Save the Cat Goes to the Movies

by Blake Snyder

  Final Image: Against the backdrop of the capital building, which is being rebuilt, Morgan leads a prayer: “Let us begin.”

  OPEN WATER (2004)

  The pitch for this first-rate indie DWAP is “The Blair Witch Project meets Jaws.” Shot by director/writer Chris Kentis, a lot of it with a handheld camera (as was the breakthrough Blair Witch), the story concerns a 30-something couple that goes skin-diving while on vacation in Mexico and promptly gets left in the middle of the ocean. Soon they are in Jaws-land, swarmed by an ever-circling “Nature Problem.”

  Like other films that pit an ordinary man against nature or a life-threatening illness, the interesting thing about this supposed “free-form” movie is that it follows the BS2 almost beat for beat. It proves again that whether planned or not, a satisfying story demands structure. Here you will see the “Fun and Games,” the “All Is Lost,” and especially the “Dark Night of the Soul.” But what makes this film so gripping is the up close view of real live sharks — and the raw fear of what it must feel like to know your fate is sealed.

  The success of the movie, however, comes with the slow reveal of its protagonists. Are they just your average modern urbanites — or something more iconic? There is an odd blankness in this couple. They blame themselves for their plight, and will battle each other as much as the sharks at times, but their isolation from life began long before they got on a plane to Mexico.

  DWAP Type: Nature Problem

  DWAP Cousins: The Flight of the Phoenix; Champions; Lorenzo’s Oil; The Edge; Alive; Apollo 13; Twister; Six Days, Seven Nights; Into Thin Air: Death on Everest; The Perfect Storm

  OPEN WATER

  Written by Chris Kentis

  Opening Image: Water. A vast horizon. Looking out to sea, it’s peaceful … and ominous. A man (Daniel Travis) packs for vacation. He’s on his cell phone making plans for when he gets back. We meet her (Blanchard Ryan), also on her cell.

  Theme Stated: They take a breath before they start. “This is supposed to be a vacation,” he says. Separated by their busy lives, they are about to see if a vacation can reunite them.

  Set-Up: There is an odd chemistry to this pair, and we’re never sure of their marriage status. As they leave civilization behind, they begin to unwind. Arriving in Mexico, the couple joins other tourists buying gewgaws, getting their photo snapped inside the jaws of a plastic shark, and trying to relax. It doesn’t solve their ennui. They are bored and boring. The night before they’re to go diving, they lie naked in bed. When he broaches sex, she stops him. “So how are you?” asks he. “Fine,” says she. It’s Stasis = Death for this couple and they don’t even know it.

  Catalyst: The two get on a tourist boat to go deep-sea diving. They join the others, little knowing what awaits.

  Debate: “You don’t have to worry about sharks,” says the boat owner. Is this true? A rude diver interrupts the safety talk; he forgot his swim mask, a mistake that will affect our couple.

  Break into Two: The dive begins and the couple joins others in the water, drifting far from the safety of the boat. The rude diver insists on borrowing a mask, grabs a buddy to jump in the sea, and is inadvertently counted twice when he gets back onboard. The boat owners pull up anchor and leave. Our couple has been left behind. When they come up from their dive, they quickly realize what’s happened. They have emerged into the “upside-down world” of Act Two, far from cell phones, easy communication, and civilization — just the two of them. Thanks to their bland personalities, life continues back on shore without them.

  B Story: The first fin is spotted in Minute 31, and dude this is really a problem. But the real B story is about the couple’s isolation. Doing everything apart from the group — and each other — has left them alone in more ways than one.

  Fun and Games: The “promise of the premise” is now revealed as the couple treads water, the circling sharks appearing and vanishing. The two try their best to keep up their spirits, finding an “eye of the storm” by recalling favorite films and TV survival tips, but real life keeps interfering. They are attacked by jellyfish and the stinging strike is jarring. Up close in the water, every splash is a cause for panic. This is the “fun” of the concept — and its “poster.” For now, we don’t know what will happen. After several hours, the woman slowly nods off.

