Save the Cat! Goes to the Indies

by Salva Rubio

  High Tower Surprise: Sandrine reveals she is pregnant, and Patrice is the father! Julie only asks if he loved her, and she says yes, adding, “Will you hate us?”

  Dig, Deep Down: Julie returns to the swimming pool in an apparent attempt to toy with death. But when she gets out of the water, she “digs, deep down” by visiting her mother and deciding she does not want to end up like her, unable to show love.

  The Execution of the New Plan: Julie restarts her life. She resumes working on the score with Olivier and learns that he bought the mattress on which they slept together, discovering how much he loves her. This prompts Julie to give Patrice’s estate and name to Sandrine’s baby, showing acceptance and forgiveness. And when Olivier tells Julie it’s either him or her who will finish the Concerto, Julie takes her own score to his home. In doing so, she not only signals that she is going to accept him as a lover, but also is committing herself to claim authorship of the Concerto and, despite her dead husband’s memory, to continue her own career as a musician.

  Final Image: A beautiful moving frieze of all the characters in the film starts with Julie and Olivier making tender love, while Julie, finally at peace, cries. Over Julie’s silent crying, the completed chorus of the Concerto plays, singing the words of 1 Corinthians 13: “If I have not love, I am nothing.”

  TRAINSPOTTING (1996)

  Irvine Welsh’s maze-like multi-point-of-view novel was adapted by John Hodge with the intention of producing “a screenplay which would seem to have a beginning, a middle and an end,” and ended up resulting in a film ranked # 10 in the BFI 100 Top British Films of all time. So this indie jewel is our gateway into, or more accurately out of, a tale of drug addiction and all that surrounds it — in this case: Scotland.

  As an “Addiction Passage,” Trainspotting tells the story of Mark Renton, a young punk trying to quit heroin, one of the most addictive substances on earth... but maybe not as addictive as feeling safe among the wrong friends.

  Mark starts by having consciously chosen his heroin addiction to avoid the responsibility of adulthood, and he knows he is spinning in the hamster wheel of drugs. He will soon figure out that his life might be dramatically shorter if he does not change his ways.

  We like Mark from the beginning because he has resolved to quit, but as in any good ROP, he tries to do it “the wrong way.” He thinks that heroin is all that he has to give up to change, but in reality, he will have to “quit” a place without a future, a job without expectations, a family without understanding and, especially, a group of friends without hope.

  ROP Type: Addiction Passage

  ROP Cousins: Requiem for a Dream, Withnail and I, The Addiction, Shame, Drugstore Cowboy

  TRAINSPOTTING

  Written by John Hodge

  Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh

  Directed by Danny Boyle

  Opening Image: “Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career... I chose not to choose life. Who needs reasons when you have heroin?” This unforgettable and oft-quoted beginning gives us a clear picture of who Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) is and how he needs to change. His transformation will be complete when he starts choosing what he is avoiding now: a job, a career, a TV set... that is, life.

  Set-Up: We visit Renton’s world, a hopeless little Scottish town with seemingly nothing to offer youngsters like him... except for drugs. Renton spends his days in a filthy crack house with his James Bond-obsessed friend Sick Boy, dim-witted Spud or their dealer, “Mother Superior.” We also meet two of their non-drug addict friends, sporty boy Tommy, and Franco, a tough psychopath, whose lifestyles and hopes for the future are not very different from Renton’s. As a sign of their sordid rejection of life, a baby has been left alone in one of the rooms. One of them is probably the father, but no one seems to care.

  Theme Stated: Just when Renton decides to quit heroin, he tells the person least likely to be supportive, their dealer Mother Superior, who asks, “You need one more hit?” As our theme, how many “last hits” does Renton need to quit heroin forever?

  Catalyst: The Catalyst in this movie is Renton’s celebrated underwater bad trip in “the worst toilet in Scotland.” This nasty experience prompts him to make his first serious attempt to leave heroin cold turkey with the so-called “Sick Boy method,” which involves resisting withdrawal with the help of isolation and a junk-food cocktail.

