Contour At The Movies

INSIDE THE WHALE  (pages 65-75)

In classic mythological storytelling, this is the “belly of the beast” or the “inside the darkest cave” moment for the main character. Often the scene takes place in a confined space, representing that the forces at play against the protagonist are closing in…tightening…and the protagonist must dig “deep” and face his or her darkest fear.

• Indiana Jones is abandoned inside the Well of Souls, surrounded by snakes. (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK)
• Luke goes into the cave and faces what he thinks is Darth Vader, but is actually a representation of the dark side of the force that is within him. (THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK)
• Sam and gang are deep within Hoover Dam as Megatron is unfrozen. (TRANSFORMERS)
• Kevin is forced to go into the basement and confront the very scary boiler. (HOME ALONE) 

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…MAKE LEMONADE (page 55-65)

Have your protagonist get into direct confrontation in a big way.

• Tony Stark uses his suit to defend a village. (IRON MAN)
• Luke starts gets Leia out of the the detention block and brings down the wrath of the Stormtroopers. (STAR WARS)
• Brody’s own son is almost attacked by the shark and he compells the Mayor to hire Quint. (JAWS) 

• Lester argues with Carolyn about their sex life. (AMERICAN BEAUTY)
• Luke and company are pulled into the Deathstar and discover that the Leia is being held onboard. (STAR WARS)

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WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS…  (pages 45-55)

Just when your protagonist thought he or she was making progress, you pull the rug out from under! Force your protagonist to stop wandering and start fighting.

• Batman realizes that trying to fight the Joker by the Joker’s rules isn’t going to work. (THE DARK KNIGHT)
• Lester argues with Carolyn about their sex life. (AMERICAN BEAUTY)
• Luke and company are pulled into the Deathstar and discover that the Leia is being held onboard. (STAR WARS)

Want to read all 12 steps to the Contour Guide? CLICK HERE

KICK THE DOG  (page 28-35)

Show that the bad guys are not just bad, but really, Really, REALLY bad. Give the protagonist (and the reader) the idea that answering the Central Question is going to be harder than initially thought. If you don’t have a standard antagonist (as in a love story) show that the obstacles to the protagonist are overwhelmingly strong.

• The Deathstar destroys a whole planet. (STAR WARS)
• Butch and Sundance begin to be pursued by the “super posse.” (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID)
• Dr. Neville tries a new serum on a mutant and fails spectacularly. (I AM LEGEND)

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THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (pages 17-28 )

Force the protagonist out of the normal world and answer the “call to adventure.” Sometimes the protagonist does this by choice, sometimes by circumstance.

• Neo chooses to take the red pill. Or was it the blue pill? (THE MATRIX)
• Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed and now there’s no reason for him to stay on Tatooine. (STAR WARS)
• Will Turner joins with Jack Sparrow to pursue Elizabeth on the Black Pearl. (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL)

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CALLS & BUSY SIGNALS (pages 12-17)

Give the protagonist the famous “call to adventure” which is followed by the equally famous “refusal of the call.”

• Jack sees Rose but doesn’t dare go after her because of the difference in social status. (TITANIC)
• Luke is told by Obi-Wan that he must learn how to be Jedi but Luke says he can’t…he’s got too much to do. (STAR WARS)
• Fletcher wants to take his son to wrestling, but the big case is dropped in his lap and he chooses to prepare for the trial. (LIAR LIAR)
• Sam gets the letter from Annie but refuses to answer it. (SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE)

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YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR TROUBLE IS? (pages 6-12)

Make it clear what the protagonist’s problem or flaw is, both to the protagonist and the reader. When in doubt, you may use the (overused) line of dialog that goes “You know what your problem is?” uttered by the protagonist’s ally or best friend.

• Luke wants to leave the farm early and join the academy, but his uncle tells him no. (STAR WARS)
• Elliot is told that he needs to think about how other people feel. (E.T. – THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL)
• Hooper arrives and determines that “this was no boating accident!” (JAWS)

Want to read all 12 steps to the Contour Guide? CLICK HERE

I DON’T GET NO RESPECT (pages 1-6)

Most screenplays are about one thing…respect! Your protagonist doesn’t have it, knows he or she doesn’t have it, and wants it. In this first section make it clear to the reader that your main character is an orphan; an outsider looking in at a world that doesn’t want him or her.

• Shrek is being hunted by the townspeople who hate ogres. (SHREK)
• Elliot is ignored and disrespected by his brother and his brother’s friends (E.T. – THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL) 
• Peter Parker is a slight, nerdy high school kid. (SPIDER-MAN) 

Want to read all 12 steps to the Contour Guide? CLICK HERE

Sometimes it’s easier to think of your story in bigger moments and then work your way down into the nitty-gritty.  Contour knows this and provides the Guide as an alternate way of looking at your story.

Not to be confused with the 44 plot points of Contour, the Guide is a series of 12 sequential text boxes, each with it’s own clever (we hope!) title.  These titles are actually defining statements that represent what the general tone of your script should be as your story unfolds.  

Even though each text box is linked to a specific plot point in the main part of Contour, each text box actually represents a range of pages (1-6, 6-12, etc.)

The Guide works as either something you can fill in to broadstroke your story, or something you refer to as you fill in the plot points in Contour to make sure the tone of the plot points matches the general information in the Guide.  Of course, you can flip back and forth between the Guide and the plot points.  The Guide is designed to be both another tool to jar your story ideas loose and get them on paper as well as an easy way to shorthand the major moments of your story.

If you have the full scope of the story in mind, we highly recommend using the Guide first.  By filling in the 12 text boxes of the Guide and then jumping back to the plot points of Contour, you’ll find that you’ll have literally 25% of your plot points finished before you even get started!