  Midpoint: She wakes up floating in the ocean alone. Both fell asleep and drifted apart, and now A and B stories cross as they cry out for each other and swim back together. But something has happened while she slept. She’s been bitten; the “stakes are raised.” This is serious. No more talk of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. Putting his mask on and looking under the water, he sees that she has been a victim of a shark attack.

  Bad Guys Close In: With the woman bleeding, drifting, and desperate, it’s only a matter of time. The “bad guys” are circling. The vice-like grip of this movie begins to include panicked ways to deal with an insane situation. “I don’t know what’s worse, seeing them or not seeing them,” she says. But when he puts his mask on, peers under the ocean surface, and sees a swarm of sharks, we know. The “internal team” begins to fall apart, too. He rages against her — and their vacation: “We wanted an ocean view; boy did we get it!” “Feel better?” she says. He laments the lost opportunity for sex the night before. Arguing in the middle of the ocean, they reveal the true despair of their situation. This is a movie about sharks, but there is something in the torture between this couple rivaling Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for raw pain.

  All Is Lost: Circling birds overhead indicate the couple’s time is running out. Nature has pegged them for chum, yet they still cling to hope. When the two spot a buoy to swim to, and even discover some food in their dive bag, things seem to be getting better. Then without warning he is struck — and bleeds profusely.

  Dark Night of the Soul: As night falls, their fate is sealed and they know it. A lightning storm highlights the two adrift, surrounded by sharks. He is attacked again and again.

  Break into Three: Next day on shore, the boat operator realizes the two did not return from the dive. In any other story, this is where the rescue boats swing into action, the wife and husband are saved and learn their lesson. But not in this movie. Back at sea, the man’s half-eaten body bobs in the chop. A and B stories cross for the last time as she lets him go and watches as sharks finish the job.

  Finale: There is only a slim hope that she can be rescued. Then in one of the great climactic surrenders, she allows herself to sink — swallowed by the sea to end the madness.

  Final Image: In a coda, a shark is caught. Inside its belly is the couple’s camera. You won’t find many Kodak moments.

  The midpoint “false victory” of Napoleon Dynamite finds our hero almost in the arms of school crush Deb, but only halfway to his real victory: the solo dance finale of this indie “Rites of Passage.”

  Whenever we hear that a friend or loved one is “going through something,” we innately understand the implication. Be it midlife crisis, adolescence, death of a family member, divorce, or any other “fun” thing like that, we get what’s really going on: Our friend, whoever it may be, is sitting squarely in the time-out chair of life. And though we can offer all kinds of advice, there is no way for them to get through the episode, but to learn from it … and grow.

  Stories that fall under the “Rites of Passage” label seem, on the surface, the least caveman-like of all the genres, and have the fewest antecedents in myth and legend. While “life change” is universally understood, the luxury of discussing it is a prerogative of the post-Freudian world. Yet this story has shown up in hidden ways throughout time. The trials of the knight errant, forced to choose two seemingly illogical paths, may mimic the very real mysteries of a rites-of-manhood tale. The story of Job might be the ultimate Biblical ROP; while Job’s ordeal is about faith, it also involves life problems he did not ask for — but gets by the pantload. And we understand. Though we aren’t ancient Biblical figures, we’ve all had those “Job on
the ash heap” kinda days — and wondered if they would ever end!

  One thing is sure about the ROP; it is recognized in every culture because we each get our turn. From puberty to midlife to death, these passages await us all. And just like life, only when the hero embraces his true self — warts and all — can the torment end. That is the lesson of every ROP, no matter the type.

  10, starring Dudley Moore and directed by Blake Edwards, is about a distressing “Mid-life Passage” in which Dudley turns 40 and thinks his problems will be solved by hooking up with Bo Derek. Divorce, departure, and child-custody battles are part of the “Separation Passage” in Kramer vs. Kramer and its comic cousins, The War of the Roses and The Break-Up. In these, like all ROP stories, the shock of change, or just the changing of routine, is enough to send the principals searching for new ways to cope.

