Character is Structure: The Insider’s Guide to Screenwriting 9781839024825, 9781839024818, 9781839024849, 9781839024832, 1839024828

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Character Is Structure

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Character Is Structure The Insider’s Guide to Screenwriting Phil Hughes and Ted Wilkes

THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY is a trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2023 by Bloomsbury on behalf of the British Film Institute 21 Stephen Street, London W1T 1LN www​.bfi​.org​.uk The BFI is the lead organisation for film in the UK and the distributor of Lottery funds for film. Our mission is to ensure that film is central to our cultural life, in particular by supporting and nurturing the next generation of filmmakers and audiences. We serve a public role which covers the cultural, creative and economic aspects of film in the UK. Copyright © Phil Hughes and Ted Wilkes, 2023 Phil Hughes and Ted Wilkes have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work. For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. ix constitute an extension of this copyright page. Cover design: Louise Dugdale All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any thirdparty websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: 978-1-8390-2482-5 PB: 978-1-8390-2481-8 ePDF: 978-1-8390-2484-9 eBook: 978-1-8390-2483-2 Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India To find out more about our authors and books visit www​.bloomsbury​.com and sign up for our newsletters.

Phil Hughes For my dear dad, Richard, who knows how to tell a great story well. And my beloved mother, Ann, who sometimes listens. Ted Wilkes For Catrin. Stories are only worth telling because you give me the reason to tell them and the belief that they are worthwhile to be told.

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Contents List of Illustrations  viii Acknowledgements  ix Introduction  xi

1 Acts I, II and the Invitations 1 2 Acts IV, V and the Last Throw of the Dice 21 3 Act III (Parts 1 and 2) and the Flipping of the Hourglass 39 4 Willing 51 5 Accidental 67 6 Unable (to Believe) 83 7 Unknowing 101 8 Mistaken 117 9 Willing case study: You Were Never Really Here 135 10 Accidental case study: Soul 147 11 Unable (to believe) case study: God’s Own Country 157 12 Unknowing case study: Jojo Rabbit 169 13 Mistaken case study: St Maud 181 14 Breaking the paradigm 193 Glossary 205 Examples of films and their pathways 207 Index 209

Illustrations Plates 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

The Invitation 1 The dice 21 The Hourglass 39 Take Me Instead 51 Down the Rabbit Hole 67 Become a Swan 83 Drink the Potion 101 Kill the Goose 117 Burn the Forest 135 The Return 147 The Reveal 157 The Deal Undone 169 It’s Too Late 181

Tables 1 2 3

Act Structure xvii Narrative Arcs 194 Examples of Films and Their Pathways 207

Acknowledgements

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irst and foremost we would like to give our heartfelt thanks to Camilla Erskine, who first helped us navigate the proposal for this manuscript;

Anna Coatman, who shaped the piece into what it would become; and Veidehi Hans for assisting us during both these stages. We would also like to thank Chris and Bob at the London Screenwriters’ Festival who offered us space in their programme over several years to refine some of the ideas that are contained within these pages. In addition we would like to thank Millree Hughes and Franny Hughes-Campbell for contributing the amazing artwork, which you will see throughout this book. To the initial reviewers of this text, we thank you for your generous notes and honest critique. We would obviously be remiss in not thanking our family, friends and colleagues who sat through the films that we use as references and case studies in this text. It is them who suffered as we constantly critiqued them (often loudly) in the middle of the narratives that they were simply trying to enjoy. The pair of us raise a toast to Bedford’s bar in the Darwin Basement for offering us refuge when we had a draft chapter to discuss and we discovered that our offices were already occupied. Finally, we would like to acknowledge our students at Regent’s University, London, and UAL: London College of Communications for entertaining us when we first offered them these ideas to play with, questioned us relentlessly as we were refining them and finally put them into practice in the screenplays and short films they produced.

Do not feel duty-bound to read this book from the front to the back cover in order. You may decide to read the parts of the book which most interest you and use the remainder of the text as a manual should you need additional support or a reminder of the next step to take whilst you are writing. If you are keen to entirely immerse yourself in the process of Character Is Structure, you could write along with us using the road map that we give you within each chapter to create the next sequence that you are about to hit. Or, you could consume the whole text from cover to cover before even picking up a pen or hovering hands over a keyboard. Alternatively, you may simply read for pleasure or to refresh your memory on the joys of creating a story. We have included exercises to help you focus on the central attributes of your characters. You may decide to follow the instructions directly and respond to the suggested prompts in order to help inform the development of your narrative and your understanding of your Chosen One. Alternatively, you might simply find the title of the prompt useful in assisting you in your scene writing. At the end of the book you will find a Glossary expanding on terms used throughout, which you may need further clarification on. Whichever way you engage with this book as part of your process, good luck and have fun!

Introduction

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e are both screenwriters and have been teaching screenwriting in higher education for a whilst. A couple of years ago our university

was recruiting for a new member of the teaching team, and, as a part of the process, we asked each of the candidates to give us a short presentation on what they regarded as being the single most important issue to teach a young undergraduate would-be screenwriter about the art and craft of writing for film and television. Each one of the candidates chose exactly the same subject. Character. They were excellent candidates, and we heard some terrific ideas about creating memorable, interesting and dynamic characters who could carry a screenplay. For each of these experienced teachers they absolutely knew that character was the single most important aspect of writing for the screen. Without a vibrant character acting as a conduit to lift us from the mundane nature of the everyday in active and interesting ways, you are left with an attempt at a story consisting largely of landscapes and interiors that slowly edges its way to a conclusion. However, William Goldman said, ‘screenplays are structure’, and William Goldman won two Oscars for his writing, so it’s worth taking his opinion seriously. So, which is it? Character or structure? Of course, it is both. A well-structured screenplay in which a group of vapid, cliched, uninteresting characters go through the necessary motions to play out the mechanics of the plot is not going to be any more convincing than a chaotic seemingly random storyline inhabited by fascinating, original, sparky, compelling oddballs (unless it is Anchorman).

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There are plenty of excellent ‘how-to’ manuals out there about story structure. You can learn how to construct your story around three acts, five acts, eight sequences, twelve steps or fifteen beats. You can focus on inciting incidents, crises, conflicts and resolutions. There’s a book out there which will tell you how to construct the perfectly balanced scene or tell you when the exact moment is to create conflict or manipulate reconciliation in order to formulate the ‘perfect screenplay’. The structuring of screenplays has been subject to the scrutiny of script gurus for decades and, from all of the available information out there, one thing is certain: the apparent simplicity of that enthralling 1­ 00-page script is nothing of the sort. Script structure is a complex thing. Characters, too, have been dissected and put under the microscope over the years. The one thing we know is that (most) screen characters must change and that this is the key to (most) truthful depictions of the human condition on screen. So, we are told, the key to a strong, viable screen presence is to create a character with a flaw and have that flaw be the key to that character’s change. It’s a great tip and really useful when you are plucking a memorable individual out of thin air. But the flaw doesn’t make the character. Once that flaw has been ‘fixed’ you have to have a character standing up there on screen who is complete and whole and convincing. The flaw is just the flaw. It’s the actual character that’s the tricky bit. Given that our day job is to teach undergraduate would-be screenwriters how to structure screenplays and mould captivating characters to place within them, we spend a good deal of our time talking about how scripts work and how to convey that information in plain, useful language to our charges. Add to this that our second job, at weekends and in the evenings, is to write our own original screenplays and structure them brilliantly and populate them with fascinating people, we aren’t just marking time in the classroom. We are uncovering truths, tips and perceptions that we bring directly to our own work. A couple of years ago we were discussing exactly these issues and ideas when we stumbled across a series of surprising insights into storytelling. The deeper we dug into these insights, it became clear to us that not only could they be incredibly useful to our students and to ourselves but that we hadn’t read them in anybody else’s how-to manuals. We had uncovered a simple truth about visual storytelling that could help create a workable road map for the screenwriter wherein the key

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choices made at the opening of the script have direct and finite echoes in the concluding moments, where a decision taken by a character that thrusts them into the adventure that will be the centre of all the conflicts throughout the film cuts to the heart of their very being and informs us, as the writers, how they will solve the problems they are confronted with on their journey. Reflecting on our conundrum as outlined earlier, ‘so, which is it? Character or structure?’, we could encapsulate our theory in a simple sentence: Character is structure. Character is structure because the choices your character makes can never be random, just as the choices you make in your life are not random. They are informed by the things that you have experienced as an individual right to that moment when you are given a choice. The lessons you have learnt, the traumas that you have endured and the successes you have achieved all inform how you consider and ultimately react to the choices which are put in front of you. Faced with a dilemma, you may react entirely differently to your next-door neighbour because you are you and they are they. So it is that, when you invent your story you are instantly reducing the number of choices for yourself in terms of who your main characters can be to play out your narrative successfully. Harry Potter would sit uneasily in Pride and Prejudice (2005). He would take the whole thing far too seriously, be too nervous of the whole Bennett clan and not make a fit match for any of them. Equally, Gandalf wouldn’t know which way to turn in Mission Impossible (1996). Grandiose statements and fun fireworks aren’t going to have much effect in a high-speed helicopter chase across snow-capped mountains. This opening chapter offers you the macro view of your screenplay’s structure. Pulled right the way back every script looks similar, but at a distance details are blurry around the edges and hard to focus on. As you move through the book we will hone in more precisely on your narrative and, crucially, on the main player in that narrative who we refer to as your Chosen One: the character who stands at the centre of your story and who carries the structure of your film. Here you will find the overview of our process and, as we move from chapter to chapter we will take you deeper and deeper into the detail, providing you with character imperatives and narrative insights that will help you build your own dramatically satisfying screenplays.

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The concept we are going to outline in this book is a very simple one but one which resonates through all successful narratives and focuses on the three key moments of every feature screenplay: the beginning, the middle and the end. But we need to define those terms a little more closely.

The beginning – The Invitation The beginning that we are investigating in these pages is the start of the Chosen One’s adventure. In classical Hollywood narrative structure we are introduced to our Chosen One in a world that is familiar to them. The moment the adventure begins is when they are plucked from this Once Upon a Time and embark upon their journey into the Dark Forest. This is the key moment of change that kickstarts the story proper, and the mechanics of the choices made here affect the character of the Chosen One and every beat of the story that is to come. In order for your Chosen One to leave their Once Upon a Time, they are going to receive an Invitation of some sort. We will look at these Invitations in much more detail in the pages to come, but the opening of the adventure that will make up the lion’s share of your screenplay we are calling the Invitation. Let’s imagine a simple scenario for a moment. A man sits in an office. Let’s not give him a name right now, but let’s give him an office-bound job. An accountant perhaps. This isn’t to cast a slur on accountants nor does it characterize our Chosen One in any way. The cliché of the accountant may be that of a nerdy, bookish number cruncher but remember Frank Wilson, the special agent accountant who brought down Al Capone? Or Skylar White from Breaking Bad (2008)? Or Christian Wolff in The Accountant (2016)? Or Leo Bloom in The Producers (1967)? Or Marty Byrde from Ozark (2017)? There’s a reason why accountancy is a popular profession with screenwriters. Accountants see and understand things in the most mundane of situations that the rest of us mere mortals cannot fathom. Accountants have insights into the most private of secrets through the magic of numbers. Accountants come in many guises. So, our accountant, currently without any vestige of a character, is sitting at his desk working one day when a woman walks in. She is carrying a baby. She accuses him of being the father.

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How does he react? Well, clearly we need to know more about this man to answer that question. And when we know more about him and work out what his reaction to the accusation is then we will know what kind of adventure awaits him following the decisions he makes. We’ll be returning to our accountant in a while. He might be in for the ride of his life as we navigate through this text.

The middle – The Flipping of the Hourglass The middle is very often the mathematical midpoint of a film. It’s surprising how many examples of classic midpoints you can literally time on your watch. The midpoint is a narrative sequence that reveals something new to your Chosen One which contains within it the information that they will need to exit the Dark Forest and solve the problems set up during the Invitation. However, when this is first revealed to them your Chosen One is not fully prepared to understand the ramifications of this moment, and they frequently misinterpret the lessons they are supposed to be learning or suffer such a profound blow to their freshly emerging identity that they withdraw to the being that we first met in the opening of the piece. Midpoints are incredibly useful structural narrative devices that change the direction of the plot, that create a pivot upon which the narrative rests and that can act as a mirror through which the entire first half of the film is reviewed. A startling, revelatory, memorable midpoint can transform a script and keep your audience gripped right up until the end. Often it is a very small moment in the sense of the wider narrative but, much like a black hole, it is dense and full of possibilities and compressed energy. We liken it to the Flipping of an Hourglass. The moment when all of the grains of sand have run from one side to the other and it must be turned over to start its process all over again. For a brief moment in time the narrative world stands still and our Chosen One is left there to come to terms with a crushing realization that following what has just been revealed, there will be repercussions.

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The end – The Last Throw of the Dice The end, in our exploration of functional narrative, is the sequence in your screenplay where everything comes together. This is the section where character and plot combine to set the audience up for the final act. It is not our job, in these pages, to tell you what story to write or how to create a mindblowing denouement that will have your audience reaching for the tissues or the sick bag, but we can tell you the most likely way that your Chosen One will emerge from the Dark Forest. Here we will be showing you that your story will be demanding something of your Chosen One at this crucial point and that, for your story to be truly satisfying to the audience, this moment must allow for your Chosen One to finally reveal the true version of themselves in their entirety and showcase to us what the journey has been building to. Once again, character and structure become one to create the most effective, emotional, dramatically satisfying conclusion to your story. This sequence will be directly influenced by the Invitation from the opening of your screenplay, and we refer to it as the Last Throw of the Dice.

Acts When we are discussing acts within this book, we will do so in the Shakespearian tradition of the five-act model. Although screenwriters do not have to create the works that they write with the length of the wicks which are in the candles that surround the stage in mind, we feel that the five-act model is helpful as it allows for a greater exploration of the dreaded Act II, which so many writers struggle to navigate. In breaking this lengthy section of any story up further there is greater opportunity to signpost to a writer where they might be looking to go next. Act II is often when the Dark Forest is at its darkest and many a writer has been lost amongst the thick foliage there, never to emerge. Our examination of structure will not be within the rather authoritarian framework of page counts or percentages or runtimes but will be presented as a scaffolding, supporting your Chosen One’s journey of change as the likes

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of Campbell and Vogler would put it. The five-act structure model is based around key moments of change in the story which evolve from your Chosen One’s own evolution. Once again, character is structure. So, let us pause for a moment to consider exactly what is an act. Within the five-act structure as we define it, each of the acts is attributed to a specific way that our Chosen One examines the central conflict of the piece and deals with the choices that they have to make as a consequence. These conflicts and choices slowly increase in complexity as the script gains momentum and your Chosen One’s commitment to overcoming the problems of your story must gain in traction and perseverance as we move from act to act. Also, each of the acts will, in turn, have its own internal structure. Each act will have their own beginning, middle and end and contain their own central, tentpole moment which is the largest revelation of that particular sequence. Each of our Chosen Ones will experience these in similar ways but not in the same way as they are required to make a different choice at that moment depending on their character. Each character must gain their own insight into why they must change. Structure decrees what the change will be. As the Chosen One progresses from act to act, so they are continually challenged to develop and grow right up until the final act when they are transformed from the humble accountant to the fully formed hero or villain that will be latent in those opening scenes (Table 1).​ You will see from the earlier discussion that whilst we are working within the realms of filmic structure, the heart of our investigations into effective storytelling will be through the creation of memorable characters who act logically (for them) and change credibly through the adventures that they engage in.

Table 1  Act Structure Act I Once Upon a Time

Act II Physical Preparation

Act III Emotional Investment

Act IV Psychological Examination

They are the Chosen One

The Invitation to the Ball

The Hourglass The Last Throw of Flips the Dice

Act V Spiritual Transformation (Un)Happily Ever After

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Underpinning all of these notions are two clear principles which we will carry with us through all of the pages of this book and promises that we make to you as the reader:

1. How is this helpful to you, the writer? Just telling you something is true and pointing it out may make us look clever but will not help you perfect your screenplay. So, throughout we will be applying our insights and giving you the opportunity to test them on your own characters and narratives.



2. Why do these narrative ideas work? Where do they come from? What makes them resonate with audiences? To illustrate our ideas we will be employing the most universal of all familiar narratives: the fairy or folk tale. Even more than Shakespeare or Homer or Dickens, these stories exist deep in our psyches. We hear them as children and tell them to our children. They contain familiar lessons and memorable characters, and, crucially, they contain all the elements of powerful storytelling.

We truly believe that the concepts revealed in the following pages are not just useful and easy to follow but true. The story that you invent will dictate the characters that move through that story. The character who begins the journey will have an inevitability built in. Luke Skywalker, the farm boy who dreams of travelling to distant planets, is destined to be a Jedi, and his journey holds within it the possibility that anybody can be anything they want if they set their minds to it. Arthur Fleck, in Joker (2019), is destined to become the ruler of Gotham City’s underworld. From his lowly beginnings he is seeking love and acceptance but because he never is able to find it decides that he will destroy those around him who he thinks have stood in his way of achieving it. These characters fit their stories. The structure within which they live out their stories revealing their key moments of change and development are their stories. Character is structure. * * *

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Let’s assume you are approaching this book with a storyline in mind. You know what happens at the beginning of your film, you’ve got a pretty good sense of the journey and a vague idea of the ending. In the opening chapters of this book we will be providing you with some simple choices to make which will help to strengthen your Chosen One and provide a clear pathway into the Dark Forest. In the section on the beginning you will find five clear choices which will deliver the strongest opening to your story proper. This is the moment when your Chosen One is offered their Invitation to participate in the story. Their reaction to this Invitation will form the kicking-off point for your drama. You will see that each of those choices is based around the character of your Chosen One and the way that they would naturally react to external stimuli. It will be something which is a clear and direct challenge to the assumed identity that they have cultivated within their Once Upon a Time and will thrust/drag/throw/launch them into the story that you are telling properly. To begin his adventure properly, Harry Potter receives a literal Invitation (later a room filled with them). This comes to him with a promise to take him away from the drudgery and unhappiness which comes with his living under the stairs at his aunt and uncle’s house to the magic and mystery of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, for others, the Invitation comes in a very different shape and style. Leilani and Jibran in The Lovebirds (2020) are dragged out of their comfortable Once Upon a Time when corrupt police officer commandeers their car and runs over someone on a bicycle. In Jaws (1975), Chief Brody is invited into the Dark Forest when a large shark swims into the waters of Cape Cod and our Chosen One has to conquer his fear of water and make the town safe again by defeating his terrifying nemesis. We follow up our section on the beginning by moving straight to the end of your screenplay. This is because the choices you make at the moment of Invitation will directly affect the way in which your story will conclude in a dramatically satisfying way. You must understand the close connection between beginning and end in order for the middle of the story to fall into place. In the Last Throw of the Dice we will look back to the Invitation of the opening and offer you five choices which will be directly related to your

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beginning. The Invitation holds all the clues to the end of your film as your Chosen One moves out of the Dark Forest and into proving their new identity within Act V. As soon as you embark on your story the seeds of the ending are planted. It is no longer a vague haze rising in the distance. It is the moment where your Chosen One finally must decide if they will succumb to their fate or realize their destiny as they have one Last Throw of the Dice. We will guide you to the final pages of your screenplay and your barnstorming denouement. The Darjeeling Limited (2007) sees the brothers who have journeyed across India finally able to perform the hilltop ritual that Francis has been asking them to since the beginning and move beyond the death of their father. Logan (2017) has Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine refusing the second part of his payment for bringing the young X-23 to the group of mutants who plan to cross the border to safety, the only element of the Invitation that he cared about and the reason he accepted the dangerous job. Similarly, in Star Wars, The Return of the Jedi (1983), Luke Skywalker decides to grant Darth Vader mercy and in so doing rejects the dark side and declares himself a Jedi like his father before him. Finally, we will look to the middle of your narrative. This moment is centred around the notion of the hourglass. Here you will, once again, find a series of choices. How will your Chosen One negotiate the Flipping of the Hourglass? How will they reverse the sands of time in order to enter the second half of your story and arrive at its foregone conclusion? Here we will help you negotiate the tricky mid-section of your screenplay. This is the moment where so many stories fall flat with a writer believing that it is simply all downhill from here and they can coast to the finish line. They forget that this is also the moment upon which your whole film pivots. This isn’t just rising action leading to falling action – this is throwing your Chosen One out of a plane with only the most basic of instructions as to what they need to do in order to prevent them from hitting the ground. Whether you let them survive the jump is up to you as a writer. In Chris Nolan’s time-travelling spectacle Tenet (2020), just after the midpoint of the film our Chosen One (helpfully called The Protagonist) literally inverts time and begins to work his way back through the film that we have just seen to that point in order to try and save the world. Psycho (1960)

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sees one of the more explosive midpoints where the audience literally jumps from one conduit (Marion Crane) to the other (Norman Bates) as the action of the piece transforms from attempting to get away with larceny to covering up a murder. Finally (as it is with most superhero origin narratives), Iron Man (2008) has Tony Stark fully embrace his new identity as, finished with building his Mark II suit prototype, he completes his first test flight relatively unscathed and truly becomes Iron Man. Question the ideas we lay out in the coming chapters. Try them out. Experiment with them. Have fun with them. As creative people you should never accept rules and regulations of storytelling at face value. What we are offering you here are great tools that will enhance and enrich your writing, but they are malleable tools. Try to subvert them, and it might just make your writing even more interesting. We really hope you enjoy the read and find it useful. We also hope that you will contact us through our website (www.philandted.uk) and challenge the paradigm we are laying before you here. We love being challenged, but we have yet to have anybody prove us wrong.

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1 Acts I, II and the Invitations

Plate 1  The Invitation, by Millree Hughes.

Act I – Once Upon a Time . . . This part​is your job. We’re not going to tell you what your Once Upon a Time act looks like or feels like, but we are going to tell you that you need one. You need to introduce us to your character or characters in a place which is familiar to them so that we can get to know them a little bit. We’re going to have to live with these characters for a couple of hours so it’s important that we care about whether they are going to live or die, fall in love, fall out of love, win or lose a fortune. You may want to kick off with a little teaser to give us a sense of what’s going to happen later in your story; remember those two teenagers giving us all the rules of the video and the telephone call at the beginning of The Ring (2002), where the demonic (if misunderstood) Samara crawls out from the bottom of a well to kill those who watch a cursed videotape? No idea what

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their names were. Or more or less any sporting movie which begins with a game or an explanation of a game or a monologue about sport (White Men Can’t Jump (1992), Bull Durham (1988), Dodgeball (1995), Chariots of Fire (1981), Rocky (1976), etc). Or how about Star Wars (1977), or Blade Runner (1982), or Alien (1979) which begin with that on-screen information you can never be bothered to read all the way through? By all means, do your little teaser. But then you have to introduce us to your Once Upon a Time which would normally take up twelve to fifteen pages at the start of your screenplay. And, bear in mind, effective storytelling begins with an opening image which showcases to us the entirety of the story within the microcosm of one sequence or even one single frame. The first image that you put on the screen sets the tone for the rest of the piece. From it we should be able to understand exactly the sort of story that you’re looking to tell. Is this going to make me weep? Jump for joy? Hide behind the sofa? Some filmmakers cut straight into the action of their films, telescoping or, sometimes, altogether doing away with their first act or Once Upon a Time. 1917 (2019) and The Invisible Man (2020) both do this, catapulting us straight into the action without allowing us time to get to know soldiers Schofield and Blake as they head off on their mission to the front line or married couple Cecilia and Adrian as Cecilia makes her escape from their abusive relationship. Whilst both films are wildly successful and thoroughly entertaining, the scripts do struggle to make us care about the Chosen Ones when we first meet them. We have to get to know our major players whilst they are deep in the Dark Forest, and, in the case of The Invisible Man, we arguably never get to know antagonist Adrian at all, thereby potentially weakening the denouement for those in the audience. Some of the most powerful beginnings not only provide us with a Once Upon a Time and an opening image, but they also give us an indication of the Chosen One’s conflicted nature hinting at the arc that they will go on through the narrative. Often as writers we are told that all great drama comes from conflict. However, this does not mean you should be forcing your characters into arguing about external things, which neither we nor they particularly care about. In order to make our work more interesting and our characters more

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compelling we need to stop thinking about the conflict between characters and start thinking about how they, as individuals, are conflicted: with others, themselves and the decisions that they are soon going to be making. When giving your Chosen One a conflicted nature it is often useful to be able to explain it in one word so that all of their neuroses can be linked back to this one specific flaw. This is the flaw that the Dark Forest will help them to recognize and overcome. By referring to this flaw as a conflicted nature we are able to dig a little deeper into this character trait. A flaw is a mistake or a problem. A conflicted nature is an issue that stands in opposition to your Chosen One’s natural way of being and keys into your Chosen One’s character rather than standing at odds to it. For example, in Inception (2010), Chosen One Cobb assembles a team around him to assist in stealing secrets using sophisticated dream-sharing technology. He is shown to be a talented, professional individual and yet he is plagued with guilt about his culpability in his wife’s death. In Finding Nemo (2003) Marlin must journey across the ocean to find his son who was snatched by a curious diver. In the narrative, Marlin is a loving father and yet overbearingly controlling. Finally, Cassius in Sorry to Bother You (2018) has to decide if his principles or personal greed will prevail when he is offered the opportunity to work for a morally bankrupt company. Throughout he is shown to be persuasive, socially conscious and at the same time relentlessly ambitious. In creating a conflicted nature for your Chosen One which is easy to relate to and explain, it allows them to experience dilemmas within the narrative in a more profound way as they will always react to situations that we place them in through this lens. An audience will subsequently be able to understand the deeper motivation(s) for the choices that your characters are making. In addition, it allows for your narrative to develop in a logical and organic way as the actions and reactions you are writing about remain truthful to your Chosen One’s character. The things that they do on the page therefore feel genuine in that situation rather than manufactured. In setting out your Chosen One’s conflicted nature during their Once Upon a Time you are able to organically explore two important elements which have to be outlined within the opening act: your piece’s theme and the central dramatic question in a character-led way. Importantly though, at this point in

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the narrative they will not be able to see, let alone understand, this conflicted nature and in their ignorance or disavowal of it they will only exhibit it much more strongly. In still holding onto the memory of Mal buried away within his dreams, Cobb is jeopardizing not only his own life but the lives of his team and the potential future that he has. Marlin is actually a worse parent because of his controlling nature and is pushing away his son Nemo because of it. Living in his uncle’s garage and struggling to pay rent, Cassius has to take a job he initially despises and thinks he will be unable to make a success of his life. This initial expression of their relationship with the setting of their Once Upon a Time will go a long way to determining the trajectory that they will go on during this journey and can ultimately assist you in understanding which of the Invitations, outlined later in this chapter, are going to catapult them into the Dark Forest in the most effective way. Once you have a sophisticated understanding of your Chosen One’s conflicted nature, why it came into being and how it manifests itself in their actions, you will be able to set the course for them through the Dark Forest and begin to find specific and ever more challenging obstacles to confront them with which will directly address their nature. In Whiplash (2014), Andrew Neiman is a promising young drummer who falls under the spell of a potentially destructive instructor who will push him too far in their joint pursuit of perfection. In the opening shot, Neiman sits alone in a practice room drumming in the dark. He seems to be the only one in the building. From his late-night dedication, we are made aware that he is a hardworking and determined individual who is going to obsessively stop at nothing until he is the best, revealing to us an important character trait and his conflicted nature. As we are introduced to his future tormentor, Terence Fletcher, we begin to see that he desires nothing more than to be the best and will literally discard everything else in his life in his pursuit of perfection. The interaction that he has with Fletcher also points the way to the remainder of the narrative that will pit the two against one another in the Dark Forest of the jazz ensemble.

