A few weeks back we looked at classic screenplay structure– Syd Field- style– for the Matrix. This week, let’s look at those structural points for another movie, The Godfather. I do this for those of you who want to outline, and are looking for how you would go about that. Recognizing the structural signposts in other movies might help yours. So, onto The Godfather.
Remember again, the key points in what Syd calls his “Paradigm”:
–Page 1-10: FIRST SEQUENCE: Establish the world, the key characters, the tone, beginnings of conflict.
–Page 10-15: INCITING INCIDENT: The event that signals change to the world you just set up.
–Page 25: PLOT POINT 1: Lynch pin scene. Scene that takes you out of the First Act. You know this scene because there is no movie without it.
–Pages 25-50: RISING ACTION: Second act is twice as long as first or third. First half of the second act is a deepening of story and character, deeping of the movie’s theme, moving us toward…
–Page 50: MIDPOINT: A key scene, though not as essential as either Plot Point scene. It approximates the end of rising action, moving the story into descent, placing the protagonst(s) in grave danger, culminating in…
–Page 75: PLOT POINT 2: “All is lost” moment. “Dark night of the soul” etc. Movie and character low points should be end of the second act. This is another lynch pin scene to the essential degree of: There is no movie without it. 100 page model is comes here. If the movie is 120 pages, it would come closer to page 90. Second Act ends here.
–Page 85-90: CLIMAX: Story and character arcs end in an inevitable, plausible manner. Resolution is not required. Happy endings are not required. Character growth is. The thematic journey complete.
- FIRST SEQUENCE
One of the best ever. The Wedding. What do you need to do with your first 10 pages? Establish the world, the tone, the key characters, the beginnings of conflict. Check, check, check, and check. We meet the entire Corleone family here in a single 10 page sequence. Establish the unmistakeable tone, and set up the next sequence, when Tom is sent out to LA to get Frank Sinatra the movie role.
- PLOT POINT 1
Another classic. They meet with the drug dealer Solozzo. In the meeting the Don is offered the chance to go into business with this man, to make millions. Yet Brando turns him down. He points out he would lose his political connections and judges if they discovered he was peddling heroin. He wishes Sollozzo the best but refuses him. This single determines the entire course of the Godfather Trilogy. Think about it. If Brando tells the drug guy he WILL go into business with him, there is No assassination attempt, Brando doesn’t have to go into the hospital and Michael, if we trace it all the way, never becomes the Don. All because Brando turns the drug deal down here. Plot Points are your lynch pin scenes. There is no movie without them.
- PLOT POINT 2
What’s the low point of the Godfather? I’d argue it’s on page 90 of the script: Michael is told of the death of his brother Sonny, and the very next watches as his new wife Apollonia is blown to bits in a bomb meant for him. Two of the most important people of his life, gone, in moments.
- CLIMAX
Another sequence that defines the very essence of what we come to know from this Godfather trilogy. Once the Don dies in the tomato garden, Michael takes over. At the funeral he sees who his true enemy is, and who will betray him. Then begins, on page 111, the Baptism Sequence, centered with Michael becoming Godfather to Connie’s baby, with the quick cutaway to multiple murders at a barbershop, a massage place, a courthouse, contrasting the beauty of the baby and church surroundings with the bloody events outside. In some ways, it’s Michael’s baptism by blood that we’re actually seeing. Incredible crosscutting here, setting up the rare sequel that might be better than the original and an ok 3rd movie. I’m Italian, you think I’m gonna say that last movie sucked??? Ehhhhhh!