  Puberty, growth spurts, and the ordeal of becoming an adult are what make up the “Adolescent Passage” as 16 Candles, American Pie, and Napoleon Dynamite show. When it comes to stories of drug and alcohol abuse, the torment is explored in movies labeled “Addiction Passage,” from the best — The Lost Weekend and Days of Wine and Roses — to more recent versions that include drug use like Clean and Sober, When a Man Loves a Woman, and 28 Days, starring Cat! fave Sandra Bullock. Finally, the “Death Passage” story involves a hero who must come to grips with facing … The End … seen in the only ROP musical I know, All That Jazz.

  In each of these films, the wallowing in pain seems at first a bit self-centered, but in fact frames the problem in a way that gives us a hero we can root for. “Get over it!” we are likely to say when Michael Keaton goes on yet another bender in Clean and Sober — yet until we understand his addiction a little better, we are likely to assume that’s all that’s needed. While tragedy, like that found in Ordinary People, is an ideal starting point for any screenwriter, we must often work harder to set up the protags of these tales with a rooting interest. Even though we are advanced from the caveman, who might not so easily get what all the fuss is about, we must be given a good reason to cheer for someone whose only problem is “getting through it.”

  The ROP yarn, like the other genres in this book, has three telling indicators: (1) a “life problem,” (2) the “wrong way” to fix it, and (3) the solution to the problem: “acceptance.”

  More will be revealed … if we only take a look!

  In every ROP, the “problem” is the movie — and its poster. “What’s it about?” we ask a writer working on an ROP script, and the answer is: It’s about drug addiction, or teen angst, or “a guy who turns 40 who suddenly realizes his life is half over.” Your pitch will be just that. And it’s a grabber. This is especially true if the solution to the problem, e.g., chasing a perfect 10, is the ironic punch line to your set-up.

  Often the “problem” is one that offers no real action to solve. When Ordinary People begins, Tim Hutton — remorseful over his dead brother — has just attempted suicide. Now what is there to do, per se? Not much. Tim just has to get back on track and feel better. This is tougher than it looks. “I’m okay,” a constant response by Tim throughout the movie, is a lie. This denial, in fact, is exactly what makes him ripe for the journey — and its end point. “When the going gets tough … keep going” as they say in the rooms of any well-lit 12 Step meeting, but the sad part — and what makes ROP tales so riveting — is this “easy” answer is never apparent to the hero.

  Having sensed the problem, yet not knowing exactly what to do about it, the ROP lead will inevitably flail and grasp at any solution that might help, but is in fact the “wrong way.” In Kramer vs. Kramer, once Dustin Hoffman is left alone when Meryl Streep abandons him and their child, he tries to organize a routine to help him cope, and even attempts an office romance to make it feel like he’s not so alone. But being alone is the lesson. Change is the bitch, not Meryl. Until Dustin figures that out, through trial and error, and even with further mistakes in judgment, he is doomed to keep spinning in his hamster wheel.

  Many middle sections of ROP flicks show how “the wrong way” seems like a good idea, but is actually just a way of avoiding the inevitable. Sandra Bullock thinks a romance with Viggo Mortensen during her 28 Days in rehab might fix her. Wrong. Likewise Tim Hutton assumes that acting as a dutiful son, staying on the swim team, and pursuing Elizabeth McGovern will mute his pain. Wrong 2. Nope, these poor saps are experiencing what many an ROP hero wallows in — the compounding of mistakes — and the reason this works so well is … it is so human. Avoiding pain, recoiling from the hot flame, is natural, even logical — yet only the counterintuitive move of embracing pain will help.

  Because of this paradox, the solution must often be forced on the hero. It’s been coming all along; we know it, and secretly so do they: The only thing that can save the ROP lead is turning the flailing inward and realizing he must change, not the world around him. This is the “acceptance” part of every ROP film, that moment of surrender and honesty that we have known about all along, but which the hero of our tale has failed to grasp. In the end, the sad soul finally understands that while some passages may be a pain to get through, life would be a lesser experience without the trial.

  If you really want to show your stuff, the ROP script — if done smartly and with a fresh take — can be the greatest calling card a screenwriter has. But to pull off the story of a unique character suffering from a life problem we all understand — executed with gobs of painful torment and a little humor thrown in for balance — is tough to accomplish. If you can get beyond the “sounds like a Movie of the Week” criticism you are likely to hear, and deliver on something that is a cut above, it is the dream sample script and may put you on track to acceptance of your own … acceptance of acclaim! To do so, you must dare to go through the “passage” of facing a real trial: 110 blank pages.