  Debate: Will Renton be able to overcome his addiction? He starts off well by quitting the drugs, but at the same time, he knows “the downside of coming off junk was that I would need to mix with my friends in a state of full consciousness.” Renton is starting to figure out that drugs might not be the only problem, that he must also deal with his environment, in which even his non-drug addict friends seem to be destroying their lives with booze and mindless sex. He must make a living too, but as he and his friend Spud discover, drugs do not help them take a job search seriously.

  Break into Two: When Renton and Sick Boy watch Tommy’s sex tape, he realizes, “Something important was missing from my life.” So he decides to go further out of his comfort zone to try and avoid his negative surroundings, to make new friends and to meet women.

  B Story: “Heroin had robbed Renton of his sex drive, but now it returned with a vengeance.” As all of his friends score while he faces rejection, he finally hits it up with Diane, a hard-drinking girl who, after a long night of sex, reveals that she is underage. But she is also a resolute, clever person who — as B Story Characters must — will help him see himself in a new light.

  Fun and Games: The promise of the premise centers on how an addict in recovery lives a normal life. We follow Renton through several adventures in which he starts confirming that simply leaving the drugs is not enough. During a trekking trip to the countryside, Renton explodes: “It’s shit being Scottish!” He is drinking hard and seems to have lost hope, so he is soon on heroin again, stealing and getting high. Things reach a dramatic point when the fatherless baby dies because of their irresponsibility... and their only response is “to keep going on” with drugs and crime.

  Midpoint: Things can’t go “well” forever and they are arrested. In their public coming out, Spud is given a jail sentence and Renton gets a warning: he will avoid prison if he undergoes treatment. Stuck in the same environment as before, this second time quitting does not seem promising. He raises the stakes by abandoning treatment (now he can go to prison) and symbolically climbs a wall, barely standing in balance — no matter on which side he falls, it will be “bad” for him — the “drugs” side is lethal, the “life” side holds rejection by his friends. “Choose life,” says Sick Boy, mocking him, pushing him towards the “wrong way of coping.”

  Bad Guys Close In: Renton visits Mother Superior and goes on a bad trip, ending up at the hospital, while “You’re Gonna Reap Just What You Sow” blasts. When his parents lock him up, his Bad Guys appear in the form of regret and memories of the dead baby, Spud in jail and the once-healthy Tommy, who is now an AIDS-infected junkie. When Renton is assured he is disease-free, Diane inspires him to go somewhere else, and he makes a sincere attempt by moving to London and working as a real estate agent. While things seem to be improving, Bad Guys Franco and Sick Boy move in with him, recreating the negative environment. After he is fired because of them, the worst happens: he must go back to Scotland.

  All Is Lost: If that was not bad enough, back home at minute 70, Renton learns that Tommy has died a horrible death, slowly perishing alone for three weeks from toxoplasmosis. Now Renton must face the whiff of death, the near-certainty that something similar will happen to him if he does not change his ways.

  Dark Night of the Soul: In a tender and heartfelt moment, very similar in form but opposite in spirit to the celebration of Renton’s freedom, all the friends mourn Tommy in the bar.

  Break into Three: Back in the crack house, the “clean” Renton is left speechless when his friends agree to make a deal selling drugs to some dealers in London. Renton tries to reject the plan, b
ut the environment is overwhelming, even to the point of making him relent to testing the drugs personally. Or maybe Renton has something more in store for them.

  Finale:

  Gathering the Team: The “team” is the group of friends preparing for the heroin exchange while on their trip to London. Renton takes another of his “last shots.” Is this really the final one?

  Executing the Plan: They meet with the gangsters in a hotel room and, despite last-minute tensions, successfully sell the heroin. Now they can celebrate! Everything went according to plan… didn’t it?

  High Tower Surprise: While celebrating, Franco loses control and cuts a man’s face. Renton realizes that he has to break away from him or his psychopath friend’s temper will get all of them arrested.