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In Finding Dory (2016), Dory begins to search for her long-lost parents which will take her across the ocean to find them. At the beginning of the narrative, the forgetful Dory plays hide and seek with her parents in what we assume is their home in the ocean. We’re introduced to both the dramatic question (Will Dory be able to find her way home?) and the theme (What does home/family actually mean?) during this short opening sequence. Her conflicted nature is one of frustration at her inability to remember anything from her past, something that manifests itself in both internal and external stakes for her. It is the first time that an audience will have seen your Chosen One so make sure that you are highlighting the all-important question of why they should invest in their struggles and not just focusing on the expositional elements of who, what, when and where. As Dory plays hide and seek with her parents, we cannot help but let our hearts melt as we realize that if she ever did wander too far from home it might be that she would never return. Create an opening sequence that showcases your character’s place in the world of your narrative. Not only do we know that Whiplash is going to be a story about desire and obsession but that Chosen One and tormentor are going to challenge one another in the Dark Forest. And, as you do this, remember that character is structure. Andrew Nieman’s first line in Whiplash is an apology. He’s nervous. Jumpy. But he’s also talented, driven and obsessive. He knows what he wants, and he expresses it clearly. He wants to be in Fletcher’s band. His dream creates the backbone for the entire film, and the film is about his character. How can this apologetic, shy, retiring guy ever persuade the fearsome Fletcher that he deserves a place in his band? Dory is friendly, cute, helpful, loveable and forgetful. These attributes combine to create a character who, when lost, is going to be her own worst enemy. A gift to the structure of the story. The only gift this story could hang upon. If Dory were a different character, then this would be a different film. Each of these characters fits the set-up. Their Once Upon a Time establishes them clearly and succinctly – who they are, how they think, how they might react to change and challenge. If we think about it hard enough we can probably figure out how each of these characters will negotiate the obstacles and problems to come. Because they fit.

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Here, then, is the beginning of your journey. If you get this wrong then your screenplay simply won’t work. Your character has to fit. If your character fits then they will carry your structure. They will form your structure. They will be your structure. First acts are great tools for screenwriters. Do away with them at your peril. But your first act only exists so that your Chosen One can leave it. Something is going to come along to pluck them out of their Once Upon a Time and them into the Dark Forest. This is the moment that we call . . .

The Invitation Many screenwriting manuals use Greek myths as a way to explain classic, universal storytelling. Ever since Joseph Campbell put down his copy of Sophocles and started on his deconstruction of narrative through the lens of mythology which would become The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949); Achilles, Hercules, Prometheus, Perseus and all their friends and enemies have provided useful material for screenwriting gurus to explain away the potential vagaries of fortune or misfortune of a million different heroes and anti-heroes – but we’re not going to do that. Partly because if you mention Aeneas to us we’d have to go racing to Wikipedia to confirm that he was the son of Aphrodite (thanks, Wikipedia), so we have decided to use much more familiar stories to illustrate our thesis. Fairy stories and folk tales. From wherever you are in the world you will have your own traditions of oral storytelling which have been passed down by generations of storytellers. They will have been whispered around campfires to scare those assembled, offered as bedtime tales to soothe and console to sleep, possibly performed on stages as allegories for either what has happened or what is yet to happen (maybe both). In the Western tradition of these tales we are intimately familiar with the habits of the Three Little Pigs or the peccadillos of the Ugly Sisters; however, if you don’t recognize these exact narratives, you will have your own similar tales that are embedded deep in your psyche. The best stories after all are universal and are told across space and time. Because of

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this we feel we are on pretty safe ground here in presenting the central thesis of this book. We have identified five ways in which your Chosen One can exit their Once Upon a Time and enter the Dark Forest, and we have chosen to explain these Invitations through the use of five key stories, all of which illustrate a distinctly different character choice (or lack of choice) which leads the Chosen One from the safety of their Once Upon a Time to the insecurity of the Dark Forest: ●

Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve

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Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen

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The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen (thanks again, Hans)

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The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs by Aesop

We will be revealing that the decision your Chosen One makes that will pluck them out of the familiar will have repercussions that will ripple throughout your screenplay. This key decision, a mere ten to fifteen minutes into your film, will lay the groundwork for everything that is to come. And, crucially, the ending of your story will be entirely dictated by this key moment. This decision that your Chosen One makes is the first of several important challenges that you will throw their way which will force them into changing in increasingly more permanent ways. Although each of the Invitations will be different it is important that they must interrupt the assumed identity of your Chosen One. It has to be something which will not only compel them to move away from the space that they call Once Upon a Time, but it also has to bring about the opportunity for them to challenge their conflicted nature. Without them overcoming this part of their psyche there is no way that they will be able to transition out of the Dark Forest and see what awaits them beyond it. In Finding Dory, Dory must battle through the frustration she feels at her forgetfulness. In Whiplash, Nieman must see past his obsession and discover the pleasure of drumming for no one but himself.

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In Inception, Cobb must confront his guilt about Mal’s death and understand the harm that he is causing to himself and others by enshrining the projection of her in his dreams. In Sorry to Bother You, Cassius must cast aside his individual ambitions and rise up in solidarity with the other workers once he learns the truth about the organization he works for. Note that all of these explanations contain the word ‘must’. These are not pleasurable experiences for our Chosen Ones and often they have to be forced into a position where they acknowledge and then finally defeat the thing which is making them unable to grow beyond their conflicted nature. Your character, and the choice they make when they receive the Invitation, will create the structure of your entire screenplay. So, be careful. Choose wisely. Whatever choice you, or your Chosen One, make here will lay their path through the Dark Forest.

The five Invitations We can pretty much guarantee that in order for your story to work, your Chosen One will receive an Invitation in one of the following five ways and act on it accordingly. The way that they accept the Invitation is intrinsically bound up with their character and that character will be the foundation upon which your entire screenplay is built. Get this moment right and your Chosen One will begin to take over because if they are well rounded, credible and based upon truth then their reactions to all of the obstacles, dangers, temptations and stimuli between this point and the end credits will be written into their character. That is who they are. That is how they must act.

Take Me Instead – The Willing Chosen One In Beauty and the Beast there is a danger out there. Everybody knows about the danger and they live with it, but it takes the unhappy accident of Belle’s father falling prey to this danger that kick-starts the story. But he, crucially,

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isn’t the Chosen One. It is Belle who receives the Invitation. Her father’s imprisonment is that Invitation and her reaction is the only reaction that this confident, intelligent, loving hero could have. She offers herself up as a prisoner of the Beast in place of her father. She accepts her Invitation into the Dark Forest willingly and immediately. That doesn’t mean to say that she wants to participate in this story. Most Chosen Ones don’t want to be in your film. Sorry. It’s just a fact. But Belle is an example of the Willing Hero.

Down the Rabbit Hole – The Accidental Chosen One Alice falls Down the Rabbit Hole in Alice in Wonderland and finds herself in a strange land that she has very little understanding of. It’s some strange accident that lands her up in this world and at first there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme nor reason around the event, beyond Alice’s curiosity. However, this is a story about self-discovery. Despite the strange nature of the narrative, ultimately the story of Alice’s adventures, along with those of all Accidental Chosen Ones, is one of self-discovery. Wonderland exists for a purpose. The purpose reveals itself as the narrative progresses, and it is Alice’s continuing curiosity and inquisitive nature that leads her deeper into the world. The Invitation is thrust upon the Accidental Chosen One. They don’t have a choice as to whether they accept it or not. It just happens.

Become a Swan – The Unable (to Believe) Chosen One Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the ugly duckling chimes so deeply with the human condition that the character is almost a cliché. We recognize the personality type readily – they don’t think they are pretty/clever/strong/ diligent enough to succeed, but there is something lurking beneath the surface which we notice. It will just take some time for it to come out. However, we haven’t entitled this Invitation ‘The Ugly Duckling’, we have entitled it ‘Become a Swan’, because that is the path laid out before the Chosen One as they begrudgingly accept the call of the Dark Forest. These Chosen Ones have no real sense that the journey into the Dark Forest will be of any use – because they are a duckling and they are ugly or at least that’s what they think.

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Drink the Potion – The Unknowing Chosen One The Little Mermaid strikes a deal with the Sea Witch in order to woo the human she has fallen in love with. On the face of it she enters willingly into this bargain, but the Unknowing Chosen One’s Invitation is disguised as an invitation to an entirely different ball. The Little Mermaid thinks that she is heading fairly and squarely into the Dark Forest in order to complete a simple task, but the Unknowing Chosen One’s task is never simple. They are subject to an uneven bargain. Others are in possession of more information and the Dark Forest is much wider, darker, more confusing and more dangerous than they know when they accept the Invitation. The Little Mermaid, without her voice and with the Sea Witch as an antagonist, has a much longer journey to go on than she could ever have imagined.

Kill the Goose – The Mistaken Chosen One When the farmer kills The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs he is greedy for more. He wants to see how the goose works from the inside, but geese are geese, even ones that lay golden eggs, so he kills the goose. And that’s the end of his golden eggs. The story is simple and the message is clear. This is the story of the anti-hero – the Mistaken Chosen One – the Chosen One who sees an opportunity and grasps it even though it is destined to take them on a path that most of us would never consider taking. This is the Chosen One whose Dark Forest is darker, larger, more complex and more tempting for them than any other. We see each of these Invitations played out in film again and again. These fairy stories come to us disguised as horror, sci-fi, action-adventure, romantic comedy, coming of age – a hundred different genres and settings, for these are stories that begin from the point of view of the character at the heart of the narrative. Knowing your genre is of limited use to you as a storyteller. Genre is often little more than window dressing. These Invitations provide you with something of real value: a narrative arc. If your story begins with a decision, as it should, then the character making that decision will be the same character who must negotiate all of the problems and obstacles that will be awaiting them in the Dark Forest. They will probably

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change as the story progresses, but they will still, essentially, be the same person. Their change will be nuanced around the tale that is being told – to learn to love or be loved, to learn to fight or forgive, to discover their own inner strengths, but this change or growth does not fundamentally alter them as characters. Your Chosen One must be a fully realized character from their Once Upon a Time because they are going to have to carry the next 100 pages of your screenplay. The correct character having the correct response to the correct Invitation will provide the opening for your film from which all other choices and decisions will emanate. Your character will build the structure of your screenplay because they are the driving force behind it.

Act II – Physical change During this act our Chosen One crosses into the Dark Forest which is the space where their adventure will take place. There will be trials that they must win, knowledge that they have to gain, friends to be met and enemies to be vanquished. However, this will not happen all at once and as they take their first (often hesitant) steps into this brave new world they believe that all they need to do to complete their journey within the Dark Forest is to experience physical change. The physical change that your Chosen One embarks upon is the easiest for them. They will generally be moved from one physical space to another or see the space they currently reside within differently. Coupled with this they will be offered the opportunity to change themselves physically either through training or transformation. Each of the physical changes that your Chosen One experiences will be unique to them, but currently this is the limit to the transformation that they are willing to go through. They are holding back on anything which resembles a real confrontation of their conflicted nature and still hold onto many of the ‘negative’ traits which come as part and parcel of who they are, even insisting that their conflicted nature is something which will help them on this adventure – only for our Mistaken Chosen Ones is this the truth.

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As you move through this book you will discover various examples which will help you in navigating this part of the narrative for the specific Chosen One you are writing for. * * *

What happened to our accountant? It’s time to take our accountant on a journey – or more specifically five different journeys. Let’s observe him as he answers each of the five Invitations outlined earlier and see what difference it makes. Through this exercise you will see that it is the character of the accountant that will define the ongoing journey. Each time we revisit the opening of our story we will have to reimagine the accountant because his character must fit the choice that he makes at this key moment in the story. We should add a short proviso here. We are not pitching these as great ideas for films; we are simply revealing how our five Invitations work, although they are not bad ideas for films (and they all belong to us).

The Willing accountant Our Willing accountant lives in London. He is in his mid-thirties. He has a wife and two children, and they are very happy. He earns a good living working for a big city firm. There’s very little discernibly wrong with this guy’s life in the first act of our imaginary film. He certainly loves his wife and adores his kids. When we meet them they are planning for the future. He is sitting at his desk working one day when a woman walks in. She is carrying a baby. She accuses him of being the father. He gazes at her for a long moment. Then he rises from his desk, heads to the boss’ office, resigns on the spot, phones his wife and leaves a message with her saying that he won’t be home that evening – maybe not for a whilst. And he bundles the woman and her child into his car and drives out of the city at speed. The Willing Chosen One typically acts immediately. No hanging around. No refusal of the Invitation. Often, they are in possession of information that

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we do not have. This guy clearly knows who this woman is, and he is willing to sacrifice his job and potentially his family for this information, but we sense that he is innocent of any wrongdoing. Is he taking responsibility for somebody else? Time will tell, but in this decision lies his conflicted nature. We are going to have to travel a little further with this accountant to discover the true form of his inner conflict. It’s an intriguing opening because we really want to know more and that’s a good place to be. Too many writers hurry to give up the answers to their characters’ problems too quickly but everybody loves a mystery and there’s certainly a mystery about to kick off here.

The Accidental accountant This guy is alone and unhappy. His job is boring, his life has hit a dead end, he’s bitter. We meet him at work making a coffee as his co-workers snigger at him behind his back. Everything about him screams ‘loser’. He looks at people around him earning big money, living glamorous lives, enjoying themselves – and he hates them all. His conflicted nature is jealousy. He’s monkeying around with an online quiz, Discover What the Future Has in Store For You!, when the big boss mooches past, yelling at his co-workers and smelling of expensive booze and cloying cologne. Our accountant twists the answers to the quiz. ‘I should be running the damn company’, he growls to himself just as his computer crackles and dies on him. ‘What just happened?’ So, there he is, sitting at his desk trying to fix his burned-out desktop before his line manager finds out, when a woman walks in. She is carrying a baby. She accuses him of being the father. He denies it. Of course it’s not his baby. The situation starts to get the attention of his co-workers and, weirdly, instead of disbelief they all start backing the woman. The guys who normally scoff at him at the water cooler are telling him to own up. Nancy from HR is in tears. ‘How can you do this to me?’ Our guy is flummoxed. He stumbles from the office with the woman and baby in tow and the world seems to have shifted on its axis. The doorman

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scurries to get the door for him – tells him his car is waiting. He has a chauffeur waiting beside a sleek black Bentley. The woman turns to him, suddenly altered in tone. ‘I’ll settle for two million dollars.’ Our guy stammers, he doesn’t have two million dollars. Even the chauffeur laughs at that one. Something magical has happened when he twisted the answers to that online quiz and our guy’s prayers have been answered. He is no longer the accountant of the company. He owns the company. And a bunch of other companies. He lives in a mansion. He parties, he lives a hell of a glamorous life. He’s about to find out what it’s like to be one of the people he professes to hate. The Accidental Chosen One has a lesson to learn and the lesson is often clear from the opening frames of the film. This is often the Chosen One who changes the most. The fun is watching that change unfold.

The accountant who is Unable to Believe Clostra Maior is a high-security prison facility located in some godforsaken spiral arm of a far distant galaxy. Prisoners here are just numbers – captees from the long-lasting war between the brutal Tharcians and their arch enemies, the Vells. Tharcians have no respect for prisoners of war, and these poor souls are expected to labour until they die under the watchful eye of brutal Vells prison governor, Ractis, and his spineless brother simply known as the Accountant. The Tharcians would never dirty their fins with guarding Vells, and Ractis and his brother have taken on their roles in exchange for a relatively easy life on one of the most miserable penal facilities in the known universe. The Accountant’s job is a simple one: ensure that the numbers in the facility are stable. Deaths are noted. New arrivals are noted. Any anomalies are dealt with brutally. The Accountant has no plans to upset the status quo, even though he can see how viciously his brother administrates Clostra Maior, how terrible the Tharcians are and how precarious the situation of the Vells is out there in the free galaxy.

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One day a new shipment arrives aboard a container from the front line; aboard are twelve new dishevelled prisoners destined for years of mindless servitude. As the Accountant is logging them into the system a young woman pauses in front of him. He tries to usher her forward. She remains. ‘I’m pregnant’, she declares. ‘And the baby is yours.’ The Accountant looks at her more closely. That R and R trip to the Garcan Strip six months ago . . . a week of gambling, drinking and . . . yes . . . it might just be her. ‘Alyce . . .?’ he ventures. She nods. Then she points out the obvious. A newborn baby on Clostra Maior will upset the numbers. She is currently one prisoner – in a couple of months she will be two. The Tharcians like the books to be balanced. Questions will be asked. Trouble will be caused. The Accountant sweats. What can he do? He’s just an accountant. He counts. Alyce tells him what he must do. When the baby is born, he must free Ractis – either by releasing him from prison or by killing him. The numbers will then be even and the Tharcians will not know what has happened. The Accountant will then be in charge of Clostra Maior and, under the guise of a penal colony, they can begin to train a rear-guard army capable of crippling Tharcian forces from behind the lines. The Accountant panics. He is not capable of doing this. He doesn’t have the strength of mind or purpose. He’s just an accountant. He counts. Alyce nods. He counts. He’s about to count even more than he ever thought possible. She pats her swollen stomach. This baby represents a new future for the Vells people . . . and the Accountant will be the hero who turns the tide of the war. The Chosen One who is unable to believe in themselves must be dragged from their comfort zone by something that is greater than themselves. They don’t believe that they are worthy of participating in the tale that is about to unfold but the story will show them that they are more than worthy. Nobody but them could participate. They will eventually realize that they are the hero of their own narrative, but it will take them a whilst.

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The Unknowing accountant Let’s reimagine this version of our Chosen One as an honest, hardworking, straight-out-of-college, high flying graduate. An ace accountant. A magician with numbers. He could be working for one of the biggest firms in the country. But, instead, he’s working on the books in his father’s down-at-heel car hire firm. He loves his dad and would do anything to help out but already he feels trapped. He’s back in the small town where he grew up and which he swore to leave behind. He’s trying to make sense of his father’s chaotic affairs. He’s stuck. Getting drunk every weekend at the local pub, one-night stands, recreational drugs – he’s unhappy, his conflicted nature right there, plain as day for all to see. He’s sitting at that desk one day when some of those numbers jump out at him. Something isn’t right. He confronts his dad and it becomes clear that he’s been cooking the books for years. This our guy definitely didn’t sign up for. He’s reached the end of his tether and is about to walk away and leave his dad to face the music when that woman turns up with the baby. Well, it could be his, given the last year he’s had. The mire he’s stuck in just seems to have got thicker and deeper. The woman says to him – just stick with me for twelve months and I’ll let you go. She just needs her newborn to have a father for the first year of his life, otherwise she will lose out on an inheritance she is about to draw down from a rich and very strait-laced aunt who died recently. Our Chosen One can’t see another way out. He agrees to her conditions and as a result he gets dragged back into his dad’s business, helping him out of the hole he has dug for himself. We get the feeling that there may be more to this deal than meets the eye. The Unknowing Chosen One is blind to the truth. They don’t see the bigger picture. They think they can see the way out of their problem but, little do they know, there are larger wheels in motion. The woman, the child, her father, the books – there is plenty more to discover in this story as our Chosen One naively accepts his Invitation.

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The Mistaken accountant Our last accountant meets his fate drinking in a bar. She’s beautiful. She flirts with him. They end up in bed together. Only in the morning does he see the photos by the bedside. She is the wife of the most feared mob boss in the city. What makes it worse for him is that, in her eyes at least, this was not just a one-night stand. She really likes him, and she wants this to be a regular thing. And she has leverage. The next few months are fraught with danger for our Chosen One as he negotiates his way around the affair he never wanted to have, but he also sees an opportunity as he finds out the mob boss is having money problems. He’s got too much money. He needs to launder it. Our guy begins to enjoy the lifestyle and the perks that come with sitting at the top table with the mob, and lying in bed with the mob boss’s wife. If you were waiting for a conflicted nature, this is it. In a word, greed. So when the wife gets pregnant and gives birth to a healthy baby boy, instead of running for cover, he sees a greater opportunity. A way to move even further up the ladder. He goes to the wife and confronts her. ‘The baby’s mine, isn’t it?’ The baby is about to become a bargaining chip in a rise to power for our Chosen One. So, yes, we changed the Invitation a little bit here but that small change is important. The Mistaken Chosen One is driven by a key decision or decisions that most of us would not make. They opt to dive deeper into a bad situation rather than back out of it. They enjoy the darkness of the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest is where they grow and change. This story is going to be all about the Dark Forest. It is worth noting here that this is one of four different iterations of the Mistaken Chosen One, each echoing one of the four previous narrative arcs laid out earlier. This, then, is an example of a Mistaken/Willing Chosen One. For more detailed information on this pathway, turn to the chapter on the Mistaken Chosen One. * * *

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By changing the nature of the Chosen One, the whole story has to change. By creating a strong, credible Chosen One you are creating a strong, credible scenario from which your story and the structure of your story will emerge. Throw into the mix sexuality, social class, culture, upbringing, aspiration – whatever you have to hand as a creative writer, and you will have formed a rich character living in a rich world. Finally, give your Chosen One a conflicted nature that stands at odds with their natural way of being. Now you have something that affects, confuses and challenges your Chosen One’s choices as the narrative kicks off and you have all the ingredients necessary for a central character who can carry a film’s structure. As soon as your Chosen One has made their choice and answered their Invitation, the seeds are sown for the way in which your narrative will reach its conclusion as you will see in the next chapter.

Exercises The following two exercises will help you to build a convincing and effective Chosen One. Your central character needs to hold within it the potential to carry the structure of your screenplay and traverse the Dark Forest and all that it holds within it.

What is your Chosen One’s conflicted nature? You may have a detailed and intricate character bio for your Chosen One, and these can be very useful in determining the nature of the character that you are writing about. Often you will need to understand every facet of this being that you are bringing into the world so that they feel like an authentic threedimensional character. Now you are going to have to dig deep and reduce all of that good work into the one word that explains their conflicted nature. For those of you who want to go a little further, outline how this conflicted nature assists you as the writer in exploring the central dramatic question and theme of the piece you are writing.

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If you are struggling, go back and look at some of the examples that are contained within this chapter. It might also be useful to dissect the opening acts of films similar to yours using this exercise.

What could you do to challenge your Chosen One’s assumed identity? In your mind sit with your Chosen One for a moment and get a clear picture of who they are both inside and out. Then, their phone buzzes. They’ve got a message. Their eyes widen. Immediately they leap up and leave the room as fast as they can. This isn’t your average everyday run-of-the-mill message. It’s something that requires action from them right now or is something that they cannot ignore. Forget about Invitations and Once Upon a Times and just write down the words that are in that message which has shaken them to the core. What is it that would have them head for the door straight away? If you wish to explore this exercise a little further you might want to consider: ●

Where is it that they are heading in such a hurry?

