. They move on to the fourth hit, which just happens to be the fourth sequence of the Second Act. But we’ll get to that in a future column.

You may be asking yourself: how does this represent a third attempt to answer the dramatic question? After all, Max isn’t trying to get away. Technically, no; but he is trying to survive and that’s what’s important here -- that’s what makes it Max’s third attempt, if you will.

Take a look at some of the examples I gave in the last column about the mid-point. How do the sequences that follow those mid-points change the tension in creative ways? Can you find some of your own to share in the forum? Let me know.

Until next time, keep writing.

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For those of you both inclined and in the financial position to do so, I highly recommend the purchase of the two best books about the sequence approach to screenwriting: Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, by Paul Gulino, and The Tools of Screenwriting, A Writer’s Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay, by David Howard.