DZ-01: Do Screenplay Gurus win you Oscars?

Listen if you want to know whether Blake Snyder, Michael Hauge and Christopher Vogler's structural theories actually apply to Academy Award-nominated screenplays Three of the most widely read structure books in screenwriting — Snyder's Save the Cat, Vogler's The Writer's Journey, and Michael Hauge's Six Stages — all make essentially the same claim: this is how great films are built. In our debut episode, we run that claim against two Oscar-nominated films to see if it holds: PHILOMENA and DALLAS BUYERS CLUB. We map both against Snyder, Hauge, and Vogler, looking for where the beats land, where they don't, and — more usefully — what those gaps reveal about how the films actually work. As Chas puts it: "the answer as to whether these structural theories apply is actually less important than what the act of testing them against great films teaches us PHILOMENA turns out to be a dual-protagonist script that makes the frameworks interesting precisely because it doesn't fit cleanly. DALLAS BUYERS CLUB seemingly has a cleaner structure — the A-plot is Ron Woodruff's drug-smuggling operation — but the more interesting structural question is the B-story: Stu identifies it as "the battle for Ron's soul," with Rayon and Eve staging Ron's transformation from a man "sick in both body and soul" into something else. The structural question we keep returning to: if a great film breaks the rules, does that mean there are no rules, or that it found something better? And we skim over a few other ideas: why we picked these films over other nominees, the problem with Page 12 catalysts, and whether "Save the Cat" moments are actually doing what Snyder says they are. As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Watch and comment on YouTube. Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre & Natalie and Lily. → Read the transcript for this episode. ——— "They aren't the Bible. They aren't the holy grail of screenwriting. You need to do more than read these books to become a screenwriter." — Chas Fisher @ 00:03:36 ——— CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Cold Open 00:00:06 – Do Screenplay Gurus Win You Oscars? 00:02:25 – › The case for empirical analysis over guru formulas 00:04:18 – › Why these two Oscar nominees were chosen to test the theories 00:07:03 – PHILOMENA 00:08:56 – › Save the Cat mapped against a dual-protagonist script 00:15:37 – › Where the refusal of the call disappears into a flashback sequence 00:22:10 – › How escalating reveals replace conventional second-act structure 00:28:45 – › Fun and games, the midpoint, and a 16-page gap from Snyder's prescription 00:35:35 – › All Is Lost and Dark Night of the Soul across two protagonists 00:44:11 – › Why Hauge's percentages fit a dual-protagonist script better than Snyder's pages 00:51:31 – › Vogler's reward and road back as the stronger model for act three 01:01:16 – DALLAS BUYERS CLUB 01:06:04 – › The break into act two and the decision that happens off screen 01:11:36 – › Rayon, Eve, and the battle for Ron's soul as the B story 01:16:07 – › A bust-and-recovery rhythm replacing conventional midpoint structure 01:24:09 – › How escalating antagonism substitutes for a visible act-three break 01:30:26 – › Ron's personal victory as the only climax a biopic needs 01:33:02 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up 01:35:30 – › Next episode: testing gurus on mainstream box office hits FILMS PHILOMENA (2013) — (w) Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan, Martin Sixsmith (d) Stephen Frears DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (2013) — (w) Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack (d) Jean Marc Vallee SCRIPTS Study the script: PHILOMENA (2013) — Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan, Martin Sixsmith Study the script: DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (2013) — Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack LINKS Read: The Q&A Podcast with Jeff Goldsmith - Philomena Read: The Q&A Podcast with Jeff Goldsmith - Dallas Buyers Club Read: The Writer's Journey Structure by Christopher Vogler Read: Scrivener Read: Ingrid's Notes on THE WRITER'S JOURNEY Read: SM Worth links to a few different Scrivener Templates including one for the Hero's Journey Read: Save The Cat Beatsheet by Blake Snyder Read: The Five Key Turning Points Of All Successful Scripts by Michael Hauge EPISODES IN THE SCREENPLAY GURUS SERIES DZ-01: Do Screenplay Gurus win you Oscars? DZ-02: Do the Screenplay Gurus score big at the Box Office? ——— More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser. We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter. Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2014/dz-01/