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Who do they phone in order to share the news contained in the message?

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2 Acts IV, V and the Last Throw of the Dice

Plate 2  The dice, by Millree Hughes.

As promised​ in the last chapter, having laid out the five possible Invitations, one of which your Chosen One will answer in order to enter the Dark Forest, we are skipping straight to the end of your narrative here. This is because the way that the Chosen One answers the Invitation will hold within it the solution to your story. Each Invitation comes with its own, related ending, and you must understand this in order to fashion a narrative that will satisfy throughout the middle section of your screenplay. If you get your Invitation right, then the clues to the ending will be contained in that decision.

Act IV – Psychological examination This is the act where your Chosen One begins their process of psychological examination and is finally able to gain a true understanding of their conflicted nature. This will require them to dig deep and not just reflect on

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their journey but also enact all of the lessons that they have learnt whilst they have been on it. They are about to face their most arduous challenge to date which will require them to cast aside the version of them which answered the Invitation and first entered into the Dark Forest. Here they will find the new complete version of themselves that will emerge from the experience. Each of our Chosen Ones come to this moment in very different states, equipped with different skills and accompanied by different additional characters. No matter how they approach the end of your story, though, they will not be the same once they have completed it. Theologians have argued about predestination for centuries. Are our lives predetermined by God or are we free to make choices, good or bad, in order to influence the paths of our lives? It’s a complicated issue. If predetermination is a real thing, then, as John Calvin noted back in the sixteenth century, God is permitting serial killers to kill and abusers to abuse. But we are writers. We are the gods of our own universes. We permit what we want to permit. We are in the business of predestination, and, for us and for our characters, it is definitely the way our worlds run. There is no greater example of predestination in the writing of screenplays than in our realization that each of the five Invitations that we had identified in the previous chapter hold within them the seeds of one of five different, corresponding endings that make for the most cathartic ending to a narrative. In investigating these story choices we realized that the Chosen One who answered that Invitation and made that decision to enter the Dark Forest (or had that decision made for them) was destined to complete their journey in a predestined fashion. In short, we can tell you how each Invitation is going to turn out and tell you why. We call it . . .

The Last Throw of the Dice To be absolutely clear, the moment we are going to be talking about here is Act IV wherein the solution to the problems set up in Act II lies. Once again, it’s

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your job to figure out the mechanics of the solution in Act V, but, as long as your story is correctly set up, we can point you to the end of your Chosen One’s journey and tell you how they must act to complete your film in a dramatically satisfying way. Although each Chosen One will find themselves at this point under very different circumstances, they need to fulfil certain conditions to attempt to exit the Dark Forest. These are broken down further in later chapters, but in its simplest terms, the Chosen One must meet these criteria in order to bring the story to a satisfying conclusion: HOW – This is the way that the Chosen One leaves the Dark Forest. WHAT – This is the specific checklist that they need to complete in order so that they can leave. WHY – What understanding do they come to in the process of leaving? This is important as it usually allows them to come to terms with their conflicted nature and overcome it. WHERE – After they have conquered the Dark Forest they move into Act V, but what does this space look like to the Chosen One?

The Willing Chosen One This is the Chosen One who sacrifices their Once Upon a Time to do something they really don’t want to do but have been compelled to. Remember, none of these Chosen Ones really want to be in your film. This Chosen One, the Willing Chosen One, is getting involved for a reason – a principle. And principles, as we know, can topple empires. Their decision, however, comes with implications. They enter the Dark Forest determined to succeed and overcome whatever they encounter and emerge from the other side. Their ambitions are relatively small (as we will discover on their journey) for this Chosen One does not yet know the full story. Just as Belle wants to release her father and doesn’t look much further than the initial offer to ‘take me instead’, so our Willing Chosen One is often taking a stand on an issue that touches them deeply.

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What lies behind this decision is a sense that the world is not configured correctly. There is something rotten and unfair out there which requires our Chosen One to make this dramatic choice. It is inevitable, therefore, that they will discover that the rot runs deeper and that, because they are a Willing Chosen One, they will end up doing something about it. We call the ending of this narrative arc . . .

Burn the Forest The Willing Chosen One acts on principle and the Dark Forest they enter is, of necessity, an unprincipled one – otherwise they wouldn’t be there. Faced with bigger and greater moral choices as they journey through the story, this Chosen One is left with no choice but to destroy the Dark Forest, often with the help of an army of like-minded acolytes that they gather around them – more of this later. This may be a benign destruction, as in Belle’s annihilation of the world of the Beast in order for the wrongs to be righted, or it might be a literal destruction of a Dark Forest that paves the way to a brighter future for those involved, such as Katniss Everdeen’s triumph over Panem in The Hunger Games (2012). Katniss literally offers herself up instead of her sister, Prim, in order to participate in the deeply unfair Hunger Games. Through this single act of courage and self-sacrifice she instils a sense of hope in the downtrodden folk of the Districts (they use the word ‘hope’ a good deal in these films) and that hope quickly turns to action with Katniss as the Chosen One who will free them from bondage. It takes a whilst for Katniss to truly don the mantle of the saviour, just as it takes Belle a whilst to get accustomed to the Beast, but that’s just storytelling. The spine of both narratives here is the same. The Chosen One sacrifices their position of safety and security in order to help another. As both stories progress, the implications of this choice become bigger, more dangerous and will affect more of the world around them. What begins as a simple offer of help transforms into a seismic change for the world of the film.

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The Willing Chosen One enters the Dark Forest by obeying the rules of the forest. They end up burning the forest down because the rules are unfair.

The Accidental Chosen One Just suddenly appearing in a strange environment operating under a whole new set of rules and regulations is a discomforting experience for the Chosen One on this particular pathway. Their journey is going to be all about learning – crucially, learning about the nature of the Dark Forest and learning about why they are there. The ending of this narrative arc is simply called . . .

The Return . . . because that is what this Chosen One must do. They must find a way to return to their Once Upon a Time, but, crucially, the journey they take through the Dark Forest will change them, so their return will be heavy with meaning and implication. Alice’s journey through Wonderland will make a lasting impression on her, but her filmic counterparts are even more clearly affected by their corresponding ‘Wonderlands’. Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939), who finds herself inexplicably in a strange land and must find a way to return home, or Phil Connors in Groundhog Day (1993), who wakes each morning on the same day and must find out why so that he can return his life to normality, both have clear lessons to learn before they will be allowed to escape their Dark Forests. Often the means by which they exit the story has always been available to them but it has taken the adventure to teach them the crucial lessons that allow them to see the way out. Both of these characters are entirely different to one another in terms of world view and aspiration. Dorothy is timid and biddable. She wants to help and to please, but she is scared of her own shadow. Phil is self-centred and bitter. The only person he wants to help is himself.

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Yet, in both of these examples, the journey is broadly the same. The worlds in which they find themselves exist to teach them to grow as characters and learn valuable lessons about life. In both cases the Chosen Ones were always in possession of the key to the exit, but it takes them a whilst to understand this. Despite their difference in character, it is the very fact that Dorothy and Phil are strong, memorable characters that carry the films. They act according to their natures and learn through experience. So, the Accidental Chosen One is being given a glimpse of themselves from the outside. Their Dark Forest is a gift to them as characters. A gift that will allow them to develop and grow as individuals and return as better, more rounded people.

The Unable (to Believe) Chosen One It’s not so much that this Chosen One doesn’t want to be in your film, it’s that they don’t believe your film exists. This narrative journey is all about the relationship that they have with the mentor/tormentor and the growth that this dynamic elicits from them. Bertie (King George VI) in The King’s Speech (2010) struggles with a speech impediment. We meet him at a really low point in his life. His stammer has always held him back. He is regarded with pity or worse by his family and the wider world. Our first glimpse of Bertie is in the midst of a humiliation as he attempts to deliver that speech at the closing of the British Empire Exhibition. His attempts to find a cure for his stammer, with the encouragement of his wife, are half-hearted at best. Even when Bertie embarks on his journey alongside speech expert Lionel Logue it is with reluctance. He really doesn’t believe in the journey he is on and, as the stakes are raised around him, with the death of his father and the abdication of his brother, his low self-esteem takes a greater and greater battering. But, just as the ugly duckling realizes their true nature and worth, so this Chosen One will find their way out of the Dark Forest through. . .

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The Reveal It takes a long time for the Unable (to Believe) Chosen One to engage with the story. They are continually pulling away from their journey to the Reveal where they will finally recognize their own worth. It is the role of the mentor/tormentor on this narrative arc, in this case, Lionel, to keep dragging the Chosen One back on their journey. Remember, the ugly duckling had to actually be informed that it was a swan by others. So, the unable to believe Chosen One has to be helped every step of the way to the Reveal. Mentors/tormentors appear in all forms in films, but here they fulfil the most important purpose because they are the only ones who can truly see that the Chosen One is, in fact, a swan. The mentor drives the story forward, but it is the Chosen One who is the more fascinating character because they go through the most dramatic change. Mentors rarely change and this makes them useful tools in storytelling, but the journey from ugly duckling to swan is one that chimes with audiences across the millennia. The structure of this story revolves entirely around the state of mind of your Chosen One. By all means make their lives as difficult as you can by placing more and more pressure on them as the story progresses, because in that way the Reveal will be all the more effective, but it is the character at the heart of your story, their mentor by their side, who will drive the storytelling throughout.

The Unknowing Chosen One This Chosen One finds themselves in a bind early on in the film. In order to return to their Once Upon a Time they are going to have to perform some task or other. It’s going to be an onerous pain in the neck kind of a task but won’t fundamentally affect them as characters or cause them any undue difficulty other than the irritation of just having to do it. The implication here, of course, is that they are set that task by somebody else – somebody who knows rather more about what is involved than they do. In The Little Mermaid (1989), the Sea Witch knows that the odds are stacked against the mermaid from the beginning. An unfair bargain is struck when

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Ariel exchanges her voice for legs in an attempt to woo the human she loves and, as the story unravels, we watch as the Little Mermaid tries to succeed under the crushingly iniquitous terms and conditions of the contract. None of us ever read the Ts & Cs, but these Chosen Ones really should. It could save them a lot of trouble. However, the joy of this story arc is in the self-discovery awaiting our Chosen One. The realization that this story, this Dark Forest, is so much larger and more difficult to negotiate than they could possibly have imagined is where they will be forced to confront themselves and grow as individuals. All Shrek wants is his swamp back, and, in order to achieve that, he strikes a deal with Lord Farquaad. Save the princess from the dragon. For Shrek it’s totally doable. But that is only half of his journey because the heart of this story will only be shown to us in. . .

The Deal Undone There’s a really good reason why your Chosen One doesn’t want to be in your film. Being a Chosen One in a film is really hard and they are keen to get the experience over and done with as soon as possible. The Unknowing Chosen One has their eyes firmly set on the closing credits, and they are powering towards it with gusto. But then their eyes are opened and they realize they have been fooled – both by the deal they have signed up for and by themselves. This narrative arc is as much about character change as the Chosen One who is unable to believe, but here the change that occurs is very different. These Chosen Ones had no idea that there was anything wrong with them in the first place. Shrek thinks that he wants to be alone. He thinks that his solitary life is perfect for him and he longs to return to it, until he realizes that he doesn’t. The unravelling of the deal is the moment where these Chosen Ones are forced to confront deeper truths within themselves, and they will emerge from the Dark Forest fundamentally changed and will have no interest in returning to the Once Upon a Time as was.

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The structure of this narrative is clear. The Chosen One takes on a task they think that they understand, but by the time they have completed the task they realize that there is more to do, much more. And it is this realization and the tackling of the greater task ahead which will make them grow as characters and lend your film resonance and depth.

The Mistaken Chosen One The story of the anti-hero is one of the most difficult to get right. Here is a character who is destined to do wrong. Morally they will do things that we disapprove of. They will be fundamentally un-empathetic. So, there are two things you must remember if you are writing a Mistaken Chosen One:

1. They must believe that they are on the right path.



2. We must understand them. We don’t have to agree with them, but we must understand them.

The farmer who cut his goose open was acting through a kind of twisted logic. It was foolhardy but you can see his point of view: Why put up with one golden egg whenever your goose feels like laying when you could stock up simply by figuring out how the goose works? By the time the goose is laying there on the kitchen table with a carving knife poking out of its stomach . . .

It’s Too Late When Arthur Fleck kills the men who are tormenting him and another female passenger on the subway in Joker (2019) we understand his motivation, even if we don’t condone his actions. It’s not necessarily a choice that we would make, but he is saving a young woman from an abusive situation and, because of previous events in the story, he has a gun to hand. Without the gun, things might have turned out differently for Arthur.

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This, then, is his entry into the Dark Forest. He accepts the Invitation in that moment because he feels he has no choice. According to the society he lives in, he is a dysfunctional ‘loser’, a directionless ‘nobody’. He is at the bottom of the heap, and he has nowhere to go. Nowhere except the Dark Forest. The key choices that these Mistaken Chosen Ones make plunge them deeper and deeper into the Dark Forest and, in Arthur’s case, he finds that he likes it in there. If he can’t be a success in the Once Upon a Time then he has found somewhere where he can. For Arthur, the Dark Forest is a kingdom that is awaiting him and, unlike any of our other Chosen Ones, he does not want to leave. He wants to rule it. And that’s why he shoots Murray in the head. The Mistaken Chosen One’s choices are born out of failure in the Once Upon a Time. Why would they ever want to go back to that place? * * * In the Last Throw of the Dice you will see that our heroes all make a choice that will catapult them into the final act of the film: ●

The Willing Chosen One will Burn the Forest in order to create a newer, better world for everyone who inhabits it.

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The Accidental Chosen One will choose to return to their Once Upon a Time having learned key lessons about themselves in the Dark Forest.

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The Unable to Believe Chosen One will stand tall and overcome the largest obstacle that has been standing between them and self-belief.

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The Unknowing Chosen One will decide to forgo their old life and embrace a new version of themselves.

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The Mistaken Chosen One will make a choice to entirely turn away from the ordinary and embrace the darkness of the forest.

That’s it. Five ways in and five corresponding ways out (or not), all leading to their (Un)happily Ever After.

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So, let’s see if that plays out with our accountant. These are character-led stories, remember (as all good stories should be) so let’s see if these endings make sense for these different versions of this character. Would he do that?

The Willing accountant who burns the forest Last time we saw this guy he had just dropped everything on the say-so of a woman with a baby in her arms. He’s left his comfortable, happy life behind willingly, and, from the outset, this looks like an impulsive choice, but a choice that he feels that he has to make. What do we know about this story pathway? Well, we know that the Willing Chosen One acts on a moral imperative. We know that they will act, unselfishly, for the greater good. Also, we know that the world they have just entered will challenge their moral imperative and force them to take action. They will be the engine of its destruction. As we have stated previously in this book, we are not here to make up your stories for you, but we can show you the kind of path your character could take. We have a set-up here that works, and because we know broadly how this tale will end we can imagine all kinds of elements that could be fed into the backstory of this accountant’s strange decision to make it credible: an identical twin brother on the run from the law, a clandestine affair with an undercover FBI agent, a secret cloning laboratory in the basement of the city firm, an alternative family on the other side of the city – whatever lies behind the decision our accountant makes in reaction to the Invitation, we know that there is more to it than meets the eye. As the story unfolds, we will discover that the woman and her baby are in need of more than just short-term help from the accountant. Her dilemma or the world from which she has escaped will form the focus of the accountant’s attention as he battles to return to his own family and normality. As the Willing Chosen One he will gather knowledge, weaponry, skills, an army – whatever it takes or whatever he needs to defeat the evil that has revealed itself through the woman’s appearance.

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The greater the danger the better, the odds against success should be enormous, the scale of the threat and the seeming impossibility of the task will be the elements that will make this story work and have our accountant emerge a true hero in Act V. There may, of course, be multiple heroes in this scenario, including his wife or the newly arrived mother, but our Willing Chosen One is the focus for this heroism and the focus for the narrative action. Of course, the Willing Chosen One doesn’t have to be battling identical twins or evil cloning laboratories, they could just as easily be a kid trying to get their ball back from the next-door neighbour’s backyard, but the story principles remain the same. They step up. They act. They do not shy away from the threat even as it grows. They Burn the Forest because the forest is a bad place where bad things happen and their character dictates that they have the strength of purpose and skill set to enact that destruction.

The Accidental accountant who returns In this story our accountant has suddenly ceased to be an accountant. He has been thrust into the world of his dreams – seemingly he has achieved everything he ever wanted simply by lifting his eyes from the balance sheet. Of course, he must return from this alternative reality, and he must return a changed man. So, the key here is for him to work out why his life has been upended. What is the lesson that the gods (that is us, the writers) are asking him to learn before they will allow him back to his Once Upon a Time? Why would he want to return to his Once Upon a Time anyway? There is a strong sense of morality on this pathway. In this accidental universe our Chosen One has a lesson to learn and that lesson can be a terribly simple one – just so deeply embedded in the accountant’s psyche that he can’t see it. In the opening scenes of Groundhog Day Phil Connors is portrayed as a pretty flawed individual. We can see it, he can’t. The lesson our accountant learns in this place doesn’t have to be a secret to the viewer, and the alternative reality they inhabit doesn’t have to be a terrible place.

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In this case, we have already identified the accountant’s conflicted nature as jealousy, so that’s it. Our accountant needs to learn to stop being jealous of others and see the value of his own life. The lesson doesn’t have to be deep. This is all about the character at the heart of the story coming to understand their own shortcomings and revising their own view of the world. When they do finally find the way to return to their Once Upon a Time they will be fundamentally changed. The journey is all about finding the way to return. The audience will be left with the feeling that their lives, henceforth, will be better, more balanced, more understanding . . . happier.

The accountant who is Unable to Believe is revealed Deep behind enemy lines, on the cold, heartless penal colony of Clostra Maior, a child has been born. The Accountant has a matter of a few short hours to even up the numbers before the Tharcians discover the anomaly, and there’s about to be a massive stand-off between him and his brother, Ractis. He’s an unwilling Chosen One as are other examples from other pathways, but the difference here is that he holds within himself the key to the exit from the Dark Forest. He just doesn’t believe it yet. There is a clear goal in this story – for the Accountant to lead an effective insurgency against the Tharcians. In order to achieve this our Chosen One must cease to be a lowly accountant and don the mantle of power, leading a ragtag group of broken men and women from the worst place in the galaxy to victory under the twin suns of Pantricular Zardox (sorry, we’re getting a little carried away here . . .). The Accountant must reverse his conflicted nature and this will begin with his stand-off against Ractis for this is the moment where he truly accepts his Invitation to enter the Dark Forest. He will then, with the help of his mentor, Alyce, take control of the colony and begin to fashion his army and his plan.

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The fun of this film will be in seeing the downtrodden prisoners gather themselves and form an indomitable army but at the heart of this will be the Accountant’s transformation. Hiding the truth from the Tharcians he will continue to doubt his own abilities throughout, and it will take Alyce and his growing child to keep pulling him back onto the path which will lead to ultimate triumph. As we have seen, the mentor is going to be central to the success of this story and here we have a set-up in which goals and stakes are clear for all involved. The Accountant, as with other unable to believe Chosen Ones, is prepared to throw in the towel at every opportunity. The mentor will keep reminding him of what is at stake and keep convincing him that he can win. That he has the power to overcome the forces massed against him. The Reveal in this case is going to take place when all seems lost. The Tharcians have discovered the plot. The elite forces are moving in to destroy the penal colony. All the elements that we have woven into the story will come to play just as disaster is imminent, the odds are stacked against the Vells prisoners and our Chosen One will finally believe that they are worthy of success.

The Unknowing accountant’s Deal is Undone Our Chosen One here has made a deal with the woman who he believes to be the mother of his child. He has agreed to stick with her for a year in order to allow her to draw down a family inheritance. The way this storyline works is that our Chosen One fulfils their side of the bargain only to discover that it isn’t enough. This is often because they have learned more along the way – both about the deal and about themselves – and their character will not allow them to leave a job unfinished. Let’s take our dilemma as an example. The accountant is trapped. Trapped by the town, trapped by his job with his father, trapped by the illegal activities he has started to engage in and trapped by the woman who has claimed him as the father of her child.

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The deal he has struck with the woman pulls him further into this trap but, for this film to be successful and dramatically satisfying, that trap has to hold within it the key to his freedom. If, for instance, he were to discover that he is not the father’s child at all but that she has called upon his help for an entirely different reason, then the goalposts are shifted and the possibilities of the story open out. He would no longer be playing happy families in order to pay a debt, he would be engaging in a series of events because he believed them to be of value. The key to this storyline is to change the Chosen One’s ‘want’ at a key moment in the story. He begins by wanting out of the town, out of the business and out of the relationship but ends up wanting something completely different because his true nature has been stirred by the story he is involved with. Just as Shrek begins by wanting his swamp back and ends with wanting Princess Fiona, because he realizes that love and friendship are important to him after all, so our accountant must move from the small, negative ambition of wanting to wave goodbye to everything and embrace something more positive and life affirming through his acceptance of that Invitation.

The Mistaken accountant realizes that It’s Too Late By the time our Mistaken accountant has accepted responsibility for the child, he is well on the way to becoming a key player in the criminal underworld. The key to this narrative arc is that we get to know the Dark Forest through the eyes of our Chosen One, and we realize that we like it in here. The Mistaken accountant is going to rise up through the ranks of the underworld, using his skills and the leverage of the baby that he knows is his, and maybe end up at the very top – maybe the new boss in town. This is a storyline where we can revel in the temptations of life that are not available to most of us. What would we do if we were Michael Corleone? What would we do if we were Arthur Fleck? One thing is certain that, in most of the Mistaken story arcs, the lives for the Chosen Ones are improved, at least in an outward sense, by the path they have chosen to take.

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So, the point of Act IV on this pathway is to have our Mistaken accountant do something that embeds them so completely in the world of the Dark Forest that there is no escape, even if they wanted to escape. An obvious move would be for him to set up the killing of the mob boss here – but make it personal. Put the gun or the knife or the poison or the broken bottle in our accountant’s hand and have him stand over the dead body. And, crucially, have us understand how he feels in that moment. Given the choice of being the king of the Dark Forest or the nobody in their Once Upon a Time, they choose the kingdom and, in the well-written version of this narrative arc, we don’t blame them one little bit.

Act V – Spiritual transformation However, it is not enough simply for our Chosen One to have changed; they now need to demonstrate that they have internalized this change and this new shape that they have taken. Frequently, this will involve the Chosen One venturing back to their Once Upon a Time (or a representation of it) so that they are able to prove to those who they left there they have been on a journey which mattered and in facing the hardships they did are not the person who first departed this space 120 odd pages ago. However, they may not and it is possible that they do not have a Once Upon a Time to return to and rather have fashioned a new one that they now reside in which is in keeping with the transformation they have undergone. Either way this act is used to showcase that the change that they have gone through is a significant and lasting one. Frequently, it is nice to see the Chosen One challenged one last time during this sequence to revert back to the character we first met them as. A challenge which because of the work they have done to get to this part of the narrative they will pass with ease. This temptation must be a representation of their (now old) conflicted nature so as to showcase to us in the audience how far they have progressed since Act I. * * *

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The decision your Chosen One makes at the start of their journey carries within it the clues to the end because your story is entirely built upon that initial decision and therefore your narrative is carried by the character who makes it. These moments in your story establish a clear start and endpoint for your Chosen One’s journey, but we still need to look at the heart of the narrative. What happens in the Dark Forest? How do you keep the narrative momentum going during that long journey that forms the heart of your film? In the next chapter we will look at the midpoint, for the midpoint holds within it the elements upon which your entire story rests. Your midpoint will represent an upending of expectations and aspirations for your Chosen One. The pivot upon which your screenplay rests. The Flipping of the Hourglass.

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3 Act III (Parts 1 and 2) and the Flipping of the Hourglass

Plate 3  The Hourglass, by Millree Hughes.

ACT III (Part 1) – Dangers, enchantments, love and magic We have looked​ at the five journeys that our Chosen Ones might take from their Invitation to their Last Throw of the Dice. Through this investigation we have seen that the Chosen Ones answering each Invitation must be fundamentally different to one another in order to embark on their journeys and complete the tasks in the Dark Forest. The broad strokes of the characters are provided by our headline motivations – Willing, Unknowing, Unable (to Believe), Accidental and Mistaken. However, for your screenplay to really convince and for your story to elicit empathy, sympathy, fear or hilarity in your audience your character will need a good deal more depth than this.