  HOW TO TELL IF THE PASSAGE IS WORTH RITING

  If your script has these painful elements (which you may recognize from your own life), get out your damn handkerchiefs; there’s an ROP filmfest playing near you soon.

  A “life problem”— from puberty to midlife to death, these are the universal passages we all understand.

  A “wrong way” to attack the mysterious problem, usually a diversion from confronting the pain, and …

  A solution that involves “acceptance” of a hard truth the hero has been fighting, and the knowledge it’s the hero that must change, not the world around him.

  The following breakdowns show the many ways the Rites-of-Passage hero can be put back on the happy road to recovery.

  10 (1979)

  Can growing pains be funny? Why, of course they can! In the hands of director Blake Edwards, Dudley Moore became a star in this late-’70s imprint that mixes slapstick and pathos — set to the sensual urging of “Bolero.” The love-making anthem was made fun of by Dudley on the talk show circuit post-10, when he complained that while Ravel’s classic got louder as it built to its climax, regrettably … it did not get faster.

  Beneath the laughs of the film are guideposts for anyone seeking to write a “Mid-Life Passage,” for as silly as 10 can be, it mimics the hard truths of the journey. When we begin, Dudley has just turned 40 and can’t commit to lover Julie Andrews. Plagued by a fellow mid-lifer who is doing it the “wrong way” across the canyon with a series of ’70s-era California orgies, musician Dudley is stuck on a song he’s composing with his gay writing partner (Robert Webber) — who’s handling his mid-life funk by dallying with a young lover. Sex seems to be the solution. And then Dudley sees … her. Corn-rowed “it” girl Bo Derek forever became a cultural landmark and proof that, as far as sensuality in hair care is concerned, hope is indeed a thing with feathers. But Dudley will find out not even a “10” can stave off the course of aging — and acceptance is ultimately a far more beautiful thing.

  ROP Type: Mid-Life Passage

  ROP Cousins: Seconds, Save the Tiger, That’s Life!, The Weather Man, Lord of War, On a Clear Day, The Upside of Ang
er, Lost in Translation, Living Out Loud, I Think I Love My Wife

  10

  Written by Blake Edwards

  Opening Image: A surprise birthday party for muscian George Webber (Dudley Moore). He is 40. Lover Sam (Julie Andrews) is on hand to balm the pain of aging, but her efforts fail. Dudley feels blue.

  Theme Stated: Dudley’s friend and composing partner, Hugh (Robert Webber), tells Dud: “After 40 it’s patch, patch, patch.” Is this true … and what exactly does it mean?

  Set-Up: A day in the life as Dudley goes to Robert’s house in Malibu to work. The gay, and older, Robert is in a relationship with a young hunk, but the mismatch shows signs of trouble. Driving home afterwards in his yellow Rolls Royce — with its personalized license plate that reads “ASCAP,” a salute to the royalty checks of his trade — Dudley ogles girls and shows middle-age pangs. Dud experiences that ol’ Stasis = Death feeling, when suddenly …

  Catalyst: …there she is. The perfect “10,” the hottie from La Cañada, Bo Derek is Jenny Hanley (as if we care what her character’s name is). Bo is a vision in white as she smiles at Dudley from the back of a Mercedes, on the way to her wedding!

  Debate: Can Bo be pursued? Trouble starts immediately as Dudley jumps into “the wrong way.” Following Bo to the church, he crashes into a cop who tells Dudley his license has expired. After his car is towed, Dudley sneaks into the chapel to watch the wedding … and is stung on the nose by a bee. Smitten, swollen, and Rolls-less, he goes home. Julie visits, and he lies to her about where he’s been. Brooding, he uses his telescope to check the middle-aged neighbor across the canyon who’s always partying with naked girls. Orgy Guy also has a telescope, but has yet to see anything worth watching at Dudley’s pad. Trying to cheer him, Julie offers romance, but Dudley rejects her in a nice adult argument you don’t hear at the movies anymore. The next day, he goes to his therapist, who explains that what Dudley really sees in Bo is her virginity. (Yeah, right!)