  Dig, Deep Down: Renton “digs, deep down” when he resists Franco’s taunting, which could get him killed. He is trying to find his chance to flee.

  The Execution of the New Plan: That night, Renton wakes up, drinks water (a symbol of purity) and steals the money, leaving his former friends behind.

  Final Image: Renton has changed — he wanted to quit heroin and has done so, and he has also left behind his toxic environment. At last, he has ended up becoming the opposite of who he was at the beginning by deciding to “choose life, choose a job, choose a career...” at least for the time being.

  THE 400 BLOWS (1959)

  Can you put films like Porky’s, Sixteen Candles and American Pie in the same category as French New Wave masterpiece The 400 Blows? Wow, critics gonna criticize! But no matter how many readers of Cahiers du Cinema are now waving their foulards in protest, the fact is that the “Adolescent Passage” story reflects one of the most universal themes and storylines: the coming-of-age.

  In this groundbreaking film by François Truffaut, we follow the adventures of Antoine Doinel, a schoolboy who doesn’t feel he has a place in a society that only has authority as an answer for his “life problem”: growing up.

  Ironically, family, school, police and the correctional system are institutions designed to make children fit in, so when Antoine begins to feel different and wants to look for his own path in life, he naturally starts by coping “the wrong way,” which avoids the inevitable — he must be on his own to figure out his place in life.

  Let’s see, then, how a classic, rebellious and successful auteur film from 1959 fits the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet like a charm, proving that good narrative and a solid structure can make a film stand, almost 60 years later, as tall as Antoine Doinel’s figure in the final famous frame of the film.

  ROP Type: Adolescent Passage

  ROP Cousins: Heavenly Creatures, An Education, Fish Tank, Juno, The Virgin Suicides

  THE 400 BLOWS

  Adapted by François Truffaut and Marcel Moussy

  Dialogues by Marcel Moussy

  Written and Directed by François Truffaut

  Opening Image: Credits show us the ever- classique Eiffel Tower, but Truffaut is telling us something more: all kinds of buildings (a symbol of society) prevent us from seeing the whole tower, a visual statement working as an Opening Image that advances one of the themes of the film — how must the individual struggle to set himself apart from an oppressive society that threatens to drown him?

  Set-Up: We meet our young hero, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud, who would play the character in five more films), in his “at work” moment, that is, in school. There he is caught, ridiculed and punished by the teacher, the first of the authority figures Antoine will have to escape from. Then “play” arrives, even if he is prevented from attending recess; instead, he voices his rebellion by writing a protest on the wall, only to be caught again. Finally, “at home” we are introduced to his family: a seemingly uncaring mother and a light-hearted father. As we will see, authority is not lacking here, either.

  Theme Stated: “Recess isn’t a right, it is a reward,” says the teacher when punishing Antoine. Ironically, freedom has to be earned by submitting to society’s strict rules — failing to do so results in the loss of freedom, and can even lead to imprisonment.

  Catalyst: As a punishment for writing the protest, Antoine is ordered to conjugate this humiliating sentence: “I deface classroom walls and I mistreat French verses.” This seemingly unimportant moment will trigger all of his future reactions and decisions, setting the plot in motion.

  Debate: What is Antoine’s life like, and why does he (and we) feel that he does not fit in? Talking to his best friend René, Antoine refuses to accept authority, fantasizes about stealing money from their parents and beating the teacher. Later at home, Antoine tries to fulfill his homework/punishment, but his ever-angry mother prevents him from doing so.

  B Story: Antoine’s best friend is René, the equally neglected son of a wealthy family, and also his companion when it comes to getting in trouble. But unlike Antoine, René knows how not to get caught and recognizes the limits of rebellion — something that, as we will see, he will not be able to teach Antoine.

  Break into Two: The next day, Antoine remembers he didn’t fulfill his penalty, so to avoid being punished again, he plays hooky with René, thus entering Act Two’s upside-down world of freedom from responsibilities, where he can do as he pleases with no authority figures over him... as long as he and René don’t get caught.