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After all, your character must carry your screenplay. Your character must be the structure around which your screenplay is constructed. It is at the midpoint of your script where the real depth and breadth of your Chosen One is revealed. Here you will discover, through the application of the ideas in this chapter, whether you have created a Chosen One with enough character to carry the weight of your story because the midpoint is the fulcrum upon which your entire story rests. It is at the midpoint where truths are revealed, where realizations are made and where new discoveries point the path to the end of the story. In the run up to the midpoint of your script, your Chosen One will be focused on exploring the Dark Forest. This is the world that they must learn to negotiate as quickly as they can. This is the strange environment they have been thrust into as a result of the Invitation, and here we will begin to get a sense of just how far the Chosen One will have to travel before they can exit this place. The Dark Forest of the beginning of Act III is a place that is entirely alien to our Chosen One, and it may be alien for all kinds of reasons: geography, attitude, point of view, just plain difference – it is a place of discomfort because our Chosen One does not yet fully understand it. Let’s use our trusty accountant to explain what we mean. The Willing accountant has just packed in his job and left his family home to head off with this unknown woman. Wherever he is headed to is not going to be comfortable, but he is driven to go there by elements of the story that will become clear as events unfold. As he enters Act III we will discover what skills he possesses to negotiate this Dark Forest. We will learn more about his relationship with the woman and her baby. We will learn more about the task in front of him. This accountant has embraced a new future for himself in the blink of an eye, and, from the look of this story, he has placed himself in harm’s way for the sake of others. Here we discover new characters, new places, new possibilities. Here we get excited about the journey ahead. The Accidental accountant is just getting started on a rollercoaster ride. His life has changed fundamentally, and the beginning of Act III is where we watch him embrace it fully. Imagine the scenes we could have fun with here: the accountant throwing wild parties, the accountant trashing hotel rooms, the

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accountant acting outrageously in as far as his imagination will allow him to be outrageous. He’s got a lot to learn, but it’s going to be fun watching him learn. The accountant who is Unable to Believe is under pressure. The Tharcians suspect something is out of place on Clostra Maior, and the prisoners are not reacting well to being required to pull together as a secret fighting force. Here we will get to know key players in the story who will help build this narrative, but the accountant is the single figure who is going to have to pull everything together. Alyce saw something in him that she knew would turn him from an ugly duckling into a swan so here we, also, will begin to see moments of that transformation-to-be as the accountant brings the hardest prisoner in the facility on-side through the use of numbers and logic, or outwits a Tharcian security detail convinced that all is not as it seems on Clostra Maior. The Unknowing accountant suddenly finds himself with a family in a town he is desperate to leave, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. He just has to stick this out for a year. We can just see him half-heartedly getting involved in this new life that he didn’t ask for – fulfilling his end of the bargain with the very least amount of effort. Let’s consider a couple of different genres here. What about that scene in the comedy version where he pays the neighbour’s five-year-old to undertake the boring tasks he doesn’t want to get involved in? Or the drama where he continually butts heads with his supposed life partner as she drags him further into a world he simply doesn’t care about. The Mistaken accountant sees an opportunity and grasps it. Any of us might if we were blessed with the number-crunching skills that this Chosen One has been blessed with, right? This is the section of the film where we will see him finding out about the mob boss’ world. We will see him wielding power, and we will see him liking it. There are some terrific scenes waiting to be written here as our Mistaken accountant gets sucked into the world of the Mistaken Chosen One. How will he react to seeing his first killing? Will he have the inner strength to negotiate an intense grilling by the police? Which path will he take when he is given a choice between the moral and the immoral? Screenwriting gurus tell us how difficult it is to negotiate the big ‘middle’ of the screenplay. How do you fill those pages and keep the drama on track? Hopefully, you will see that, if your Invitation is clear enough, if your Chosen One is the right character for the job, if the Dark Forest that they enter is

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discomforting enough for them then all of the elements of the first half of your screenplay are clear. You know what you have to do. Do it! But this section of the script will be lacking something. There is a revelation on the way and that revelation, or series of revelations, will happen around the midpoint of the script. This is the moment that we call . . .

The Flipping of the Hourglass We liken the midpoint of the screenplay to an hourglass because it is at this point where we can literally find the story reversing itself as the hourglass is upturned – the sands of time flowing back – events mirrored – choices echoed. The falling action of the second half of your film will be a reflection of the rising action in the first but now much of the mystery has been cleared up. The route to the end is in sight, if still largely unattainable. The midpoint is absolutely crucial to the dramatic success of your narrative. Very often this point in the story is constructed from a series of interconnecting events, realizations and decisions that will create a new trajectory for your story. Here we will identify six key elements that make up the classic midpoint for a film narrative. We would suggest that including just one or two of these elements will lead to a weak and insubstantial story and including all six is a rarity but displays a robustness to a drama that will lead to a strong second half. Including three, four or five of these moments will be sufficient to display that you have created a Chosen One who is multi-faceted and a story which has breadth and depth. The midpoint may make up a short moment in time, but it contains within it all the key elements upon which the second half of your feature film rests. So, let’s take a look at those six elements:

1. I’M READY TO ADMIT Here the Chosen One is able to drag something from the depths of their psyche that they have never admitted before. Something that

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is painful for them to come to terms with but something that the challenges within the Dark Forest have allowed them to at least begin to articulate.

2. THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT This is the point at which the Chosen One finally reveals something deep down inside, and their journey (momentarily) pivots away from their external goal and into an internal one which will address their conflicted nature. However, during this revelation they have not fully understood what it is that they are trying to do as they have not grown enough to explore it to the level that they need to and often it is an insincere attempt to deal with their overarching internal dilemma.



3. SING IT LOUD AND SING IT PROUD Act III showstopper is where the Chosen One stands centre stage and finally lets us know what this piece is actually about. During this moment a writer should give the audience an explicit indication of what the theme of the piece is and what they are trying to say with the work that they are producing.



4. THE EASY PLAN Often this will be where a Chosen One believes that they have understood what their journey has been building to and believes that whatever action they are about to perform will be the thing which allows them to earn their Happily Ever After. However, whatever it is that they do is an action that is an echo of their former selves and ultimately only makes things worse for our Chosen One. They are still conflicted and are yet to overcome that part of their identity.



5. I HOPE I PACKED A PARACHUTE Whatever your Chosen One does at this point in the narrative it is akin to them being thrown out of a plane. We move from discussing the rising action of the story to the falling action. They now have to spend the remainder of their time in the Dark Forest deciding when

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they are going to pull the ripcord. Too early, and it will not be a thrilling enough narrative. Too late and . . . well . . .

6. YOU CAN’T PUT IT BACK IN THE BOTTLE This moment represents a finality for your Chosen One which is impossible for them to take back. They can regret what has gone before, and if this is a prestige dramatic arc they certainly should be on the verge of tears. However, they have to realize that their world has irrevocably changed, and they now need to pick themselves up and get on with their lives.

Here, then, we have six distinct iterations of a midpoint moment – a moment of self-reflection or self-realization that will turn the story on its head and send your Chosen One hurtling towards their final act. You will now be asking yourself how you can utilize this information with your Chosen One in your Dark Forest, so let’s take one of our accountants and flesh their story out a little more. Let’s give them a midpoint that uses each of these moments and thereby illustrates the power of the midpoint and the ammunition a strong midpoint will give to you in order to turn that hourglass and piece together a vital and dramatic second half to your screenplay.

The Willing accountant who admits, reveals, sings, plans, hopes and can’t go back Let’s take our thirty-year-old, high flying city accountant back to that decision he made at the point of the Invitation – to leave his job and his family and to take this woman and her child (who she claims is also his child) out of the city. We have looked at the broad strokes of this Chosen One’s trajectory, and we know that he is destined to bring down the world that has brought him to this decision. He has all the makings of a hero, but without this enforced entry into the Dark Forest he would probably have never achieved that potential. So, for our Willing Chosen One, the moment where he encounters the hourglass is often sudden and shocking – both for the Chosen One and for

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the audience. In other story arcs, the hourglass spins slowly and casts a long shadow over the heart of the story. For our Willing Chosen One, the turning of the hourglass is often achieved in a moment and our Chosen One’s world is, once again, turned upside down. For the purposes of this exercise let’s place our Willing accountant, the woman and the baby on the road to a lonely cottage in the heart of Snowdonia. It’s wintertime, the place is deserted and they are on the run. Shadowy figures have been pursuing them ever since they left London, and they have had a couple of very close calls. It’s been an exciting and turbulent ride this far as we have got to know our Chosen One better and understood a little more about his dilemma. It’s important to recognize here that the moments that we have outlined that make for a strong midpoint do not generally all happen at the same time. They are spread out across a mid-section which straddles the key moment of realization which will make for the chronological midpoint of your script. You would be surprised how many midpoints you could actually time to the minute by halving the run time of the film. Here they are, then, in the car and travelling at speed through desolate, lonely countryside. The baby is crying and the woman is distraught. It’s a stressful moment and characters, as we know, reveal their true selves in moments of stress. It’s time for the accountant to reveal something about himself. He admits that he killed a man (1). Years ago. He covered it up, but it has haunted him ever since. The dead man was affiliated with the bad guys on their tail. This whole story dates back to that moment. At the cottage, this admission leads him to pick up a gun again for the first time in ten years (2). He is an incredible marksman which he reveals as the shadowy bad guys make an assault upon the cottage in the dead of night. Something in our Chosen One is unleashed, and he has transformed from accountant to hero during the course of the night. By embracing his old self he believes he can overcome anything that is heading towards them (3). He plans to bring down the forces of darkness through a single, irrevocable act (4). Before creeping from the cottage to put his plan into action, he and the woman make love (6). They are now further united in their attempts to negotiate their way through the Dark Forest.

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Later that night, our Chosen One aims his gun at the man he thinks is responsible for all his ills (5) . . . and fires. Only to discover that this act has not solved their problems at all . . . but increased them exponentially (4). In this example all of the elements of the hourglass are connected but represent different decisions or realizations that combine to create a single, effective midpoint for the film. The realizations, revelations, decisions and actions that are required to make this section of the screenplay work create a point from which there is no going back – physically or mentally – for our Chosen One. Their commitment to the second half of this script is absolute because they have made irreversible choices. This also means that from this point on, the screenplay’s action will mirror that of the first half because now both audience and Chosen One are in possession of information they did not previously have. The story, up until this point, has been primarily about exploration and discovery. From this point forth, the story will be about overcoming against the odds, now they know what the odds truly are. Now the Dark Forest is illuminated. They know something of the dangers awaiting them so the geography is familiar, but the situation is very different. This is the section in a screenplay that is generally identified by the catch-all term ‘falling action’. This doesn’t mean to say that the action has to be leading towards failure – that’s not the way this story arc works. But failure is definitely a part of the make-up of the second part of Act III as you head towards Act IV.

Act III (Part 2) – Monsters, failures and impossible tasks Here our Chosen One, equipped with the truths revealed in the midpoint, must face the momentous nature of the task in front of them. Their world has, literally, been turned upside down by the hourglass, and they have to find their feet again on shifting sands. There will be more challenges thrown their way and often they will need to bring the team that they assembled during Act II back together as they will have been scattered due to the revelations during the midpoint of the narrative.

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In the story outlined previously, the actual midpoint of the story will be the cementing of the relationship when he and the woman make love. This moment sits between the decisions and revelations that surround it. As the Willing accountant heads off to enact the EASY PLAN (which will fail as all easy plans do) he has already entered the falling action of the story. He is already in a world of monsters, failures and impossible tasks. This is often the part of the arc where a Chosen One will begin mirroring actions that they performed during the first half of the narrative in order to showcase the growth that they have experienced during their journey so far in the Dark Forest. In reaching these ‘mirrored moments’ they will behave in an entirely different way from when we first met them, acknowledging the momentous thing which just occurred to them in the hourglass moment at the midpoint. However, they are literally not out of the woods yet and have often just experienced a profound rejection of this new identity that they are forming which runs contrary to their conflicted nature. They are going to have to work harder than ever as the challenges that they are about to face will cause them to dig deeper than they ever have before. Let’s compare two very different films here that share the Willing arc: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) and School of Rock (2003). Mildred Hayes, in Three Billboards, is mourning the rape and murder of her daughter seven months before the action of the film takes place. In a sense, the heart of Mildred’s Invitation has happened before the film begins. However, it is the presence of the three empty billboards and the possibilities that they raise in her that creates Mildred’s entry into the Dark Forest. She accepts the Invitation immediately and the Dark Forest awaits in which she will discover how much her decision has upset others in the town of Ebbing. Dewey Finn, in School of Rock, is an archetypal Willing Chosen One in as much as, when Horace Green School calls for his landlord, Ned Schneebly, to cover some classes at the school as a substitute teacher, Dewey implicitly asks them to take him instead of Ned . . . it’s just that the school doesn’t get an opportunity to make that choice. That Invitation takes him into the Dark Forest of this old-fashioned, restrictive school where he will gather a group of like-minded acolytes around him in order to fulfil his ambitions at the Battle of the Bands.

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The hourglass sections of each of these films reveal the key moments that create a reversal from the rising action to the falling action. In Three Billboards the midpoint finds Mildred at the billboards when out of nowhere a fawn appears. She has a moment of self-reflection in which she debates the existence of God and the meaning of death (1/2). Red Welby, the businessman who rented Mildred the billboards, confronts her about the next payment (which she can’t afford) only to discover that a mysterious benefactor has stepped in (4). Chief Willoughby, who Mildred blames to some extent for his inability to find her daughter’s murderer, kills himself (6). The racist police officer, Jason Dixon, throws Red out of the window (6) and passes the new Chief of Police set to take over from the deceased Willoughby (5). The key midpoint moment here is, of course, Willoughby’s suicide, which sends ripples through the community and fundamentally impacts upon Mildred’s journey, but the other moments all play their part here. She may not be directly involved in the actions of Willoughby or Dixon, but as a consequence of these events she will career into the second half of the film as the action and reaction to events ramps up and the falling action takes over leading to her firebombing the police station. We can clearly see how this second half of the film mirrors the first as the hourglass turns. The first half of the film sees Mildred sparring with Willoughby – the second sees Mildred fly off the rails following Willoughby’s death. The first half sees Mildred getting into scrapes and spats with various members of the Ebbing community – the second sees these spats become serious and even life threatening as Mildred takes action. In the first half of the film we learn about Mildred’s place in the community and the story of her daughter. We see her trying to get the police to act in the search for her daughter’s murderer. In the second we see her act. The billboards have ceased to be a call to action and have become a symbol for her. After Willoughby’s death even the wording becomes irrelevant. All of the action here evolves from the billboards but the controlling hand of Willoughby, even after his death, touches everything. Ultimately, Mildred is destined to gather her own strange army around her, in the unlikely shape of Dixon, following her literal burning of the forest in the shape of the police station. Her new role in life will be outside of the strictures of the law because, in her experience, the law does not work.

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School of Rock may sit poles apart in terms of tone, narrative, audience and arc, but the key structural elements holding the film together around the central Chosen One are essentially the same. The midpoint of School of Rock finds the previously venal and self-serving Dewey start to care for the kids from Horace Green. First, he is impressed by a self-conscious pupil, Tomika’s singing, and, second, he observes talented child guitarist Zack’s father bullying him and third, he elicits genuine feedback from his pupils in the classroom (1) as he composes ‘Step Off ’ (6) leading to the first moment of genuine collective endeavour in the story. They are becoming a group as they ‘stick it to the man’ (3). They emerge from the ensuing montage sequence all with the same aim. In this sequence the important takeaway, which colours the entire film from this point forth, is that Dewey cares. This is no longer just a film about winning a competition, it is a film about growth and change and belonging. Dewey is the Willing Chosen One who must destroy the edifice of Horace Green School in order that the pupils might learn to express themselves freely and grow as people. The second half of the film sees Dewey getting more out of his depth in the school as he attempts to launch the career of School of Rock, the band. Where, up until the midpoint, we have seen Dewey take advantage of opportunity for his own ends, in the second half, as the hourglass turns, it becomes clear that he must break all of the rules of this world in order to succeed. Rather than attempting to fit in and earn enough money to pay the rent, now he must negotiate parents’ evenings, band auditions, check-ups from the head – all manner of obstacles in order to achieve an ambition that is no longer his alone but is that of the entire band. In both of these cases the midpoint has changed the make-up of the Dark Forest. Where previously the Chosen One has been able to negotiate the slings and arrows of the rising action because their predicament is essentially of their own making, now they are forced to act against the world that they have entered in order to overcome it. The choices, decisions and discoveries made at the midpoint must alter your Chosen One’s relationship with the Dark Forest because this is the point in the story where the stakes are at their highest and where the Chosen One

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must fight the hardest. Here the journey forward may not be entirely clear, but the level of difficulty will be much more apparent. Essentially, it is in this section of your screenplay where your Chosen One will become fully committed to your story as it has evolved from the Invitation. Here character will force structure more than at any other point in your screenplay because they now know what they want.

4 Willing

Plate 4  Take Me Instead, by Millree Hughes.

Willing Chosen​Ones are the best of us. Selfless, brave and noble they are the first to charge headlong into the fray, are determined to fight injustice and intolerance wherever it may be and even find the time to help old ladies across the road. The intention of many of these stories, according to their creators, is that they should be grand narratives of ‘good’ versus ‘evil’, right versus wrong, chaos versus order, light versus dark with the Chosen One always on the side of truth, justice and hope for humanity. As a counterpoint to them, the antagonists or Big Bads, as we will call them here, that populate these narratives are often a literal threat to the very existence of our way of life. As representatives of two clashing ideologies they will come into conflict with one another frequently. Often wrong will triumph over right during the initial acts, until at the climax, our Chosen One is able to find the very thing which assures their victory and the world is returned to order. In Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Diana is an immortal Amazon warrior who must learn what it is to have the mantle of greatness thrust upon her. She is

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told early on when caught cheating in an athletics competition in the fictional island nation of Themiscyra, ‘No true hero is born from lies.’ This then sets the stage for the wider conflict of the piece between her and failing businessman Maxwell Lord, whose dishonesty it seems knows no bounds in his attempts to steal and control the Dreamstone around which the plot centres. It is hard to watch the piece without acknowledging the wider allegory of Trumpian politics that the narrative lambasts. Not only does Diana carry with her the Lasso of Truth but also the wider ideology of neoliberalism against the creep of nationalism and isolationism in the twenty-first century. Meanwhile, Blade Runner 2049 (2017) ruminates on the questions of free will and predetermination as it follows K, a replicant, or bio-engineered human, as he hunts down and ‘retires’ rogue replicants. The Big Bad Niander Wallace of the Wallace Corporation is the malevolent creator of these replicants in the dystopian future depicted in the film. He believes in the preordained future he sets out for his creations to fulfil and is angered should they disappoint him. However, Officer K showcases the power of casting aside such fatalistic beliefs and seizing the mantle of his own chosen destiny. Even those Chosen Ones who fall outside of these polar binaries of good and bad, who exist within greyer areas of morality, exhibit their own code which we may not agree with, but we at least understand on some level. Turn to the case study on You Were Never Really Here (2017) as a prime example of this. It is not always that the Chosen Ones’ character arcs have to take place in galaxies far far away or involve superhuman beings. Sometimes, the most dramatic arcs place these weighty ideological struggles upon the shoulders of those whose capes are invisible to all but the audience. Run (2020) follows a young, homeschooled, disabled girl called Chloe who is on the cusp of going to college. Finally, it seems that despite the obstacles she must overcome, she will be able to gain the independence she so desperately craves. However, she struggles against her controlling mother, Diane, who wants nothing more than for ‘her child’ to be dependent on her for everything from the schoolwork she completes to the food she eats. The battles that our Willing Chosen Ones fight may not be on a global scale, but they are battles that we, the viewer, care about and invest in. These

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personal stakes can frequently make for much more compelling narratives as they produce relatable and understandable stories. The cynical may call them simplistic narratives, but the savvy writer realizes the power of the Willing arc. These are the stories that we want to tell ourselves about who we are as a society, what we would do if faced with insurmountable odds and the people we want to believe that we are. They leave us with a warm glow as we watch the closing credits roll and allow us to be comforted in the knowledge that there are heroes out there when we need them if only we are willing to look for them.

Act I – This is not where I belong From the beginning of the Willing arc it is clear that our Chosen One is not meant to be a resident of this Once Upon a Time. They stand apart both from those who share the story with them and from the world around them more generally. However, they are stuck here due to the obligations that they have to it or within it. Their ‘aloneness’ is something that currently marks them as special but is not necessarily a trait that they enjoy. Although they might not always be outright resentful of it, they are hoping that one day they might be able to find where it is that they truly belong and where this special status is valued. Currently, though, because of this special status and their evident trappings of heroism they are not part of their community, are misunderstood within it or have removed themselves from it. There is a disunity to them which comes from this removal, and it either creates or compounds their conflicted nature. One of the more obvious examples of this comes from those superhero narratives, where our Chosen One lives a double life. This may be their secret identity which they are keeping from the world or is being repressed either by them or those around them. Diana Prince in Wonder Woman 1984 is both an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Museum and the immortal Amazon warrior from Themyscira. Determined to keep these two lives separate, she leaves the scene of the crime at the shopping mall after depositing the now tied-up criminals on top of a parked car outside. Even in her mortal guise she seems to

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pull away from all social contact and in the opening act she frequently chooses to be alone. In contrast to Diana, K in Blade Runner 2049 sits outside his Once Upon a Time because he is different to the human LAPD officers. He is a replicant Blade Runner who is tasked with ‘retiring’ older replicant models. As he walks into the police station one of the officers yells at him in the corridor for being a ‘skin job’, a slur which follows him to his apartment where he finds the same insult daubed on his front door. Importantly, from the beginning these Chosen Ones have an understanding of what the Dark Forest is and may have some knowledge of the shadows that lurk within. However, they currently do not think that they are able to do anything about its existence and passively accept that it is simply part of the wider world beyond the borders of their Once Upon a Time.

The Invitation – Take Me Instead This moment is one that our Willing Chosen Ones relish as it is the start of the adventure that they have been waiting to go on. It is an opportunity for them to begin to explore their special status and prove that their destiny is not one that finishes at the boundary of their Once Upon a Time. They are being given the chance to explore a world they have been yearning to discover, and they will grasp it with both hands. Unlike the Chosen Ones in other paradigms, there is little chance that the Willing Chosen One will decline their Invitation as they were either waiting to receive it or at least had some inkling that it was on the way. In some versions of this narrative, the Invitation might represent something they are required to deal with on a regular basis. The Invitation that kick-starts our story proper, however, will be a heightened version of this regular requirement which will throw them into a situation they have not experienced before. After all, this Invitation must be something that will sustain a narrative arc and therefore has to Interrupt the Identity of the Chosen One to make it a novel occurrence both for them and for the audience.

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Some of the most powerful Invitations are those that require our Chosen One to accept on behalf of another. They voluntarily answer the Invitation in order to replace a weaker or less able character who might perish in the Dark Forest that they would otherwise be thrust into. Both Mulan in Mulan (1998) and Katniss in The Hunger Games (2012) are prime examples of this. When Mulan’s ailing father is conscripted into the army, Mulan cuts her hair and pretends to be a young man in order to serve in the Imperial army in his place. When Katniss’s sister, Primrose, is selected to participate in the deadly Hunger Games, Katniss offers herself in her sister’s place. Both of these characters throw themselves in front of the Invitation to protect their family members from having to accept it. However, Take Me Instead Invitations do not always have to be about replacing another character who the Invitation was initially directed at. It can be that the Chosen One does directly receive the Invitation, and they confidently assert that they are the only ones able to solve this particular issue, or they wholeheartedly believe that this is something which has been explicitly placed within their way in order for them to prove or reveal their special status. Often, however, even these Invitations are laced with philanthropy. Natasha, in Black Widow (2021), for instance, answers the Invitation to track down the Red Room, a top-secret Soviet training programme to train elite assassins, at least in part in support of her ‘sister’, Yelena, who has sent her vials of antidote which can reverse the effects of the Red Room’s mind control program. A device often used by screenwriters engaged in this story arc is the ‘object of desire’ which the Chosen One finds or is given during the Invitation, which serves to push the narrative forward and/or strengthen the power of the Invitation. In Run, Chloe finds a pill bottle that forms the basis of the mystery that she is required to unravel in the Dark Forest in order to defeat her Big Bad. In The Hunger Games, Katniss is given a simple brooch that becomes a symbol for the resistance. In Wonder Woman 1984, the Dreamstone initiates the narrative and reinforces the themes of greed and philanthropy that run through the storyline. Mulan takes her father’s sword and armour in order to help her enter the male world that she will eventually triumph over.

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The use of the ‘object of desire’ can be effective in creating a visual symbol which will resonate with the Chosen One’s journey through the Dark Forest and be representative of the obstacles that they must overcome in order to succeed in their quest to eventually Burn the Forest. However the Invitation plays out, the Chosen One will willingly throw themselves into the Dark Forest and face the coming journey with confidence and determination. Their external journey is now to discover the evils that lurk within the forest and a weakness that they can exploit in order to defeat the Big Bad. The Big Bad will be the person/organization/entity that has created or runs the forest and the job of the Chosen One is to find the match which they will use to Burn the Forest down as they leave it. The match is an important component within Willing narratives. This will be the object or piece of information that the Chosen One will discover, create, steal or win in order to complete their mission in the Dark Forest. The match represents the methodology by which the Chosen One will be able to ultimately Burn the Forest. The journey through the Dark Forest, then, must achieve two things. First, the Chosen One must discover the true nature of the forest – its secrets and power, and second, the Chosen One must discover what they must do to destroy it.

