The ‘W’ Model of Movie Structure: Part One

[NOTE: This is the first of a series of posts offering a quick introduction to the 'W' model of screenplay structure I offer in my little book. (The posts are not extracts from the book however.) You can find the beat sheets and diagrams here. The 'W' is one of three linked models we talk about in the book. You will see that it owes debts to a number of other common models, both published and implicit in screenwriting circles. Full acknowledgment of this is made in the book, so I won't repeat myself here. (The purpose is to distill, adapt and contextualize familiar approaches in a particular way for teaching purposes.) To start us off here are a few notes about the way first acts tend to work in many mainstream - and a lot of not so mainstream - movies.]

ACT ONE / First Down Angle

The first act and angle of a typical screenplay is all about your protagonist recognizing two linked truths. The first is that there is a problem either in herself, or in her world or, ideally in both that needs addressing or bad things will happen (or continue to happen). The second is that they are the poor sap that is going to have to do something about it. It is a down angle because these revelations signal an immediate future filled with nothing but trouble and right now trouble feels like a major downer.

In a well-written screen story, the problem the protagonist faces will manifest in both the story and the plot. At the very least the revelation of a problem in one will inform and affect a linked problem in the other:

Plot problems are external to the protagonist but still affect her directly in some way. Forces in the world may threaten her or those she cares about, for example. 

Story problems are internal but also manifest practically in the world. A character flaw or challenge is good story material when it affects not only the protagonist but also those around her.

In How to Train Your Dragon for example, poor old Hiccup (the movie’s not very Vikingy protagonist) realizes that he can’t kill dragons. This is a bit of a problem in a world in which dragon killing is the very definition of cultural achievement. This plot problem arises from an internal story problem. Hiccup finds he thinks differently from his fellows. For a start he has empathy for the enemy. That revelation threatens his relationship with his community and thus his future hopes for any kind of happiness and success. The first angle of How to Train Your Dragon is all about helping both Hiccup and the audience to recognize the enormity of that problem and preparing Hiccup to get off his skinny behind and do something about it.

Bruce is a dinosaur in a world where ‘ooh look… your wife’s a mammal!’ See his problem

In my ‘W’ model we break the angles down into ever-smaller elements to help us understand how they work. As a first stage, we split each angle into two half angles.

In the first act, each half angle deals with one of the two truths we began with.

The first, Primary Exposition, is all about recognizing your protagonist’s opening problem. The second, From Rejection to Acceptance, deepens our understanding of their problem through witnessing their initial struggle to decide what to do about it.

'If only...' I didn't have to farm f'ing moisture!

In order to observe how each of these tasks is achieved in more detail, we can make a further split in each half angle. (This same pattern of halving and halving again will be repeated for all four angles of the story by the way.) In this way, the first half angle is comprised of two beats. The first: in a world where ‘ooh look, stuff’ introduces us to the story world and sets the protagonist and their problem within it. The second beat: if only… sets up their desire for change.

We do the same thing with the second half angle, which divides into its own two beats. Shan’t… reflects initial resistance to dealing with the problem – change is hard! Oh, all right then brings us to the end of the act and angle as the protagonist recognizes they have to do something and takes a first step onto the path of change.