  Fun and Games: Quite literally, Antoine and René have Fun and Games at the cinema, playing pinball and visiting an amusement park. Antoine discovers the upside-down world of family when he sees his mother kissing her boss! The next day, Antoine returns to school, but again is severely reprimanded and humiliated when he lies about his absence — he says his mother had died, a falsehood that is quickly discovered. Antoine tries for the second time to escape home and authority, testing the hardships of life in the streets and ultimately coming back to a temporary calm at home.

  Midpoint: This false victory (a happy home) quickly ends when Antoine is suspended for breaking the school-world rules by plagiarizing Balzac. This is his public coming out, but before being taken to the principal, he escapes again. A and B Stories cross as René is punished but also escapes.

  Bad Guys Close In: Time starts running out for Antoine, as the metaphorical clock of his options goes on ticking. He and René flirt with petty crime as they begin stealing — first a poster, and then an actual clock. Antoine and René pretend to be adults, playing backgammon, drinking wine and smoking cigars, but their adventure takes a dark twist as they set foot in the underground when they steal a typewriter and try to sell it on the black market.

  All Is Lost: As he is about to return the typewriter, Antoine is caught and taken to the police station, where he is charged with vagrancy and theft. The police chief proposes to take Antoine to a correctional center, and his stepfather accepts. Antoine is “worse off than when he started” — no family, no school, no freedom, all responsibility.

  Dark Night of the Soul: In a long Dark Night of the Soul beat, Antoine is put in a holding cell next to thieves and prostitutes as he contemplates the city lights, his former world of freedom. The police wagon then takes him to prison, where he spends the night alone.

  Break into Three: Antoine’s last hope vanishes when his mother visits the judge and actually persuades him to take Antoine to a center for juvenile delinquents. Antoine’s fate seems sealed as he is about to enter the dark world of Act Three.

  Finale:

  Gathering the Team: Antoine does not have a “team” per se, as he cannot trust any other people and must rely only on himself. This scene gives us a good view of the singular fate that society designates to rebellious children: jail. The only other option is flight, but Antoine learns that one kid who had escaped has been caught.

  Executing the Plan: In an impressive scene even by today’s standards, Antoine demonstrates good behavior by answering all of the psychologist’s questions. Here, we also learn details of Antoine’s past that explain his attitude.

  High Tower Surprise: A double surprise awaits him: first, Ren�
� comes to visit but is not allowed to see him, thus ending their friendship. Then, Antoine’s upset mother arrives to tell him that because of a letter he sent his father (presumably talking about her lover), they do not care for him anymore, and he will be sent to a labor center. He has definitely lost his family.

  Dig, Deep Down: Almost immediately, Antoine “digs, deep down” when he gathers the strength to escape from the labor center while playing a soccer match. After throwing the ball inbounds, he leaves the field, crawls under a fence and runs away.

  The Execution of the New Plan: Antoine keeps sprinting, faster than Forrest Gump ever ran! He goes on until he reaches a distant beach, fulfilling his dream of seeing the sea, and having a whole future for himself.

  Final Image: At the beginning, Antoine had a family, a school and friends. Now, he is alone and far from responsibility and society’s rules. Just as how the houses prevented us from seeing the Eiffel Tower in the Opening Image, Antoine’s lonely figure stands as tall as the famous monument. Now, there is no society that can hide his powerful presence from us.

  6BUDDY LOVE

  If there is anything just as primal in our human instinct as survival, it’s love. And as Blake taught us, primal-ness is the key ingredient of any good story. It’s also elemental as a foundation for our hero’s transformation, the primary goal we want to achieve when we work on a narrative.

  Love stories are the bread and butter of many screen-writers and novelists throughout the world, and while at first the term “rom-com” may not seem to belong to the “deeper” indie world, you’ll soon realize there are many kinds of love to write about.

  That’s why we put the “Buddy” before the “Love.” We are not only referring to the romantic, we’re talking about that special connection you may feel toward another being, one so strong that it could change your life — be it the love of friends, family, a significant other or, as we will see, the relationship with a special animal.