Act II – Assembling the team The Dark Forest in the Willing story arc may well represent a new physical space for our Chosen One in which the narrative will be played out. This is generally true of the Willing Chosen One who replaces a weaker character who was the intended target of the Invitation. Often, like Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991), who is literally imprisoned by the Beast when she offers herself up as a prisoner instead of her father, or Katniss in The Hunger Games when she enters the game arena, they end up feeling trapped within this new physical environment. Whilst Belle is imprisoned within the walls of the Beast’s castle, Katniss is absorbed into the machinery and pageantry of the Hunger Games. These alien

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environments not only represent places of fear and danger for the Chosen Ones but also contain within them the solution to their own destruction. For Belle this is the enchanted rose, for Katniss it is the cameras trained upon her and the other tributes day and night. Sometimes the Willing Chosen One will remain physically within the arena of their Once Upon a Time, but their perception of it will have changed. They now understand that their Once Upon a Time has revealed its true nature to them as a Dark Forest and must change with it. They must assume the mantle of the Chosen One in order to negotiate this place which may look the same as the place from which they began but is fundamentally different. The Dark Forest comes to them. In Blade Runner 2049, K has to ‘retire’ a child replicant that he has been told to hunt down who it seems has been born. He mentions how this terrible order will be unique to him as he has never had to ‘retire’ something that has a soul or is at least part human. With Chloe in Run, she must navigate the house in which she lives without any assistance from her overbearing mother in order to discover the mystery behind the pill bottle she has found. This pushes her to the limits of her abilities and she also must hide her activities from Diane. Their response to the Invitation brings them on a collision course with the Big Bad. During this act, we therefore need to outline the Big Bad and gain a better understanding of their ideology and how it is at odds with our Chosen One. Furthermore, we have to establish the link between the Big Bad and why it is that they have a vested interest in the Dark Forest, in both its continuation and its growth. Although we are introduced to Maxwell Lord briefly in Act I of Wonder Woman 1984, he fully enters the narrative properly during this sequence as we understand that he is intent on stealing the Dreamstone. We also glimpse behind the facade of his successful exterior to understand the deception that is at the heart of his own conflicted nature and characterization. It transpires that he needs the Dreamstone as he believes that it is the only way that he is going to be able to save his failing company and the relationship that he has with his estranged son. A common trope of this story arc is the gathering together of a team or army to help defeat the Big Bad and Burn the Forest. This trope fulfils two

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purposes: first, to confirm the Chosen One in the belief that they are acting in the best interests of a wider constituency, and second to spur the Chosen One on along their path. As Katniss gains notoriety and becomes a figurehead for the insurrection, so she must shed any vestige of self-doubt if she is to overcome Panem and save the people who look to her for a brighter future. She is helped by others throughout her time in the Dark Forest, from Haymitch and Peeta to the massed fighting force of District 13 in the final outing of the franchise. Her journey takes her from brave underdog to figurehead. In her quest to find and overcome the Red Room, Natasha, in Black Widow, enlists the support of her surrogate family. Together, her ‘father’, ‘mother’ and ‘sister’ combine to create a force to be reckoned with and without whom Natasha would be unlikely to succeed. Belle is aided by Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast. Sarah gathers Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus around her in Labyrinth. Mulan is supported by Yao, Ling, Chien-Po and Shang. The important thing to remember here is that these characters are not to be confused with mentors (although, like Haymitch, they may start out that way). They are supporters or acolytes who exist to help our Chosen One reach the end of their journey. They may provide missing skills or information useful to the forward trajectory of the narrative but they do not lead, they follow. They follow because they recognize in the Willing Chosen One the bravery and heroism that is required to overcome the Big Bad and Burn the Forest.

Act III (Part 1) – We’re counting on you As the narrative of the Willing paradigm progresses, we see the Big Bad getting stronger. As a direct result of this, the Chosen One finds that the challenges that are being thrown their way are increasingly difficult for them to complete, the stakes rise, the chances of failure become more apparent and the investment, for the Chosen One, becomes increasingly more personal as they begin to invest in the destruction of the Dark Forest.

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It also becomes ever more apparent that the Chosen One is the only hope of defeating this Big Bad. They often find that they are literally carrying the fate of the world on their shoulders or are slowly realizing that this is the case. They are now more fully accepting that they are a representative of a cause that is much greater than them alone, just as the Big Bad starts to assimilate themselves into the opposite of their ideology. In addition, this is the part of the narrative where our Chosen Ones emotionally invest in their journey and in the team that they are gathering around them. This bond that they share will become increasingly important the deeper that they go into the Dark Forest. These relationships and the skills that the team possess will provide both emotional and practical support for our Chosen One in the most difficult of times that are to come.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? As we hit the middle of the Willing narrative, it is now clear that the Big Bad is at their strongest and is going to begin enacting whatever diabolical plan that they have been building towards since we first met them. Although the Chosen One has navigated the trials before this moment, they have managed to overcome them without too much trouble. However, now they find themselves having to face their most difficult challenge yet which will require them to fully emotionally invest in their journey. Furthermore, they will finally realize that this is indeed a test which is entirely unique to them and that they alone are going to be responsible for seeing it through to the end and will have to begin to alter their approach to the problem in order to solve it. More often than not they will be at their weakest here and will have to start to adapt. Their usual physical prowess, which they have been relying on since the beginning, will now be truly tested. With the Big Bad at their strongest it is also imperative that the Chosen One get this right on the first attempt as failure could literally mean death for them or, even worse, would mean that the struggle against the Big Bad would be a failure and evil would triumph.

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Finally, this is usually the moment within the narrative where an impressive, dramatic, visual set piece is staged, where emotions are heightened and where the world has been turned on its head. Audiences should truly be leaning forward in their seats at this moment of the narrative and be unable to tear themselves away from the screen.

Act III (Part 2) – An uphill struggle During this sequence within the Willing arc our Chosen Ones will have to evolve the skills that they have been acquiring and the Dark Forest they thought they knew so well will begin to change. They will now experience spaces that are entirely novel and/or unfamiliar to them. Even if their Once Upon a Time and Dark Forest arenas are one and the same, there will still be a corner of it where they have never been to or at least we have never seen them in there until now. Once they are in this space they finally understand the answer to the allimportant question of why it is that the forest needs to be burnt. Up until this point they would have been happy with simply defeating the Big Bad. However, they now know that this will not be enough and that they will have to completely destroy the space that they are in now (either literally or metaphorically) in order to save the day. In Run, Chloe awakens in the basement room of the house. This is a space that has been inaccessible to her before due to the stairs leading down to it. Here she learns the hurtful truth that she was successful in her university application after finding her acceptance letter thrown in the bin and discovers the dark secret that she was taken by Diane at birth after her own baby died. A key part of this sequence is that the Chosen One will either find the match or will finally realize its true potential/purpose and how they think that they will be able to use it to Burn the Forest.

Act IV – Answering a higher calling Although the Chosen One has been acting with selflessness and bravery throughout the narrative, this is the act when they truly have to showcase the

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growth that they have been through during their adventure in the Dark Forest. .

They must finally and wholeheartedly accept their destiny and give themselves over entirely to a higher calling, enacting the plan that will end with them Burning the Forest. Within this act they are frequently tasked with choosing between turning their back on the ideology that they have stood firm to defend throughout the piece or continuing to believe in it. They will have to summon up all of their strength to make this choice, as this act will be the greatest test of their resolve. It showcases their conflicted nature which has been building to this point. They can accept the warming embrace of fatalism, or they can sharpen themselves and their resolve against the harsh winds of destiny. This sequence and the choice they have to make within it will briefly throw them back to the isolation that they felt in the opening act of the narrative where they will once again have to stand apart from the team that they have been building during this arc in order to embrace the negative aspects of their special status as an outsider. For a brief moment, they will be returned to the state that we found them in during their Once Upon a Time that will be painful for them to come to terms with. However, they will grow beyond this experience and gain strength from confronting it so they can move onwards to the ending of the piece. In Blade Runner 2049, K finally understands the truth that he is not the replicant who was born and has actually just been manufactured like all the others. There is nothing ‘human’ or ‘special’ about him. In addition, K then has to further examine his psychology as he comes to learn that not only is he not ‘special’ but just another model of replicant, but he then learns that the name that Joi gave him which he believed was unique is actually just one that all Joi holograms give to their owners. However, during this sequence, K is able to piece together all of the clues which have led him to this moment and he is able to discover the true identity of the born replicant. His mission now becomes to liberate Rick Deckard and bring him to his daughter. Although K must come to terms with the fact that he is not to be the leader of any movement, he is still able to play his part to bring the revolution about. He still has free will that he embraces rather than fall back on predetermined

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fatalism. As Freysa has him understand when he is introduced to her, ‘Dying for the right cause is the most human thing we can do.’ With Run, Chloe is offered the opportunity to return to her Once Upon a Time by Diane who hopes that they might be able to forget all of the terrible things that have happened until this point and carry on as ‘normal’. However, Chloe refuses and confronts Diane with the horrific truth of her Munchausen by Proxy that has led to Chloe’s disability. She then escapes by locking herself into a small cupboard. Outside the cupboard, Diane is mixing up a frightening cocktail of chemicals that she is planning to inject into Chloe which will disable her further and make her more dependent. However, Chloe finds the organophosphate on the shelves next to her and drinks the toxic liquid herself whilst staring her mother in the eyes saying, ‘You need me.’ She chooses her own independence rather than the further dependence on her mother and reaches the understanding that she is the match in her own story.

The Last Throw of the Dice – Burn the Forest Simply giving themselves over to a cause that is greater than themselves is not enough for the Chosen One to Burn the Forest. Now our Chosen Ones need to ensure that this Dark Forest is a space that will not endure once they have left it and they need to raze it to the ground. They typically do this by proving that the ideology that they represent as the Chosen One is a better way of being that the one that the Big Bad showcases. Ultimately, this is the section of the narrative where your Chosen One saves the world and proves their special status within it. Something that they have been destined to do since we have first met them. To do this they must fulfil the following criteria during this sequence of the narrative: WHAT – They have to fully understand how it is that the match works. HOW – They strike the match. WHY – They come to the understanding that for evil to triumph all it takes is for good (wo)men to do nothing.

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WHERE – With the Big Bad defeated, the Chosen One is able to finally prove that they or the ideology that they represent are better and more noble than the Big Bad.

Act V – And from the ashes With the Dark Forest burnt, the Chosen One returns to their Once Upon a Time or at least a manifestation of it. In completing this task they rise like the phoenix from the flames and are able to outline to the rest of the world the reason that they were so special all along. After they have saved the world in the previous sequence, the scope of the piece becomes narrower and they are allowed an intimate moment either with those who are closest to them or alone with us in the audience. During this quiet scene, or series of scenes, they are able to celebrate their victory and come to terms with what this adventure has meant to them personally. With their ideological battles won they are now offered a chance to contemplate and reflect. Often this will see the larger ideas within the wider struggle of the narrative brought right down to an individual level so that we are able to engage with the spiritual transformation that the Chosen One has experienced. This is also an important part of the Willing narrative tonally as it allows for an effective juxtaposition with the loud and high octane sequence which has just occurred and allows the audience to leave the piece understanding the greater context of the themes and ideas contained within.

Exercises The Willing Chosen One needs to be heroic, charismatic and willing to take action in order to achieve their goal – or at least these traits need to be in there somewhere and just waiting to come out. The following exercises will help you to focus on those elements that will create a convincing and effective Willing Chosen One.

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What are the competing ideologies in your narrative? Willing Chosen Ones aren’t just representing themselves when they are up there on our screen. Frequently, they are a stand-in for something that is much greater than their individual struggles. The same is true for the Big Bad that opposes them. For this exercise you need to delve deeper into their respective ideologies and identify ideological struggles that are polar opposites of one another in order to showcase the greatest external conflict(s) that you can. Create a short research document of no more than a page which outlines the ideologies that your Chosen One and Big Bad represent. This will not just help you gain a superior understanding of what they believe but will also go some of the way to begin exploring their conflicted natures. Motivations and actions of these two characters should always be informed by these ideologies so keep referring to these during your writing should you be struggling with your next plot point.

Who are the team that your Chosen One gathers around them, and how do their skills compliment your Chosen One? Not all Willing narrative arcs involve a team but many do. Sometimes that team is small, sometimes large, but gathering a like-minded group of acolytes around your Chosen One can really help to solidify the philosophy of the righteous characters in your story and prepare for the Burning of the Forest at the end of the story. The team that our Chosen One finds within the Dark Forest is paramount to their success. Not only do they assist them in overcoming whatever challenges they may encounter on their adventure but also become a surrogate (or actual) family to the Chosen One. Develop short biographies for each member of the team. Importantly, these should include an account of what skills they bring to the party and how they are useful/complementary to those that your Chosen One possesses. For those of you who are familiar with the roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons (if you are a fantasy writer you need to be) you might find it interesting to make

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character sheets for your team with values for their various physical, mental, psychological and spiritual traits.

Plot out the potential big set pieces of your narrative Willing narratives tend to include the most spectacular and visually impressive set piece sequences. Create five short descriptions for potential big set pieces that could be contained within your narrative. You could either write these or record yourself talking through the sequences. These could be exactingly choreographed car chases or death-defying stunt sequences. However, moments like this can feel entirely interchangeable with set pieces from other narratives if you are not making them relevant to your particular Chosen One. Chloe’s crawl across the rooftop in Run feels unique to her situation and showcases her determination, resilience and resourcefulness. The opening chase sequence in Casino Royale (2006) pits Bond against an agile freerunner who he needs to catch. Just as the narrative of the film sees Bond unflinchingly spar with the uncompromising Le Chiffre as he attempts to place him into a position where he must do a deal with MI6, rather than go around obstacles Bond goes through them showing his direct approach to solving problems and a relentless desire to get the job done even at the expense of protocol and his own personal safety.

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5 Accidental

Plate 5  Down the Rabbit Hole, by Millree Hughes.

The Accidental ​Chosen One is the least likely to be made from heroic stuff. Often these characters are frightened, vulnerable and naive when we are first introduced to them. This vulnerability and naïveté may manifest itself differently in the way their conflicted nature is keeping them locked within their Once Upon a Time that they are dependent upon. Like Arlo in The Good Dinosaur (2015), who is swept away from the home that he knows and loves by a flash flood, they could be timid, shy and terrified of the world outside the immediate one that they know. However, they could come across as brash and confident, like Phil Connors in Groundhog Day (1993) who finds himself living the same day over and over again, but within they will be flawed and vulnerable. Either way, they would never respond to an Invitation in a meaningful way because they initially have no desire to venture into the Dark Forest. After falling Down the Rabbit Hole, the Accidental Chosen One has only one desire during their narrative which is to return home to their Once Upon a Time. It is a powerful and primal inclination that can be easily digested by an audience no matter where they hail from. Our Chosen One has been

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taken from a place of security and safety and now must venture through the shadows of the Dark Forest to return to the comforting embrace from which they were removed. Other elements of story may cross their route back which challenge them further, and they may be sent to zigzag from place to place, but ultimately every decision that they make must be part of a broader intention to find their way home. When considering this paradigm it is hard not to make reference to The Wizard of Oz (1939), which is possibly the greatest representation of an Accidental Chosen One. Dorothy’s story of navigating Oz to return to Kansas is almost beat for beat the most solid example of this narrative, but this is an overly familiar narrative and in an attempt to avoid the potential for cliché and repetition we will not dwell on it too closely. However, if you want to write an Accidental arc you should make sure that the film is high up on your watchlist when compiling your research.

Act I – Home is where the heart is Home is an important and prevalent theme within the Accidental narrative. During the opening act the Chosen One needs to be clearly established as reliant on the home that they have created within their Once Upon a Time. This is a warm and safe space (when compared to the Dark Forest) that the Chosen One sees no need to grow beyond or doesn’t believe that they should leave. In The Lovebirds (2020), Liliani and Jibrani find themselves thrust into a threatening world of murder and blackmail when they are falsely accused of a hit and run. Whilst the film begins with a blissful meet-cute moment between them, four years later, the early promise of their relationship doesn’t seem to be playing out as expected when we meet a couple constantly at odds with one another. In an early scene, they discuss how terrible they would be in American reality TV adventure series The Amazing Race, encouraging the viewer to think of them as naive and not self-sufficient enough to survive such a challenge. Here, they come across as a neurotic millennial couple who are too wrapped up in work, their social media presence and comparisons with their friendship group to see what is good about their life together.

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Meek and mild Sarah in Horse Girl (2020) is a prototypical Accidental Chosen One who would never respond positively to an Invitation but finds herself suddenly facing a series of bizarre and unexplained events forcing her to believe that she is the victim of an alien abduction. At the start of the film, Sarah is a sweet, innocent assistant at a craft store. She is almost an embodiment of one of the more famous Accidental Chosen Ones, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, as she falls Down the Rabbit Hole and the lines between her dreams and reality become increasingly blurred. Once her mental state unravels the comparisons are only heightened. Before the Accidental Invitation is forced upon her, Sarah exists in a home where she is at least stable and happy, going through the same routine day after day. Despite the challenges that her mental disequilibrium brings, she is at least able to function within her Once Upon a Time. During this opening sequence the Chosen One’s conflicted nature is seen as a ‘weakness’ which is holding them back. However, there is no need for them to address growing beyond it as currently their Once Upon a Time has developed into a space where this weakness is catered for, it has been an accepted part of their character, or they are able to effectively hide it. As the narrative progresses, though, the weakness our Chosen One possesses is frequently revealed to have been a strength all along. There is an inherent satisfaction to this arc as it leads to an ironic realization for our Chosen One that the power to return was inside them from the beginning, they just had to go through their experience in the Dark Forest to realize it. With A Quiet Place (2018) the narrative starts out well over a year into its conceit where monsters have landed on Earth who are attracted to sounds. We follow the Abbots, a family that are adept at surviving in this world and have seemingly been able to navigate anything which has been thrown at them so far. Although we do not see it in the opening sequence, they have established a home that is safe and purposefully built to assist them in combating the threat that the monsters pose. However, they are currently powerless to face down the monsters and even the smallest sound could mean the end of them as is demonstrated at the Invitation. Despite their seemingly helpless situation there is a hidden strength in Regan’s deafness which not only has allowed the family to survive this long

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(they are adept at communicating without speaking), it will ultimately be the thing which will assist them during the Return so that they can once again be within a safe(r) home.

The Invitation – Down the Rabbit Hole The Accidental Chosen One does not receive a traditional Invitation per se. Typically, the moment which transports them from Once Upon a Time to the Dark Forest comes from a force which is entirely outside of their control. These Chosen Ones are not inclined to adventure or heroism so there has to be a significant event that either pushes or pulls them into the Dark Forest. This experience for them is often traumatic as they are violently and suddenly ripped from their Once Upon a Time and flung headfirst into the Dark Forest. Manifestations of these may be various acts of God, a fall from a great height or a freak accident. Whatever the event is that brings about the separation of the Chosen One from their Once Upon a Time, it is generally sudden, unexpected and seemingly irrevocable. In the Korean zombie apocalypse film #Alive (2020) our Chosen One, Joonwoo, is trapped alone in his apartment as hordes of the infected are literally just outside the door. He is presented to us as completely ill-equipped to deal with the world. The outbreak forces him to go through an all-important rite of passage which has him grow up and begin to take greater responsibility for his actions. A Quiet Place has one of the more terrifying and barbarous Invitations. Beau, the youngest member of the Abbott family, activates the toy spaceship that he found in a store. The noise alerts one of the monsters, and it kills him. This Invitation creates a narrative that is just as much about a family healing after a tragedy as it is about surviving in a world where every sound you make could be your last. When conversation about anything is dangerous, the family are unable to fully process their guilt and trauma over the loss of Beau and all have allowed their guilt to fester and grow within them. Their Dark Forest will be both an external and an internal journey which they need to complete.

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Distracted by the fact that they have come to the decision that their relationship has run its course, Liliani and Jibrani in The Lovebirds accidentally knock a man off his bike who then flees in terror. They are then carjacked by a corrupt police officer who chases the cyclist and runs him down, reversing over him several times for good measure. Liliani and Jibrani then manage to escape the situation with the bike messenger’s phone, but everything points to them as being the murderers. They then fall into a wrong-couple thriller with a comedic bent, thinking that they have to prove their innocence whilst at the same time reconnecting with one another. No matter how they arrive, they are now at the bottom of a rabbit hole that represents everything that terrifies them. A hole that they must spend the remainder of the narrative trying to climb out of.

Act II – We’re not in Kansas anymore The suddenness of their departure from their Once Upon a Time causes the Chosen One a great deal of distress, and they will often spend some time mourning the experience of being ripped from their home. As it is with all of the other paradigms this will be a new physical space for our Chosen One. They are often thrust into a Dark Forest that is entirely hostile to them and far removed from anything that the Chosen One has ever experienced. Typically this is a space that our Chosen One believes themselves completely ill-equipped to deal with. They may be terrified, confused, lost or angry but the key to the narrative is that this place brings out feelings in them that they would much rather not experience. They hanker for the safety and security of their Once Upon a Time and this Dark Forest must seem just about as far away from this safety and security as it is possible to be. Some of the most successful Accidental arcs have their Dark Forests as literal manifestations of the Chosen One’s conflicted nature. Guns Akimbo (2019) sees lovesick video game developer Miles thrown into a real-life, live-streamed death match. Happy to troll viewers of Skizm from

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behind his keyboard in his Once Upon a Time when Miles wakes up with a pair of pistols bolted to his hands he discovers that he is now forced into participating in the carnage. Pieces of a Woman has Martha and Sean try to navigate life when their child dies shortly after being born. Life in their Once Upon a Time has been constructed around welcoming their new arrival and when the worst happens the subtle cracks in the home that they have built together are widened. In Jaws (1975) Chief Brody must venture out onto the water to confront the man-eating beast which threatens the town. Brody is a man who is terrified of the shallows in his Once Upon a Time due to nearly drowning as a child, but in order to make the citizens of Amity Island feel safe again he must go into the Dark Forest so he can Return the world to how it should be. However, once they overcome the initial shock of their separation our Chosen One typically recognizes a beacon faintly in the distance which points them in the direction of home. This can come in many forms, but usually it is a set of instructions which should they complete will have them Return to their Once Upon a Time. For those narratives where the ultimate goal of the Chosen One is survival (A Quiet Place and #Alive) these instructions are what they are required to do in order to navigate this terrifying new space and keep themselves breathing in and out. In addition, during this act our Chosen One may gather others around them who have a similar goal to theirs which takes them towards this beacon. It may be that our Chosen One came Down the Rabbit Hole with these other individuals or that they find them once they arrive. For the Accidental Chosen One these fellow travellers towards home have their own distinctive conflicted natures that the Chosen One will assist in overcoming as they journey through the Dark Forest. They, too, often find the latent abilities inside of them that will assist the team in finding how to Return to our Chosen One’s Once Upon a Time. In a similar way to our Chosen One, these skills may run contrary to their initial assumed identity and may even complete their own (smaller) rite of passage which is part of solving the puzzle of how they will Return.

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Act III (Part 1) – But who are you? Much the same as the question that the Caterpillar puts to Alice in Alice in Wonderland this act is all about your Chosen One deciding what they would answer if they were asked it. They are aware that they are not quite themselves anymore after falling Down the Rabbit Hole, but they are also certain that they are not yet anyone else. At this point in the narrative they would in fact be right on both accounts as they are starting to explore this new identity but have not yet understood it fully. As they venture deeper into the Dark Forest and slowly begin to complete the instructions that they believe will assure their Return, they begin to experiment with this emerging version of themselves. However, they will either underestimate or overestimate the power of the Dark Forest and stumble their way into more trouble. They will eventually triumph against the obstacles that are thrown at them and use these opportunities to discover more and more about themselves. They will gain confidence with each external victory, and these experiences will reinforce the idea that this identity that they are assuming is putting them on the right track. It is through these moments that they will learn more about how they might be able to Return to their Once Upon a Time and will also emotionally invest in those that they are journeying with. In Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), a mismatched group of teens enter the world of a magical video game. The group of adventurers need to work together as they follow the first part of the riddle where they must ‘Trust each other and never blink.’ Tellingly, after solving the puzzle here the Big Bad who is chasing the team descends on the bazaar and confronts them about their mission. Spencer/Dr Bravestone then responds, ‘We just want to go home.’ Also, during this act the relationship between the teenagers who are trapped in the bodies of the video game avatars is explored with each of them able to share their insecurities and expose their conflicted natures to one another. In Pieces of a Woman (2020), following the tragic death of their newborn baby, parents Martha and Sean become increasingly distant in this act. They

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both retreat into themselves and deal with their profound trauma in different ways putting them on diverging paths as they navigate their shared Dark Forest. Sean, it appears, wants ‘justice’ against the midwife. He is angry and looking to find appropriate blame. Everywhere he goes there is only death and destruction and he spirals into alcoholism and dark depression. Meanwhile, Martha wants some good to come from her loss and seeks to bring life to others by donating her tiny child’s organs for medical research against the wishes of her mother and Sean. Then with the ever-pervasive motif of the apple that seems to be in her hands throughout the narrative, she gets the idea of germinating some seedlings which will develop and grow into the film’s final image showcasing her growth as she finally returns to the version of the Once Upon a Time her character deserves.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – This has to be the way During the midpoint of an Accidental narrative two important things happen for our Chosen One: First, they believe that they have uncovered the thing that will allow them to leave the Dark Forest. However, this is their EASY PLAN and although it may bring them closer to the Return it will not be the thing that will ultimately bring about their exit. They are yet to go through their rite of passage that will be deeper within the Dark Forest. Second, they gain an understanding of what it could be like for them if they were to end up lost within the Dark Forest forever. In this our Chosen One is exposed to what they can expect should they not be able to complete their rite of passage and they often experience an echo of their previous self within this moment. In Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, our group of adventurers find Jefferson ‘Seaplane’ McDonough/Alex Vreeke, who has been trapped in the video game cartridge for quite some time. During this sequence they think that in finding Seaplane they have discovered their way out, but they soon learn that he is only part of the Return and is assimilated into the team so that they can continue with their quest.

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They see Seaplane’s shelter that he has populated with the various comforts that he has found in Jumanji. He has adapted to the Dark Forest and has been absorbed into it. When they find him he is running from his rite of passage that he needs to complete in order to Return because he only has one life remaining in the game. They are also shown writing etched onto the structure that says, ‘Alan Parrish was here’, which Seaplane explains was the name of the person who built the house. A nod to the previous film in the franchise, a Chosen One who did escape the Dark Forest and the actor who they acknowledge that they are standing on the shoulders of. In #Alive, Joon-woo ventures out of his flat for the first time to find provisions when he is attacked by one of the infected. He has no choice if he is going to be able to find resources to continue to survive. Venturing further into the Dark Forest is the only way he will be able to find a way to Return to his Once Upon a Time, he therefore steps up his efforts to discover the way to Return through putting himself in danger. With Pieces of a Woman we are shown what the relationship between Martha and Sean would be like should they continue down this self-destructive road filled with blame, anger and shame. The pair have been unfaithful to one another, their flat has been neglected seemingly for some time and Sean has been missing for three weeks only to be physically and emotionally abusive to Martha when he comes back. This is their EASY PLAN, they will simply endure and mask their pain at the loss they have experienced and continue to live in separate worlds.

Act III (Part 2) – A bumpy road ahead Now, our Chosen One embarks upon their effort to complete the EASY PLAN that they have decided to follow during the Hourglass moment. Although this plan might take them closer towards the Return it will also bring about disaster in some shape or form which the Chosen One will have to navigate. After this, they will have a short reprieve from their relentless journey forward towards home so that they might resolve some of the subplots that they have started before finally pivoting back to the Return.

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In exploring these subplots to their conclusion the Chosen One is able to further bond with those who they have navigated the Dark Forest with. As they have spent so much time with one another they will be comfortable with truly expressing themselves emotionally. In Horse Girl, Sarah’s breakdown finally reaches its peak as time and space seemingly collapse for her. After what appears to have been a successful date with a guy that she likes, she thinks that his passing remarks about believing in conspiracy theories give credibility to her delusions. She then takes him to a graveyard where she confesses to believing that she is a clone that scares him away and begins a tragic spiral for her. Sarah’s roommate then finds her back at their apartment where she is in the midst of a manic episode that culminates in her seemingly coming to after arriving at work naked. Sitting in the office at the back of the store Sarah confesses to her friend and co-worker Joan that she is worried that what she is experiencing will never stop. Finally, she is taken to a mental health facility where it is hoped that she will get the help she needs. With Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the gang steals the helicopter from inside the shed where it is currently guarded. Seaplane/Alex comes to realize that he has been in the game much longer than he first believed after the group are exposed to his 1990s cultural references and Spencer/Dr Bravestone and Martha/Ruby Roundhouse continue to flirt as their attraction to each other grows, eventually kissing one another for the first time as the act reaches its conclusion. After their victory flying through the chasm with the helicopter, Seaplane/Alex is bitten by a mosquito that is his avatar’s weakness. With only one life left it falls to Bethany Walker/Professor Sheldon Oberon to save him.

Act IV – The road home Our Chosen One now believes that everything is in place for them to Return to their Once Upon a Time. They have fulfilled most of the criteria that was laid out to them in Act II and are about to go on the final push towards their Last Throw of the Dice moment where they will finally get to complete their rite of passage. They are on the cusp of something profound, but they will need to summon up all of the strength they have in order to face their greatest

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challenge to date which will require them to showcase all that they have learnt during their journey in the Dark Forest. Before this, though, they will often have a moment of reflection with those who have journeyed with them. It is here where recounting the tales of the previous exploits and sharing something about how this experience has made them examine their psychology that they are able to dig deeper and understand the part of them that has been holding them back and finally acknowledge that there is life beyond their conflicted nature. During this sequence it may be that the members of the team who have come this far will also have their time to examine their own psychology. After the Chosen One has seen how their own conflicted nature is holding them back, they are able to help others reach a greater stage of self-actualization. In Happy Death Day (2017), Christopher Landon’s homage to Groundhog Day, Chosen One Tree, a university student, finds herself living her own brutal murder again and again. In the diner scene she opens up about her mother and the fractured relationship that she has with her father. Here, she finally understands the message which runs through all Groundhog Day narratives when she says, ‘You know, it’s funny you relive the same day over and over again you start to see who you really are.’ This revelation coupled with a greater understanding of who the killer might be propels her into what she hopes will be her final day in the time loop and she is able to assist the other characters who she has found on her journey to go through their own rites of passage which will allow them to be free of their own conflicted natures. At the mental health facility in Horse Girl, Sarah has a meeting with her social worker, Ethan, who reveals that they have met before despite her insisting otherwise. During their consultation, Sarah is able to finally unburden herself of her anxieties about her mental state and how she has evidently not fully processed the trauma of her mother’s suicide. We are then offered one of the more surreal sequences in the film, where Sarah watches herself escape from the facility and go on a voyage through the various spaces we have seen her in since the beginning of the narrative in a vision quest of sorts. Her psychology truly unravels as she tries to process what has been happening to her since she fell Down the Rabbit Hole and fashions a unique outfit which makes her appear almost as if she is an alien being.

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However, simply acknowledging their conflicted nature is not enough to have our Chosen One’s Return. They must fully confront it and truly defeat it in order to emerge from the other side of their rite of passage so that they are able to once again see their Once Upon a Time.

The Last Throw of the Dice – The Return This moment is where our Chosen One is finally able to summon up the strength that they need to complete their rite of passage and comes to the understanding that they have had the power inside them all along to Return to their Once Upon a Time. In order to complete this sequence they have to do the following things: HOW – They pull back the curtain and . . . WHAT – They are no longer scared of the Dark Forest as they have mastered this new world. WHY – They overcome their conflicted nature and go through their rite of passage which is linked to this. WHERE – They return to their Once Upon a Time with proof of their journey as a ‘better’ version of who they were when they left. For Tree in Happy Death Day, this sequence is where she is able to attend the meal with her father on the birthday that she shared with her deceased mother. At the table she is able to admit her vulnerabilities and expose the truth about the hurt she feels because of her passing. In purging herself of this she has completed her rite of passage and is able to move on to completing the external journey of finding the killer which will break the time loop she is caught in. However, to fulfil the conventions of the genre, there is a false ending before the ‘true one’. With the curse lifted in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle the intrepid adventurers now just need to Return home. They have used all of the skills that they have learned throughout their experience in the Dark Forest and are able to complete the final challenge which is part of the riddle.

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However, Spencer worries that in returning that he won’t be able to be like his avatar, Dr Bravestone, and the new feelings of confidence and strength that he gained from going through his rite of passage will be lost once he returns to his Once Upon a Time. However, Ruby Roundhouse reassures him, ‘Then, let’s be like this everyday. Just come home.’ He then accepts Nigel’s handshake and is transported back to his Once Upon a Time.

Act V – Hi honey, I’m home The Chosen One is now back within their Once Upon a Time and can feel the warming embrace of the place that they call home. Although it may be virtually the same space as when they left it (barring a few cosmetic changes), they have brought some evidence of their journey to prove that it mattered to them. It is important that this arena has not changed too much so that the Chosen One is able to showcase their growth against a backdrop which is familiar and thus will heighten the growth that they have gone through. There are exceptions to this where a sequel is on the horizon, such as Back to the Future. Around them will be well-wishers who are relieved that they have come back in one piece as they potentially feared for their safety whilst they were away in the Dark Forest. However, they will also be surprised by the change that they have gone through as they are not the same person who left during the Invitation. What can be very effective in this space within a narrative is if our Chosen One (or any of those who have adventured with them during this story) is able to look back on a character who has remained in the Once Upon a Time and observe with disdain, bemusement or even pity their unchanged conflicted nature. Our Chosen One now stands on their own two feet and performs one last action or series of actions which showcase that they are able to influence their Once Upon a Time in meaningful ways and that this new version of them who emerged from the Dark Forest is here to stay.

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In Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle the group are now returned to their original (teenage) bodies and after a brief moment of celebration head to Alex’s house. They see that it is not the depressing place that it was in Act I and the now grown-up Alex has a family and children of his own having emerged from the game back when he first entered it. The group understand the profound impact they have had on their Once Upon a Time and are looking at the proof that their journey mattered. Returning to school, the gang showcases their growth by continuing to hang out together and cast aside representations of their old conflicted natures. In Pieces of a Woman, Martha is able to speak her truth at the trial of the midwife who oversaw her homebirth. In doing so she understands that the Return for her was tied to her rite of passage, where she is able to come to terms with what happened that night by looking at the unproduced pictures of her child and understanding that she cannot give this pain that she feels to anyone else. Heading back to her home, Martha then checks on the seedlings in her fridge. They have begun to germinate. New life, it seems, is sprouting. Later, she is able to scatter the ashes of her child leaning over the bridge which is finally completed. Finally, we see a little girl climbing a large apple tree which sits amongst others in a grand orchard before Martha’s voice coaxes her out and to come for dinner. She finally has the home she desired and proof that her journey has had an impact on her. With Happy Death Day, Tree is able to spiritually transform into the new person that she has been cultivating since first challenged to grow as she entered into the time loop during the Invitation. She is able to watch the footage of one of her sorority sisters on the TV in the diner and look on with disdain which showcases how far she has come since we met her at the beginning of the narrative.

Exercises Your Accidental Chosen One is going to be a fish out of water, so these exercises are intended to focus your thoughts on the environments that your

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Chosen One inhabits during the course of your narrative and the effect that those different places have upon them.

What is home to your Chosen One, and how does this manifest within their Once Upon a Time? Using anything that is not the written word (sketching, painting, photography, collage) to showcase what home means to your Chosen One and how it is that they fit into this space. If you are at an advanced stage of understanding who your Chosen One is you also might want to include clues as to how the current situation that they are in is actually one that they must grow beyond and the rite of passage that they must go through which is only just over the horizon. You can either keep this close as you write to refer back to, or if you have a critical friend who you trust with ideas at this infant stage present this to them as a one-slide pitch to see what they think of the Once Upon a Time you have established for your Chosen One.

What is at the bottom of the rabbit hole for your Chosen One? We know that it’s going to be a dark and scary place for them but what exactly does your Chosen One see at the bottom of their rabbit hole when they get there? Often it will be that after landing with a significant bump your Chosen One will have their eyes flutter open and will need to take some time to adjust to their new surroundings. What do they see when they first are able to focus? Strange smell? Odd sounds? Weird textures? Write a short scene with no dialogue that allows us to understand what rock bottom truly looks like for your Chosen One. Remember that character is structure, so don’t make this a generic space. How is it representative of your Chosen One’s worst nightmare and a representation of their conflicted nature?

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For those looking to challenge themselves further try and give an indication as to how your Chosen One feels about the situation that they find themselves in.

What would happen to your Chosen One if they were stuck in this Dark Forest? During this sequence your Chosen One will often feel the enormity of the journey that they are on and may feel marooned. We all know that the best way to make contact with the outside world from a desert island is to write a message in a bottle. Remember that there won’t be much space and words will be precious on that scrap of paper so don’t waste them. What are the things that your Chosen One most wants to say to those who might find their message? Will there be regrets, or have they discovered the person that they most want to be and are determined to find a way off the island? Try and write the note in the voice of your Chosen One. What is it that they might misspell? Have they got a specific cadence to their sentences? Who is it that they hope might find the message?

6 Unable (to Believe)

Plate 6  Become a Swan, by Millree Hughes.

Change is the​ catalyst for all great story arcs and in each of the paradigms that are within this book you will find a Chosen One who goes through a lifealtering experience that will see them emerge from the Dark Forest completely changed. However, with the other arcs there is often a greater struggle external to them that is the overriding motivation for the plot: Willing Chosen Ones find that they must Burn the Forest. Accidental Chosen Ones want nothing more than to Return to their Once Upon a Time. Unknowing Chosen Ones need to undo the deal which brought them into the forest. Mistaken Chosen Ones discover that It’s Too Late and must remain in the forest. For the Unable (to Believe) Chosen One it is their transformation which is the overriding purpose behind the story that you are telling. They begin believing that they are an ugly duckling, but reveal to us that they have been a swan all along after journeying into a Dark Forest that they don’t want to enter,

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and, once there, don’t want to leave but have to in order to continue their experience as a swan. Traversing this space with them is their mentor/tormentor who will come to be a key component in the Unable (to Believe) arc. In the opening act these Chosen Ones are unable to see the greatness within themselves. However, their mentor/tormentor recognizes that, given the right opportunities, the Chosen One could become an individual who would have the power to not only change themselves but also transform their Once Upon a Time. These narratives are often ones that work well for biopics, quests, coming of age, underdog and origin stories as these all fit with the themes, ideas and tropes that are most common within this particular arc.

Act I – The ugly duckling When we first meet our Chosen One they have the overwhelming belief that they are an ugly duckling. However, they evidently possess something magical within them that marks them out as special; it is just that they are unable to see it or have not found the right conditions in which they are able to express it. There is a uniqueness to them that is destined to bring about something profound. They just need the time and mentorship so that they are able to realize their potential. In the opening act our Chosen One is often uncertain what to do with this special skill or unique point of view, and this will manifest itself in negative and potentially self-destructive traits which will enhance their conflicted nature. They feel angry and/or disillusioned with their Once Upon a Time because of their ugly duckling status and despite the insistence of those around them cannot see that there is something inside them that, if they only overcame their own negative ideas about themselves, they would be able to see. In Lady Bird (2017), Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson is an awkward and combative teen who wants to escape her life in Sacramento and attend a prestigious college in ‘a city with culture’. She saves the worst of her outbursts for her mother and mentor, Marion, with whom she has a strained relationship.

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) follows Greg, Earl and Rachel as they negotiate their final year of high school. Greg Gaines wants nothing more than to be left alone as he navigates the terrifying world of his senior year. He refuses to form lasting connections with anyone and even calls Earl, his best friend, his ‘co-worker’. Keeping people at arm’s length has been a great defence mechanism for Greg as it means that he does not have to become emotionally attached to anyone, something which he is irrationally conflicted about and is preventing him from revealing his true nature as a swan. This emotional attachment will come from his interactions with Rachel, the girl from down the street who has been diagnosed with leukaemia, in Greg’s Dark Forest.

The mentor/tormentor Although there are mentors and tormentors in other paradigms they do not play such a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of the narrative as they do in the Unable (to Believe) arc. These characters are themselves on a journey of sorts where they are coming to terms with this new role that they have been thrust into: to guide the Chosen One through the Dark Forest. More often than not these characters were previously Chosen Ones themselves and have been on the same or similar journey that the Chosen One is embarking on. They are therefore able to not just offer their perspective on the trials which await within the Dark Forest and how they are to be overcome but also give an idea of what the world will look like once the adventure in the Dark Forest is completed. It is how these mentors/tormentors react to these new challenges which are specific to their new role that will determine the shape their mentorship will take and ultimately the way in which the Chosen One will transition during their journey within the Dark Forest. They understand the process that a Chosen One has to go through in order to reach the end of the narrative trajectory that they are on. They know that the journey must take them to uncomfortable and vulnerable places and that they will need to navigate physical, emotional, psychological and finally spiritual transformation in order to see lasting and meaningful change in themselves.

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Mentors are the benevolent, kind and just version of the trope. They are frequently sage and wizened. No longer able (or desiring) to be the Chosen One they slip comfortably into the role that has been prescribed to them and discover that they are actually very good at it. Although it may be that their advice will come out in riddles, tasks or puzzles, there is always a consistent and fair framework behind their teachings which will be revealed when the time is right and the Chosen One will fully understand the lessons that they have learned. Ultimately, the mentor always has the best interests of the Chosen One at heart and simply wishes for them to understand that they have been a swan all along. However, they understand that this is a revelation that they will need to discover for themselves. Famous mentor figures include Mr Miyagi from The Karate Kid (1984), Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003), Mufasa from The Lion King (1994) and Genie from Aladdin (1992). However, in an interesting twist on the trope our mentors can also be younger than the Chosen One, less jaded and full of enthusiasm. This is a useful mentor figure to pair with a Chosen One who is currently old, cynical and stuck in their ways. An example of this trope being used effectively can be seen in The Fundamentals of Caring (2016), where Chosen One Ben has recently become a carer for Trevor. During an impromptu road trip that the pair of them take, Trevor becomes the mentor figure to the older Ben showing him that there is real value in friendship and finding hope in the world. In the alternative version of this story arc, the tormentor is a much harder taskmaster than the mentor. Their techniques are far more brutal, erratic and direct. Although not always true they frequently seem to derive pleasure in torturing the Chosen One apparently for the sake of it. Their authoritarian teaching methods cause the Chosen One a huge amount of distress and discomfort often pushing them to the point that they feel that they can no longer continue on their journey. This version of the arc borrows some elements from the Mistaken arc in that the relationship between Chosen One and tormentor is a toxic and tonally dark one. These are often intense and combative relationships that are destructive to both parties. Unlike the Mistaken arc, though, there is certainly a way out of the Dark Forest, and it often comes in the transformation of both Chosen One and tormentor.

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Infamous tormentors include Terence Fletcher from Whiplash (2014) and LaVona Golden from I, Tonya (2017), who will be discussed in this chapter.

The Invitation – Become a Swan More often than not the Invitation will be directly delivered by the Chosen One’s mentor or tormentor (or one of their surrogates). Wrapped up within the mechanics of this moment it is clear that the mentor/tormentor is directly challenging the Chosen One to Become a Swan. Often the Unable (to Believe) Chosen One exhibits the strongest rejection of all the paradigms as they are the most lacking in self-confidence and will initially remove themselves from the situation to consider their response to it. However, they will finally accept the Invitation because they are briefly shown what their life could be like as a swan. They decide that going on the journey they are about to experience is worth the risk if there is a chance that it will change their lives for the better. However, they are still riven with self-doubt. That brief vision of their lives as a swan may not have been real; it is simply enough for them to at least begin to attempt their transformation. Currently, it might appear that the mentor/tormentor has cast some sort of magic spell (either real or imagined) which allows our Chosen One to see slightly beyond their conflicted nature. This spell has a ticking clock attached to it which will expire at the most dramatically satisfying moment for the audience and plunge our Chosen One into feeling like an ugly duckling all over again, now with the knowledge of what it is like to be a swan. However, for the moment the Chosen One is set off on a journey where they will reluctantly begin their transition to Become a Swan. At each and every stage their mentor/tormentor will be constantly pushing, pulling, cajoling, bribing or motivating them to keep moving forward towards a sequence which will allow them to Reveal that they have been a swan all along. In The King’s Speech, mentor Lionel Logue assists Bertie (soon to be King George VI) to overcome his stammering, which has plagued him since he was a child. When Bertie first comes to Lionel’s office he is not convinced that the mild-mannered Australian gentleman is going to be able to help him. Bertie

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then reads a passage from Hamlet aloud whilst Lionel plays loud classical music in his ears. After a few lines Bertie rips the headphones from his head and storms out, but not before Lionel pushes a recording of their session together into his hands to take away as a souvenir. Later that evening Bertie plays that recording back and to his surprise hears himself speaking without a stammer. He is briefly shown a world where he is not conflicted and reluctantly commits to Lionel’s regime. Lionel will spend the remainder of the narrative pulling Bertie through the Dark Forest understanding that Bertie is indeed destined for great things. With Rocketman (2019), the biopic charting the career of global popstar Elton John, Reginald Dwight heads to a talent agent on Denmark Street. Whilst there, he impresses one of the junior representatives with his piano-playing skills. It is in this moment that he finally comes into his own assuming the identity of Elton John, a flickering of the swan that he will spend the remainder of the narrative navigating his way to becoming. During this sequence time literally comes to a standstill as the junior agent hands him an envelope containing the work of lyricist Bernie Taupin, which acts as an Invitation for the pair of them to collaborate. Taupin will become the best friend, positive influence and mentor figure for the aspiring artist and ultimately be the one to help the struggling Elton realize the swan inside him. Almost all superheroes in their origin stories contain strong elements of the Unable (to Believe) arc. Black Panther (2018) charts the growth of T’Challa from inheritor of the throne of Wakanda to powerful hero. T’Challa receives his Invitation from father T’Chaka who warns him that it’s hard for a good man to be king, throwing down the gauntlet for the young ruler to confront the conflicted nature within him. This is also coupled with an external Invitation to discover more about the secret Vibranium trade involving Ulysses Klaue in South Korea. However, this is just the vehicle for T’Challa to prove his status as a swan.

Act II – Glow up After accepting the Invitation, our Chosen One will start to experience some initial victories with this new identity that they are beginning to form. It seems

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as if the mentor/tormentor’s ‘magic’ is working, and the Chosen One is happy to take their first steps into the Dark Forest with guidance. However, this physical change is literally only skin-deep and won’t take them to a place where they will be able to experience lasting transformation. During this sequence, though, they will have the opportunity to grow closer to their mentor/tormentor, and as they slowly develop their relationship, we will gain a better understanding of the way that the pair will interact with one another during the narrative and what form their partnership will take along the mentor/tormentor scale. Onward (2020) sees brothers Ian and Barley on a quest to bring their father back to life for a single day. The film’s mentor, Barley, passes a book of spells to Chosen One, Ian, which he must learn and begins his physical preparation for the trials which lie ahead. Ian will need to shape himself into the Chosen One which is required to navigate this Dark Forest and master the skills, which will allow him to survive in it and then thrive. As it is with all Unable (to Believe) narratives our Chosen One does not immediately understand the training which is being offered to them and rejects the wisdom of their mentor which they will only come to see the value of later on when there is a challenge which calls for them to use it. Back in the van, Ian discusses how to cast arcane lightning with Barley who reveals that this is the hardest technique for a wizard to learn and not something that Ian is ready for yet. Barley tells Ian that his ‘heart’s fire’ is important to mastering casting spells and that it isn’t as simple as just being physically prepared. This furthers his role as the mentor figure as he has to rein a young Chosen One into understanding that in order to fully transform they have to go through the process laid out before them. LaVona in I, Tonya is a much more brutal and callous tormentor of figure skater, Tonya Harding. Despite being her mother, she is often physically and mentally abusive to the young Chosen One insisting that she skates better when she is enraged. Plagued with the guilt she believes that she should carry about her parents’ divorce, the shame she feels about her class status in the ice skating world and the ill-treatment that she suffers throughout the piece, there are many opportunities in I, Tonya which allow our Chosen One to explore her conflicted nature. The piece is a fabulous character study and told through

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an unconventional narrative structure peppered with to-camera accounts and fourth wall breaks from the main players in the story who tell the audience their differing accounts of the events that transpired. Tonya’s transition into her Dark Forest is when she enters into the 1986 Skate America, and we see her skate in a big competition for the first time. Here her fish out of water status is affirmed as the polar opposite of most of the other girls. However, despite her disappointing result her talent cannot be denied, and it’s clear that this ugly duckling is beginning her journey to becoming a swan. Refusing to be deterred she continues on and the first physical hurdle that she must overcome is to perform the elusive ‘triple axel’ in order to prove that she is physically ready for the challenges which await her in the Dark Forest. Although Tonya now has a team around her, LaVona is never far away with her own distinct brand of support paying a heckler to wind her up before she hits the ice, still believing that only when Tonya is angry can she reach her potential. After completing the ‘triple axel’ she continues to excel with her physical skills and starts to try and take greater control of her life by leaving her abusive husband for a little whilst.

Act III (Part 1) – You shall go to the ball By this point in the narrative, the Chosen One is becoming more confident and experimental with their new identity, and they are beginning to understand some of the lessons that they are being taught by their mentor/tormentor. Furthermore, they will start to emotionally invest in their transformation and start to slowly open up about how they feel about the change they are going through and how it has impacted upon their conflicted nature. The ‘magic’ that the mentor/tormentor is performing continues to work for the Chosen One, and they are able to enjoy themselves and this new status that their glow up has afforded them. Christine in Lady Bird starts to rebel against Marion’s wishes in a more overt way. She goes behind her back and applies to colleges in New York, even enlisting the help of her father to assist her in filling out the applications for

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financial aid. She also begins to entangle herself with Kyle, a new boy that she is attracted to, and involves herself with another group of friends who bring out some of the more negative behaviours she exhibits, such as ditching her other friends and lying about where she lives because of her misplaced shame about her real living situation. In addition the school is in the process of planning an actual ball of sorts with prom coming up which has a multitude of emotional connotations connected to it. In I, Tonya, Tonya returns to her husband and professes that she wants to be loved more than anything. We then see her at the 1992 Winter Olympics in France after a montage of failed attempts at performing the ‘triple axel’ where she tries to complete the move again but cannot. She then has to watch her rival, Nancy Kerrigan, win the bronze medal – something which upsets and frustrates Tonya. After this her marriage breaks down again because of the abuse and Tonya tries to make the separation final by fully divorcing her husband. She then takes a job as a waitress, and it seems that she has resigned herself to a life away from her passion. However, her old coach throws her a lifeline offering Tonya the opportunity to come back to the sport. Something that Tonya grasps with both hands and plunges herself back into her Dark Forest with more fervour than ever.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – Just before the stroke of midnight Here, if our Chosen One has a mentor, the experience they have at this point is a positive and healing one. They will frequently purge themselves of the poisonous assumption that they have about themselves which makes them believe that they are an ugly duckling. More often than not this purging will take place directly with their mentor, the character who has taken them to this place where they are able to be vulnerable. They are Cinderella enjoying her moment at the ball where she is in the arms of a handsome prince waltzing about the dancefloor with what she believes is a bright future stretched about before her. They are yet to comprehend what might happen on the stroke of midnight and currently believe that they can

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achieve anything that they put their mind to, all thanks to the work that they have been doing with their mentor. In Rocketman, Elton now has a new manager and has literally found the person that he thinks will be his handsome prince. However, he will come to regret his relationship with John Reid as he begins to lose control of both his personal and creative life as we transition into the falling action of the narrative. With Christine in Lady Bird we are shown two scenes within the sequence which we believe are happening simultaneously. In one Christine consoles her ex-boyfriend promising that she will keep the secret that he is actually gay to herself and in the other Marion assists one of the priests from Christine’s school in coming to terms with his depression. The juxtaposition of the two scenes allows us to see the common traits that mother and daughter share and their caring and compassionate nature. For our Chosen Ones who have a tormentor they have got themselves all dressed up and ready to go to the party but have found that they are not enough for the prince when they get there. In fact they have been replaced by someone else – which is often their greatest fear. Their tormentor now rejects them and turns them out into the cold either because our Chosen One has disappointed them, or the tormentor is simply acting out of spite. At the Hourglass moment in Whiplash, Andrew realizes that it doesn’t matter if he has made it as the drummer of studio band, he will still be required to compete to continue to keep his spot. Fletcher even pits him against another new drummer threatening to replace him if he can’t keep tempo. In I, Tonya, Tonya comes to realize that the American Olympic Committee isn’t going to select her because she doesn’t have a wholesome American family that the sport appears to require in addition to skating talent. She then goes to see LaVona (her mother) at the diner where she works. The pair have a frosty conversation where LaVona chastises her for being soft whilst Tonya blames her mother for convincing her that she needs to be unhappy in order to be the best at skating. The real punch in the heart comes when Tonya asks if her mother ever loved her. Something LaVona cannot admit to and rather attempts to justify her position as a tormentor. She then returns to her ex-husband and tries to hide the abuse that she is suffering for the sake of appearances.

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Act III (Part 2) – The glass slipper Immediately after the revelations which occur at the point where the Hourglass flips, the mentor/tormentor and the Chosen One seem to separate. This is only a superficial or fleeting separation at this point in the narrative, but it is one that the Chosen One is not ready to deal with. They still need the support and guidance that their mentor/tormentor is offering to them, and the separation provides a point of dramatic soul-searching for the Chosen One who must discover the reason that they are on this journey themselves. The ‘magic’ which has been assisting the Chosen One in their internal growth whilst they are within the Dark Forest wears off or wears thin, and they experience something which truly devastates them. It may be that during this part of the story that they lose faith in the teachings that they have been receiving and may purposefully turn their back on their mentor/tormentor because they feel betrayed by them. This sequence of the narrative is now about bringing the pair of them back together so that they might be able to continue the ‘good’ work that they have been doing in the first half of the narrative. In order to do this the Chosen One must remember the emotional investment that they have already put into this adventure and double down on the efforts that they are making to Become a Swan. It may be that their mentor/tormentor reminds them why they started this journey in the first place and corrects the course that they are on so that they might continue. Their fates, it seems, are still intertwined and one cannot exist without the other. Trust is an important part of this section of the story and the Chosen One has to give over control of an action which is important to them. This in turn will bring the Chosen One deeper into the Dark Forest and have them further confront some of the other emotional reasons that they believe that they are an ugly duckling. In Onward, the brothers now have to deal with the revelations which took place within the Flipping of the Hourglass. Barley is angry as he feels like his identity has been assaulted, and Ian confesses that ‘I don’t know how any of this stuff works’, exposing his emotional vulnerabilities and his concern about these new skills that he is slowly learning. Ian and Barley continue to argue

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but before they are able to do any lasting damage to their relationship their father interrupts them by showcasing his terrible dancing to the beat that he can feel from Guinevere’s speakers. All is forgiven and they dance with him on the side of the road. Back on the road, Ian is now finally able to trust his brother’s judgement and they decide to take the path of peril deeper into the Dark Forest. Although our mentors are benevolent at this point and are only acting in the Chosen One’s best interests, those Chosen Ones who have tormentors by their side will sometimes misguidedly put too much trust in them which will have terrible consequences. Whiplash offers us an explosive response to this sequence where Andrew arrives late to a performance to be berated by Fletcher for forgetting his sticks. He then races back in his hire car but takes his eyes off the road which causes him to crash. Despite being covered in blood Andrew still makes his way to the stage, determined to be on the drums for this performance. The tormentor has pushed our Chosen One too hard and is even willing to risk his own physical well-being to get to the kit. The performance is a disaster and when Andrew can no longer hold his sticks he lashes out and attacks Fletcher.

Act IV – If the shoe fits Within this act our Chosen One finally comes to understand that although the ‘magic’ that the mentor/tormentor has bestowed upon them assisted them in journeying through the Dark Forest, the real power has been inside them all along. The mentor/tormentor merely guided them to a point where they were in a position to realize their own potential and special status. During this section of the narrative more often than not our Chosen One and mentor/tormentor will separate in a much more meaningful way than they did in the previous act. They will question exactly what their relationship has meant during their journey, and it might be that they literally part ways at this point and for the first time the Chosen One will be left entirely alone rather than just superficially alone within the Dark Forest and will have to navigate it by themselves for a period of time.

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In Lady Bird, Christine ditches her prom date after his cynicism gets too much for her and instead goes with her best friend, Julie, who she reconnects with. She then graduates and her mother believes that she is going to UC Davis. However, Danny lets slip about the ‘wait list’ that she is on for the school that she really wants to go to in New York, something that her mother has been vocally disapproving of since Christine first brought it up. Marion is so angry at what she sees as a betrayal that she simply ignores her daughter despite her tearful apology. As Tonya transitions into this section of the narrative in I, Tonya she considers the psychological price that she has paid for her fame and the toll that it has taken on her. Before her final competition at the Olympics, LaVona comes to her and it appears that she wants to connect with her daughter in a meaningful way for the first time in the narrative. Tonya throws her arms around her mother’s neck and cries. However, this has all been a ruse from LaVona who merely wants to entrap her into admitting to knowing something about the assault on Nancy Kerrigan. Tonya kicks her out of the house and moves on to try and focus on her skating. Although she never wins an Olympic medal we see the true nature of our Chosen One as a fierce competitor and (at the end) a literal fighter who we can’t help but admire.

The Last Throw of the Dice – The Reveal Ultimately, though, our Chosen Ones understand that although they must be the ones who exit the Dark Forest by revealing themselves to be a swan, they still want their mentor/tormentor to be there by their side. In order to reunite Chosen One and mentor/tormentor our Chosen Ones need to psychologically examine the lessons that they have learnt during the narrative. During this moment the Chosen One is finally able to internalize everything that they have been taught and are able to Reveal themselves to be a swan. They cast aside their old identity and emerge as a new fully self-actualized version of themselves. This is often the moment that the mentor/tormentor has been training our Chosen One for throughout the narrative either knowingly or unknowingly.

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All of the lessons that they have bestowed upon them coalesce and in the challenge that is before them they will be able to bring them to the fore. They do this in the following way: HOW – They transform before our eyes. WHAT – They realize that they were a swan this whole time – they have always truly been a swan. WHY – They understand why their mentor/tormentor made them do these things in the Dark Forest. WHERE – They must now prove themselves without their mentor/ tormentor (directly) by their side. Bertie has now been crowned king in The King’s Speech and with the Second World War on the horizon he must make his most important speech to date which will announce that the UK is once again at war with Germany, but also to reassure his fellow countrymen and women that this is a war that can be won in this grave hour. Before he enters into the recording booth where he will address the nation, he has one final rehearsal of his speech with Lionel who reminds him of all of the training that he has been through in the Dark Forest. Once Bertie begins his speech, although Lionel is physically present to support him, this is a challenge that only Bertie can face. With the broadcast over, Lionel lets Bertie know that he still stuttered on the Ws. Bertie then quips back that he still needed the people to know that it was him speaking to them. There was a swan inside him all along, and it was through his journey in the Dark Forest that he was able to find it. Stammer or no stammer, Bertie always had the power to be a great king inside him. Having reconnected with Fletcher, Andrew Niemann in Whiplash is offered the chance to play in a new band at the JVC festival that his tormentor is conducting. Initially, he thinks that this is the pair of them reconnecting; however, it is all a trick that Fletcher is playing to get revenge for Niemann getting him fired from Shaffer. The opening number that the band plays is a new one that Niemann does not have the music for and despite trying to play along he is unable to and leaves the stage embarrassed and upset after Fletcher approaches him and says: ‘I guess maybe you don’t have it.’ Waiting in the wings

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is Niemann’s father who embraces his son. However, it is clear that Niemann isn’t quite done and strides back to sit behind the drums again and erupts into ‘Caravan’ finally able to experience the music for himself rather than in order to please anyone else, even cueing in the rest of the band to follow along to his beat. He reveals himself to have been a swan this whole time and finally wins his tormentor’s approval after completing the most ambitious and technically challenging solo to date. As a note, I, Tonya skews this section slightly with LaVona now entirely removed from Tonya’s life because her betrayal is not one that she is able to come back from. It is now Tonya’s childhood skating coach who becomes a surrogate mentor/tormentor who tries to prepare her to go on the ice for the final time as her impending legal trouble hangs over her head.

Act V – I have been a swan all along Now all that is left is for our Chosen One to prove that their newly discovered status as a swan will not go to waste and that they have spiritually accepted this new version of who they are. Even if their mentor/tormentor is in close proximity to them they have to go through this final moment with no assistance so that they are able to live up to this special status that they have acquired as part of the experience they have been through in the Dark Forest. In Lady Bird, Christine is finally able to be a student in a college town full of the culture she craves. After discussing with David (another student) about God, Christine literally heads to church and then calls her parents back home and lets them know that she is now willing to accept her given name of Christine rather than continuing to go by Lady Bird. She professes to have understood the lessons that Marion was trying to teach her and we are offered several match cuts between Christine and her mother further reinforcing the change she has been through in accepting who she is. She finally is able to tell her that she loves her and thanks her. In Rocketman, Bernie leaves Elton in the recovery clinic perfectly understanding his dramaturgical role as a mentor leaving him with a sheet of

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lyrics and telling him, ‘This is the part you gotta do on yer own.’ Elton then heads to the music room, and we are treated to a rendition of ‘I’m Still Standing’ showcasing that Elton has indeed internalized everything about the journey he has just completed and will remain a swan long after the ending of the narrative. With Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Greg attends Rachel’s wake and in exploring her room discovers the profound impact that his friendship had on her during the time they were together. In addition, he finds a card which explains that Rachel has written to Greg’s college explaining that he missed school in order to be with her, thereby assuring his status as a swan. Greg truly sees himself through the eyes of other people and understands the importance of creating and maintaining friendships.

Exercises This is a story all about change. Your Chosen One wants change but is too conflicted to seek it out without help from their mentor/tormentor. The key to this narrative arc is in the nature of the change that your Chosen One must go through in order to make for a successful story. These exercises will help you to consider that change.

What are the traits which make your Chosen One think they are an ugly duckling? The Unable (to Believe) Chosen One often dislikes the person they see in the mirror when they wake up each morning. This false idea that they have of themselves is frequently the thing which is profoundly poisonous, and although there might be an external Big Bad in the story the impression they have of themselves will be the thing which becomes the driving antagonistic force in the narrative. For this activity, drop your Chosen One in a reality TV show of your choice, then write down what their first introductory piece to camera would be so that we can get to know them. Would they be honest about how they feel about themselves, or would they try to mask what they truly think?

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For those of you who feel a little more confident with a monologue task like this, try and play with the subtext in the piece. What is going on underneath what your Chosen One is actually saying and what are they leaving ‘unsaid’ either deliberately or subconsciously?

What are the musical numbers that would be in your narrative if it were to be turned into a Broadway show? The mentor variation of the Unable (to Believe) arc is perfect for those who are writing a musical as it typically hits all of the beats of a feel-good story of self-acceptance and positive transformation. As writers who are interested in storytelling structure, musicals are perfect for us as they have a tried and tested formula built around the songs within the narrative. These musical numbers usually showcase the big turning points for our characters and frequently bridge act and sequence turning points for our Chosen One. For this activity, come up with the titles for some of the songs that would be in the musical version of the narrative that you are writing. These could point to the big dilemmas that your Chosen One is experiencing within that moment, highlight the theme that you are exploring or debate the conflict that they are going through at that moment. If you are wanting to explore this activity a little further, you could start thinking about the lyrics for these songs. You never know, it might make you want to pivot genres entirely with your current project!

Who does your Chosen One choose as their one phone call (obviously their mentor/tormentor)? They’ve done it this time, your Chosen One has managed to get themselves thrown in jail (their crime is up to you), and they have been given their one phone call. Obviously, they choose to get in touch with their mentor/tormentor, but what does that conversation sound like? Create a short dialogue sequence between Chosen One and mentor/ tormentor where the emotional stakes are high and the pair are about to purge themselves of how they really feel about one another. If you are feeling confident

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with this exercise, really dig deep into the Chosen One’s conflicted nature and have them discuss how their mentor/tormentor has helped/hindered them in exploring it. Although there is plenty of time for subtext in dialogue this feels like a moment where it’s time for the pair to just simply say exactly what is on their minds. Taking it one step further you can even put a time limit on the conversation so that you can get to the juicy stuff quickly. They may only get one minute to talk, so after a page cut the dialogue and see where they have ended up.

7 Unknowing

Plate 7  Drink the Potion, by Millree Hughes.

Typically, ​in the beginning, the Unknowing Chosen One is stubborn, set in their ways and on the wrong track. This is the character who simply does not look or behave anything like a hero at the beginning of their story. If they were invited to embark on an adventure to prove their heroism, they would probably turn the offer down flat. The important thing to remember when you are inventing the character who will take this story arc is that your Chosen One should primarily be moved by self-serving motives. This motivation need not be entirely selfish or venal, but it should be based around their limited view of the world and their own lack of personal ambition. When we meet them, they believe that they are largely content. They want to remain that way. Why would they want to answer an Invitation to change? But, remember that ‘content’ for these Chosen Ones is a matter of perspective. Your Chosen One does not have to be happy when you introduce them, but they should be at least resigned to a way of life which they do not expect or particularly want to change. We are not required to introduce an

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Unknowing Chosen One living their best life. That is the joy of inventing a character for this story arc. The Once Upon a Time that they inhabit is their zone of comfort and reflects their character perfectly – or at least reflective of their conflicted nature – the character that they are at the beginning of the story.

Act I – The comfort zone is not necessarily comfortable The Unknowing Chosen One, then, is in their comfort zone when they are introduced to us, the viewer. They are in their Once Upon a Time and not seeking to change their lives. They are happy enough to continue as they are, and their Once Upon a Time is constructed so that their conflicted nature actually assists them to exist within it. Let’s take an extreme example of a Once Upon a Time that feels particularly uncomfortable and uninviting. In Logan (2017) where an ageing Logan escorts a young mutant to safety away from an evil corporation wishes to perform further experiments on her, the titular character, who we of course know as Wolverine from a series of films, is living what seems like a pretty terrible life. He is a drunk, his powers are waning and he is the driver of a limo for hire dreaming about owning a yacht. He comes across as a loser (barring his vicious fight with a bunch of bangers in the opening scene) but in fact he continues to be a fighter, hiding Dr Xavier (Charles) and keeping him safe, planning their escape from the United States together. Logan has a plan and a direction in life when Gabriela comes calling and asks him to fulfil a simple task – take her and her daughter to North Dakota in exchange for $50,000. Logan tells her, ‘you’re fucking up my life, lady.’ But the deal is a simple one, and he accepts it (almost) immediately as most Unknowing Chosen Ones do. That $50,000 will provide the rest of the money he needs for the boat and the request is a simple one, right? However terrible Logan’s life seems to us, it is the life he has chosen and the one he wants to live. The deal he strikes with Gabriela is a temporary distraction, and his intention is to return to Plan A as soon as he is able.

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In contrast, in Dark Waters (2019), Rob Bilott has just been made partner in a prestigious law firm before he receives his unwanted Invitation. Everything about Rob’s life is going in the right direction and his job is absolutely at odds with the task that he is presented with. His job is to defend Big Chem companies against litigation and yet a West Virginia farmer asks him to investigate a local chemical plant for killing his livestock. Why would he agree to such a case? The answer is personal. Rob is familiar with the area having spent happy summers there as a child and the case seems fairly innocuous, right? Let’s look at one more example of an Unknowing Chosen One before pulling the strands together. In News of the World (2020) we find Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd performing the relatively lowly job of travelling around the United States in the 1870s reading the newspaper to residents for ten cents apiece. However, when he crosses paths with Johanna, a young girl who needs to be escorted across the state of Texas, he feels compelled to assist her. Being a ‘news man’ is not the kind of job that we would necessarily regard as a dream career, but it suits Kidd who, we learn early on, has fought and suffered in a war. He is a character in search of peace and reading aloud to audiences allows him a measure of that peace. He is also, crucially, very good at it, which we see in an extended reading early on in the film where he has his audience in the palm of his hand. The last thing Kidd wants is to have his equilibrium upset by having to care for a child. These Once Upon a Time examples share the same DNA – a careful balance between character and situation. The requirement here is to have a character who not only has an unrecognized conflicted nature but one who stubbornly believes that they are on the right path and do not have any desire to engage in your story. If they knew what was awaiting them following the acceptance of the Invitation, then they definitely would not accept it, and, therefore, the Invitation must, on the face of it, feel relatively uncomplicated and easily achievable when they agree to it.

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The Unknowing Chosen One is not necessarily set upon the wrong path when we first encounter them, but they are set upon the path of least resistance. They have found a niche for themselves within which they are determined to remain. The Invitation, consequently, must be all the more compelling to tempt them off that path.

The Invitation – Drink the Potion All Unknowing stories require the Chosen One to strike a deal with a third party in order to enter the Dark Forest. A deal, crucially, which they do not fully understand. Logan in Logan is tempted by the offer of the money he needs to buy that yacht. He is a limo driver and he is asked to drive a kid across the country. Given that he is also the Wolverine this seems more of an irritating distraction from his original course of action than an Invitation to enter a Dark Forest. In Dark Waters Rob Bilott decides to help the farmer, Wilbur Tennant, out on a whim. He knows how big chemical firms work. This should be fairly straightforward – to see if the chemicals leaking out of the local plant are exceeding limits and, if so, what those chemicals are. Rob is happy in his marriage, secure in his job and newly promoted. He certainly doesn’t plan to jeopardize any of that for a small favour. Kidd’s hand in News of the World is forced a little more seriously when he comes across a young girl at the site of a violent attack on a wagon, and he agrees to transport her to the nearest town for safekeeping. Still, it’s a relatively small commitment and he intends to be on his way, without a child in tow, in due course. As you construct an Unknowing storyline you must remember that you are in control of the information as it is fed to both your Chosen One and the audience. Nobody is in possession of all of the facts at this point, or, if they are, they aren’t telling. The Unknowing storyline reveals itself slowly and our eyes are opened in tandem with the Chosen One. As the true ramifications of the deal become

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clear to the Chosen One, so they become clear to us, by which point the Chosen One is committed and feels compelled to complete the contract no matter the hardship they face. The delivery of the Invitation to the Unknowing Chosen One requires two different narratives to converge, which is why the Invitation is often delivered well into Act II. First, we must understand the Chosen One and their elected path, and second we must introduce a second storyline – often at diametric odds with the first – which will divert the Chosen One from their path. The diversion, for the Chosen One, is intended to be temporary and short-lived, but it will, in fact, change their lives, opinions and ambitions forever. The three examples already used show differing examples of this requirement and make for an interesting comparison: In the set-up to Logan, Logan’s storyline is relatively complex and Gabriela’s relatively simple (on the face of it). Logan is working a lowly job and saving money whilst protecting Charles and aiming to buy that yacht and make their escape. The narrative could be a film unto itself, particularly with the complications of Charles’s illness and the closing in of the Big Bad, focused on Pierce. However, here comes Gabriela with a simple request – please take my daughter to safety – I’ll make it worth your whilst. Gabriela’s story has absolutely nothing to do with Logan’s. She has tracked him down because he has a reputation and she thinks he can help her – but that’s Gabriela’s story and, right now, we know next to nothing about her. This is typical of the Invitation on this pathway. It comes out of the blue, upsets the Chosen One’s plans and aspirations and is shrouded in mystery. Rob Billott, in Dark Waters, is introduced as a character going places in a world where Big Chem pays his bills. He has a stable family life, he works sensible hours and he makes a good wage. The Invitation from Wilbur Tennant, similarly to Logan, arrives because Bill has a reputation. He knows about Big Chem (albeit as a defender of their interests) and Tennant has sought him out as an expert. As with Gabriela, he arrives out of left field with very little fanfare. In this case they just pique Bill’s interest – plus he thinks he can probably help Tennant out pretty easily and then get on with the rest of his life.

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As with Logan, it is the rest of his life that interests him much more than the troubled farmer. In a way Johanna, in News of the World, reveals most clearly the role of the Invitation in the Unknowing story arc. Her dilemma is, in dramatic terms, much more interesting than Captain Kidd’s. Kidd is a great character played beautifully by Tom Hanks, and in a different narrative he may take us on a fascinating journey through the Old West, introducing us to towns, characters and situations which might open our eyes to his world and his life. This film might help us to understand the scars he bears from the battles he has fought in and the love, we discover, he has lost. But this is a story of an Unknowing Chosen One so the narrative works differently. An element is introduced into the story unexpectedly which changes the course of the Chosen One’s destiny. The more this element is in juxtaposition with the Chosen One’s own chosen pathway, the more effective it is. Here, Kidd’s solitary existence is utterly destroyed by the injection of a second character who he cannot leave behind. This character, along with Gabriela and Tennant, acts as a disruptor to the Chosen One’s assumed identity. As with all narratives on this journey, however, Kidd thinks it’s only temporary. Soon he’ll be back to just being on his lonesome again reading his newspaper extracts for ten cents a customer. As if.

Act II – Let’s just get this over and done with Following their acceptance of the Invitation our Chosen One naturally wants to get the deal signed, sealed and delivered as quickly as possible so they can get back to their Once Upon a Time. Act II is all about how you decide to eke out your story and frustrate your Chosen One’s plans. The trick with relating this story arc effectively is all to do with stages of revelation. You know why Gabriela has asked Logan to help her, you know that Rob Billott is going to be buried in a conspiracy about which he had no idea, you

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know that Johanna’s story is a thousand times more interesting than any of the tales Kidd relates from the newspapers. All of these secondary characters’ stories are more interesting than our Chosen One’s path through life. In order to write an Unknowing story that really sings you must concentrate in two key areas: ●

the Chosen One’s character − settled, sure of their direction in life, unwilling to change

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the Disruptor’s storyline − at odds with the Chosen One’s direction in life, really interesting

It’s very easy to write the words really interesting when telling you how to construct your narrative. We don’t have to think the story up, you do. But the point here is that you need to really invest in the character who, at first sight, seems to be your secondary Chosen One because herein lies the heart of your story. The character who has been introduced to us at or just after the Invitation is the character who is running the narrative and dragging the Chosen One into their world. The Unknowing Chosen One is motivated primarily by their compassion, however deeply that compassion may be buried. Logan may outwardly express his decision to transport Gabriela’s daughter as being a purely economic transaction, but his subsequent actions don’t bear this out. He is, deep down, a caring person who wants to do the right thing by others (as long as they don’t cross him). Act II will test that compassion as the Chosen One’s eyes are gradually opened to the fact that the deal is not all it seems to be. The key to this pathway is in the relationship between the Chosen One and their disruptor. In one version of this arc, the disruptor seeks out the Chosen One to ask for their help because the Chosen One possesses the skill set required to solve their problems. This we will call the planned Disruptor. Logan is powerful, driven and (deep down) compassionate. Rob Billott has the knowledge and the tenacity to fix the farmers’ issues. The alternative version of the Invitation has our Chosen One encounter their disruptor accidentally, but the same rules apply; Kidd, in his unspoken

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desire for family, has within him the solution to Johanna’s solitude. These are unplanned Distruptors. For another example of this unplanned disruption in our Chosen One’s identity, see the case study of Jojo Rabbit a little later in this book. Given the importance of this juxtaposition of two characters and their opposing conflicted natures at the core of this narrative arc, it is easy to see that the Unknowing narrative fits most romantic comedies and buddy movies in which two characters, destined to come together by the end of the film, must spend the majority of their screen time finding out about one another. Some of the biggest films in this genre fit very neatly into this paradigm: It Happened One Night (1934), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Pretty Woman (1990), About a Boy (2002), The Apartment (1960), The Big Sick (2017), Midnight Run (1988), Hot Fuzz (2007) – all follow the template of this narrative arc. A Chosen One is unwillingly pulled off their path by a disruptor and a deal is struck which forces the pair of them to be together to reach a common goal. The full ramifications of that deal will only become clear as the narrative unfolds and, in discovering the true nature of the deal, the Chosen Ones are drawn closer together.

Act III (Part 1) – You didn’t read the Ts & Cs In Act III the single most important story point you need to engage with is that the Chosen One must realize that they have bitten off more than they expected to chew. They are desperate to get this story over with as soon as possible so that they can get back to what they were doing before the cameras started rolling, the director started shouting at them and the editor came along and started cutting out the boring bits. It’s actually all the writer’s fault. It was the writer’s idea to create these problems for the Chosen One and force them into a Dark Forest that they would very much rather not be in. This is particularly true of the Unknowing Chosen One who enters the story in a state of complete denial. The opening stages of the narrative will see the Chosen One accept an Invitation from the disruptor to leave their Once Upon a Time and step into

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the Dark Forest in the belief that the journey will be a short and relatively easy one. Act II will confirm them in this belief and, by the time they reach this point in the story they will be of the opinion that the film is nearly over. Act III will disabuse them of this. In Logan this happens pretty quickly as Gabriela is killed and the child, Laura, is revealed to be a dangerous mutant. Before he knows it Logan is committed to the deal he struck with Gabriela, but, also before he knows it, the deal has become much more dangerous, much more difficult to achieve and much closer to home emotionally than Logan would ever have wished it to be. The Big Bad is really bad, Charles is really sick, Logan is not the superhero he used to be and Laura isn’t exactly a cute, biddable little girl. In Dark Waters, Rob’s investigations into the chemical run-off quickly rattles DuPont and his law firm. The film offers a slight variation on the classic Unknowing story arc in that whilst Rob initially strikes a deal with Wilbur Tennant, this character represents ‘everyman’ in this story. Rob’s journey into the Dark Forest will move on from Wilbur as he realizes the enormity of the task in front of him and, whilst Wilbur Tennant is certainly his disruptor in this story, it is Rob who drives himself forwards as he uncovers more truths about DuPont and Teflon. It is Wilbur’s destiny to die at the end of Act IV as further confirmation that Rob is doing the right thing. Captain Kidd, in News of the World, commits to taking Johanna 400 miles across country to her family when he realizes that otherwise she will be abandoned. What was intended to be a simple transaction has now turned into a serious, and potentially dangerous, journey with a difficult child who doesn’t want to be there and doesn’t speak English. For all of these Chosen Ones the Dark Forest just got darker. But it is about to get darker still.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – A revelation As this story arc is all about discovery, the midpoint, or Hourglass moment of the screenplay, will generally represent a big moment of discovery for the Chosen

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One which will further add to their woes in the Dark Forest. However, it will also make the Chosen One double down on their determination to get the job done. Furthermore, this will be a crucial moment that picks at their conflicted nature and will have them ask key questions about their assumed identity. They will ask questions of themselves and be internally frustrated/angry/ ashamed of the version of them who agreed to Drink the Potion in the first place because the person they were then did it for all of the wrong reasons. The new Chosen One who is emerging through their experiences in the Dark Forest is a character who would have accepted this deal without the need for personal gain as they are beginning to allow a less conflicted variation of themselves to emerge. They are not yet fully committed to this new identity, however, but we do get a glimpse of the inner journey these characters are embarked upon as the Hourglass flips. Logan in Logan discovers that Gabriela rescued Laura from a research laboratory – and that she is his daughter. Meanwhile, in Dark Waters Rob discovers that Wilbur Tennant and his wife both have cancer due to the chemicals released onto their land. In News of the World, Kidd discovers that Johanna is an orphan twice over – orphaned by the Kiowa when they killed her parents and orphaned by the US army when they killed her Kiowa family. The midpoint is crucial to the progression of the Unknowing narrative. The revelation made here will firm up the Chosen One’s commitment to the journey ahead. This is where the journey becomes personal, and they realize that they have unknowingly stepped into a much bigger adventure than they first thought they agreed to.

Act III (Part 2) – Fight the power Here is where the work you have done on developing your characters is really going to pay off because this narrative is all about your Chosen One digging deep and recognizing who they really are and what they really want in their lives. It’s about them changing their minds and turning definitively away from their Once Upon a Time through the agency of the disruptor.

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The second half of Act III will deal with the Chosen One assimilating the revelation that they have just discovered. The full extent of the Dark Forest and the journey before them is finally revealed (or at least they think it is), and they have committed fully to that journey. Act III, however, is not a time to take your foot off the gas. The intent of this act is to work towards the lowest point of the story for the Chosen One – the point where all seems lost. This moment, of course, will be different depending on the story that you are telling and the three main examples we are using here highlight just how different they can be. Act III of Logan treats us to an extended sequence somewhat divorced from the rest of the narrative in which Logan, Charles and Laura hole up at a family farm. Whilst this allows us some respite from the extended action sequences, it also gives us an opportunity to explore the themes of family, trust and loyalty that are at the centre of the narrative – and ends in the arrival of X-24 who provides a strikingly low point in a pretty low movie. Rob Billott in Dark Waters sacrifices his health and his marriage for his pursuit of what he believes to be right, but it looks like he will ultimately fail. In News of the World, Almay arrives on the scene, determined to take Johanna off Kidd’s hands and claim the reward. He and his team represent a formidable enemy. Whilst each of these plot twists is distinct and affects the narrative in a different way, each also fulfils the same role in the storytelling – to take, or attempt to take, the power out of the hands of the Chosen One. These are stories about taking on a task, as set by the disruptor, and, as we have seen, the magnitude of the task reveals itself only slowly. The Chosen One at the start of your story would never have opted to take part in your story if they knew anything about this twist at the end of Act III because they are fundamentally ill-equipped to deal with it. Our point in this book is always that character is structure and that the Chosen One you select for your pathway must be appropriate. So, what makes this Chosen One an Unknowing Chosen One? Essentially, the Unknowing Chosen One is caring. They may hide this very well and we may not guess that they have this character trait when we first

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meet them in their Once Upon a Time but, by the time we get here, to the end of Act III, that aspect of their character will properly emerge, having been brought out by the disruptor. Under the surface, the Unknowing Chosen One really cares and they will do anything within their power to set things right. Luckily, as already pointed out, the disruptor has selected this Chosen One precisely because they have that power or – if they have not been chosen – then it is the writer’s job to ensure that they represent the key to unlocking the disruptor’s problems.

Act IV – The Last Throw of the Dice On most of our character journeys we find that the end of Act III takes us to the lowest point of the storyline, and, come Act IV, our Chosen One has seen the solution to the problem and initiated a plan to overcome it and make the final sprint to the exit from the Dark Forest. The Unknowing Chosen One, however, is subject to a different kind of Dark Forest. Here, just as the exit seems to be in sight it turns out to be another false turn, another hidden trap or another seemingly insurmountable obstacle. But these false turns, hidden traps and insurmountable obstacles all fulfil a purpose for our Chosen One – they help to cement the change in character and outlook that was begun when they accepted the Invitation. If we look at the criteria that the Unknowing Chosen One needs to fulfil in order to exit the Dark Forest, the following things must be done: HOW – They tear up ‘the contract’. WHAT – They realize that their adventure in the Dark Forest has allowed them to confront their conflicted nature and they are excited to begin exploring this new identity. WHY – The contract they have signed (or their reasons for first signing it) are an assault on this new identity, and they want to be able to start their ‘new life’ without this hanging over their heads. WHERE – They have to find a way to undo the harm (or at least try and make amends) which they have caused by agreeing to sign the contract in the first place.

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The violent and bloody Act IV of Logan sees an extraordinarily large body count mount up in a very short period of time as X-24 runs amok. With Logan fatally wounded, X-24 skewered by a thresher blown apart by repeated shotgun blasts, our heroes get to head off to Eden. But, when Logan tells one of the inhabitants, ‘Kid, I don’t know what I’m doing’, it is clear evidence that he is not yet ready to leave the Dark Forest. Rob is pushed back at every turn and the monolithic might of DuPont thwarts him again and again even as he thinks he has defeated them. Even with the high point of the film when, after years of fighting and waiting and hoping, the science comes in his favour and proves that the chem giant has been poisoning the populace, DuPont reneges on their deal. The journey is not yet over. Kidd faces increasing hardship and danger as they approach the end of their journey but, more importantly than this, he and Johanna begin to come together. Kidd opens up as Johanna opens up and they begin to understand one another, in terms of both language and philosophy. But even when they reach the physical end of their journey – the Leonburger farm – it doesn’t feel right. The journey is not yet complete.

Act V – The Deal Undone Yes, it really does happen this late. In each of the examples here, the final act of the film plays out in the final five or ten minutes, and it is all about self-sacrifice. Logan finally decides to sacrifice everything for Laura and the mutant kids. Rob finally decides that he will not let DuPont win and sacrifices the remainder of his life to securing recompense for the victims. Kidd finally decides to become a surrogate father to Johanna. In each of these cases the Happily Ever After is no more than a coda at the end of the film. The actual ending is the playing out of the decision by the Chosen One that they will act on their instincts and give their all to defeat the Big Bad and triumph – but that triumph will involve others because these Chosen Ones are caring.

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If you need more proof that this is the way this narrative arc ends, then let’s take a quick trip through some of the other examples of romantic comedies and buddy movies we mentioned earlier. In It Happened One Night both Peter and Ellie have lessons to learn, but it is Ellie who is the last to learn hers. Minutes before the end of the film she is about to marry the wrong man until she discovers the truth about Peter and the tables are turned. Peter really does care after all. In the dying moments of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Neal realizes that Del doesn’t have a happy family to return to for Thanksgiving and invites him to join his, because he cares. Pretty Woman is all but over when Edward tells his chauffeur to turn the car around. He finally meets Vivian on her own terms and we sense that only now can they have a relationship that works. Because he truly cares for her. When Will appears with his guitar to accompany Marcus’s potentially embarrassing song in the final stages of About a Boy it is a signal that he has finally shrugged off his self-centred, hedonistic lifestyle and embraced the caring, giving side of himself that will lead to happiness. When Fran discovers the truth about Bud in The Apartment the film is all but over. At the eleventh hour the truth has prevailed, and they can finally have a relationship based on honesty. The cliché of the final race to airport/departing ship/army enrolment board/ edge of a cliff/church may be a staple of the less imaginative romcom, but the drama of the final decision that overturns the Chosen One’s views on how they should live their life is absolutely central to the Unknowing story arc. Whilst the heart of the narrative journey is about unveiling the true nature of the Dark Forest, the character change experienced by the Chosen One is core to the success of these films. The change in this Chosen One must be fundamental and must be brought about by the intervention of the disruptor. Often, the Chosen One will complete an absolute volte-face in character terms from selfish to selfless, from confirmed bachelor to dedicated partner, from a holder of secrets to an individual whose heart is laid bare. The Unknowing Chosen One gives us an opportunity to see character change at its most affecting because the Chosen One we meet at the beginning

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of the story is so content, settled or confirmed in their ways. The change is the story.

Exercises The Unknowing Chosen One is essentially tricked into taking part in your story. They do make a choice to enter the Dark Forest, but it is under false pretences. Clearly, the deal and the undoing of the deal need to be convincing for both the Chosen One and the audience so these exercises will help you create a water-tight obligation from which your story can evolve.

What is the contract that your Chosen One signs at the start of the narrative? The Unknowing Chosen One makes a deal (reluctantly) because it is the only way that they think they are going to be able to get what it is that they desire. Although this deal is generally the result of a verbal contract, there are much more formal mechanics behind them where certain criteria have to be met before they are considered fulfilled. Create a dummy written contract that your Unknowing Chosen One signs as part of their agreement to Drink the Potion. Include clauses, provisos, dealbreakers and options. Crucially, include what they will receive if all the terms and conditions are met. If you feel that you have a solid understanding of the trajectory of your Chosen One at this point, try and include the Ts & Cs that they have overlooked in signing this particular contract that are going to trip them up as they journey further into the Dark Forest and which will force them to confront their conflicted nature.

What does this journey look like from your disruptor’s POV? The disruptor has their own story to tell, one that not only informs the motivations for their own actions and reactions during the narrative but will be slowly revealed to our Chosen One as this story progresses.

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For this exercise, pick a moment within your narrative and spend some time looking at the story world that you have built from the disruptor’s perspective. How do they feel about what is going on? What experiences have they been through which inform their current state of mind? Finally, how is their relationship with the Chosen One progressing and what is their opinion of them? Depending on what sort of character they are, you might want to explore this activity in several ways. They could write a diary entry, a journal, a blog or create a number of social media posts. Make sure that they are able to express themselves in their voice and authentically reflect on what this journey means to them.

How does your Chosen One finally understand that they have been taken advantage of? The Unknowing Chosen One will, at a crucial point in the narrative, become knowing. This is the moment at which the scales fall from their eyes and they realize that they have become involved in an uneven bargain which must be put right. Picture your Chosen One in court. The case against your Big Bad is underway, and it is time for your Chosen One to testify against them. This is their one chance for justice and their opportunity to explain to the judge and jury why and how they have been duped. Remember to keep your testimony short and to the point. No hearsay, no speculation and no bad language to be used otherwise you may be held in contempt.

8 Mistaken

Plate 8  Kill the Goose, by Millree Hughes.

Our Mistaken ​Chosen Ones are the people that we secretly fear that we all are. These narratives have the power of delivering frightening warnings with characters who are full of regrets but come to realize them too late or who transition into anti-heroes who we love to hate (or hate to love). For some they are the ‘mindless’ horror of the stock slasher narrative, but for others they offer the opportunity for us to explore powerful allegories which leave audiences with fascinating themes, ideas and moralities to discuss and debate once the credits roll. Often tales of woe and warning in equal measure, they tap into the primal instincts that both intrigue and horrify us. These are narratives where your Chosen One slowly becomes the monster through the decisions that they make within the story – each choice eroding away the last of the ‘good’ which is left inside them like the slow dripping of water on a stone. The story of the anti-hero feeds off the other four narrative paradigms that we have outlined in these pages and inverts them. Typically, the anti-hero does not see the prefix ‘anti’ in front of their title. They regard themselves as the

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Chosen Ones of their own narratives, and we recognize precisely the same story arcs here as with our other storylines. Travis Bickle, in Taxi Driver (1976), drives around New York’s streets at night wholeheartedly believing that he is a Willing Chosen One. He takes on elements of society that he believes are unfair or wrong and does something about them when he decides to rescue Iris from her life as an underage prostitute. However, his trajectory leads him into a Dark Forest from which he can never escape. Jay, in It Follows (2014), is the victim of an archetypal Accidental story arc when she has sex with her new boyfriend only to discover that he has passed on his ‘curse’ to her which she must find a way to undo – in a dark and distinctly anti-heroic way. The storyline of Midsommar (2019) adheres precisely to the Unable (to Believe) arc. After the death of her sister and parents Dani is looking for a mentor figure to help her come back into the light. As she tries to rebuild herself in her traumatized state during a visit to a remote Swedish commune, she ends up travelling down a much darker path than others who wish to heal themselves in a more wholesome way. When Ki-Woo Kim, in Parasite (2019), forges his qualifications in order to become an English tutor for the wealthy Park family, the Unknowing story arc is set in motion and the ramifications of the deal that he makes can now never be undone. Eventually, his deception involves his whole family and as the Dark Forest slowly grows around them becomes one that they cannot escape. The Mistaken story arc, then, is itself a parasite. It feeds off the four classic narrative paradigms that we have outlined and inverts them, sending the Chosen One in a completely different direction, away from the exit to the Dark Forest and deeper into the undergrowth within.

Act I – The monster in the closet When we first meet our Mistaken Chosen One in their Once Upon a Time they traditionally fall into one of two distinct moulds.

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Sometimes they are Machiavellian, cruel or just outright ‘evil’. They exhibit the worst of us on screen and evidently sit outside of the status quo either deliberately rejecting the typical moral code of society or are unable to find their place within it. Just like all monsters, though, there is a reason that they are the way they are, which is more often than not tied to a deep-seated trauma that motivates or comes to aggravate their reactions to the shadows you create for them inside the Dark Forest. This trauma will feed into the conflicted natures of these Chosen Ones, and they will either remain unconquered or actually assist them in navigating the Dark Forest. For example, Louis Bloom in Nightcrawler (2014) is a cameraman for hire who films late-night car accidents for the early morning news. He is relentlessly ambitious and morally bankrupt. Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010) is about to become the owner and operator of the world’s biggest social networking site; however, he is arrogant, aloof and (ironically for what he will come to own) lonely and friendless. Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems (2019) is a charismatic jeweller who believes that he has the deal of a lifetime on his hands. However, he is dishonest, audacious and it appears that no matter how much money he makes he will never truly be satisfied. The naïve Chosen One of the slasher is another example of this unassimilated conflicted nature, where it becomes their journey to cast aside the impressionable nature that they have cultivated as teenagers and become women through enduring the suffering they will go through at the hands of a monstrous force. Jay in It Follows, Justine in Raw (2017), who is a young vegetarian veterinary student who is forced to confront her animalistic side which will eventually see her turn into a cannibal, and Haley in Host (2020), who unwisely hosts a séance online with disastrous consequences, are all variations on this idea. All of the spaces that our Mistaken Chosen Ones call their Once Upon a Time are places where they seemingly do not belong or are arenas that are hostile to them in some way or another. They jut out of these Once Upon a Times as all Chosen Ones should, but unlike their cousins who are clearly predisposed to some sort of heroism no matter what mould that may take, a Mistaken Chosen One frequently sticks out for all of the wrong reasons.

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The parasitic nature of the Kim family in Parasite is showcased to us from the beginning of the piece as they try to find a new source of unsecured WiFi that they can exploit. Their father, Kim Ki-taek, even insists on leaving the window of their basement apartment open so that they can have it fumigated for free as a worker passes by clearing the streets of insects. In Raw, Justine’s mother complains loudly at a food service worker when they discover that there was a piece of meat in the meal that her daughter was given. The family are staunch vegetarians and something like this is completely unacceptable for them. As the narrative progresses, we begin to understand the terrifying ramifications that even just one bite of flesh could create for the young vet. Dani’s Once Upon a Time in Midsommar is the perpetual darkness where the murder-suicide of her parents and sister hangs over her. Her journey is the inverse of many other Mistaken Chosen Ones, with her moving from the shadows of depression and anguish into the ever-pervasive and sinister light of the cult that she finds herself in at the end of the film, but this adheres precisely to the inverse of the Unable (to Believe) story arc. We see the dark inversion of our narrative arcs again and again in these stories that delve into the shadowy side of the creative imagination: Howard Ratner’s Willing Chosen One in Uncut Gems who finds that his trajectory is not as heroic as he expected, the Accidental Invitation to Host as the gang prepare to experience their remote séance on Zoom, Arthur Fleck’s search for a mentor in Joker as he yearns to Become a Swan, the deal Louis Bloom does in Nightcrawler to become a successful photographer in a distinctly seamy world.

The Invitation – Kill the Goose Just as the farmer and his wife make a rash decision to kill their benevolent goose in The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, so our Mistaken Chosen One performs an action mistakenly or without thinking it through as a response to the Invitation. They will then spend the remainder of the piece trying to deal with what they have just done, often only making matters worse for themselves.

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The Invitation within this paradigm is often linked to a ‘sin’ that the Chosen One commits. The narrative then ultimately becomes a story of punishment. This is a particularly effective way of considering the theme of the piece and assists you in anchoring this element of your story early on. The sins that your Chosen One could commit typically fall under one of three categories: individual, societal or familial. There is an entire sequence in Cabin in the Woods (2011) which plays with this moment of any Mistaken narrative arc. In a meta deconstruction of the horror genre the piece has the workers in the facility below the cabin place bets on which of the various ways they will bring about their own demise. In Host when asked by the medium if any of the gang know someone who might be trying to communicate with them, Jemma lies about knowing someone called James who killed himself when they were at school together. This is an individual sin that allows for a malevolent spirit to enter into their homes and slowly pick them off one by one as the Zoom call progresses. In a similar vein, Jay in It Follows experiences the individual ‘sin’ of sexuality that is in lockstep with much of the wider slasher canon. In having sex with the young man in the back of his car she awakens the slow-moving, shape-shifting monster which pursues her for the rest of the narrative. The whole piece plays with the notions of regret and shame which society usually prescribes to the first sexual experiences of young women and the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. In Joker, Arthur is given a weapon by the first of his father-like figures who go on to let him down during the narrative. The golden bullets look remarkably like the eggs that sit in the belly of the goose of our namesake for this moment. Although it is ultimately Arthur who becomes the anti-hero of the piece, the sin is first societal as we are constantly reminded of the funding cuts to the mental health services that he so desperately needs to access, but also familial as his mother was the one who allowed him to be abused as a child and thus created the trauma with which he lives. Finally, in Raw the sin is entirely familial as when Justine discards her vegetarianism by eating a rabbit’s kidney as part of the initiation ceremony to the veterinary society at university she is literally following in the footsteps of her mother and sister who both went through the same ceremony when they

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were first-year students which awakened their own cannibalistic longings. Like them, she will go through a transition which will end in her learning the horrific truth of her family’s past and their cannibalistic nature. Unlike the other responses to the Invitation there is little or no chance of a traditional Happily Ever After for the Chosen One as they begin to revel in the anti-hero status that they have achieved, attempt to redeem themselves only to find out that it is too late for them to do that or simply die as a consequence of the evil they have brought to their door.

Act II – The house of horrors During this act our Chosen Ones are initially rewarded for their abuse of the goose or do not fully comprehend the ‘damage’ that they have done in their response to the Invitation. However, during this sequence of the narrative they will come to realize that they are within the Dark Forest and for the moment they are enjoying it. Rather than realize their mistake at the point where they might be able to do something about it, they instead double down on the behaviour that has brought them into the Dark Forest and press further on into it despite the warning signs that are often so apparent. In the slasher variation of this arc there is often a specific character who attempts to have the teens turn back on their journey before they end up in the clutches of the monster who awaits them at their destination. Often the signs that they are on the wrong track are not at all subtle. We in the audience must know that the Chosen One had every chance to stop at this point but chose not to. In Parasite, Ki-woo begins to assume the identity of his friend who offered him the Invitation. He slowly begins the process of involving the rest of his Machiavellian family in the Park’s world. The final part of his scheme truly is the most diabolical work that the family have come up with to date and has them finally usurp the matriarchal maid from her position and fully entrench themselves within the rich family’s life by exploiting the maid’s allergy to peaches. Arthur in Joker begins to think that all of his problems are starting to be solved as he feels the weight of his new weapon protecting him. He also

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believes that he is making a connection with the woman from down the hall with whom he develops a romantic attachment. What is interesting during this section of the film is that as he is researching his comedy act by watching others at the club and taking notes, Arthur always laughs out of time from the rest of the audience. It seems even at his most private he is out of step with the rest of the world. Finally, he fully transitions into Act III (Part 1) when he kills the group of young businessmen on the subway and he involves himself fully in the shadows of the Dark Forest and starts his journey to becoming the Joker in earnest. With Justine in Raw after eating rabbit’s kidney her body reacts violently to her exposure to the meat, and she begins to exhibit an angry rash changing her body physically. As it is with many horror stories centred on the theme of transformation she must come to terms with this new version of herself. For our slasher Chosen Ones, our group of teenagers (or their surrogates) will arrive at the cabin in the woods that they have been heading towards since Act I. It could be that this was their destination from the beginning or is a space that they have ended up at by taking a wrong turn. These cabins are often at the literal centre of the Dark Forest and may be actual cabins as they are in Eden Lake (2018), Cabin Fever (2002), Severance (2006) or the tongue in cheek Cabin in the Woods. However, they could also be representations of this space. Either way they serve the same purpose. This is the place where your cast of characters will meet their fate one at a time until only one of their number is left to either survive or will be consumed by the monster we thought had been vanquished only to return in the final frames. For this act, though, our teens will at first dismiss or disregard the monster. However, as they transition into the next sequence of events they will huddle together and hope that they are able to outwit or at least outlast it after seeing only the first glimpse of what it is capable of. Frequently, in Act II we in the audience will also witness the first gruesome murder in all its gory detail following a tease in the cold opening. As this sequence ends our Chosen One now must accept that something is ‘wrong’ and must begin to assess how far they are willing to explore this Dark Forest.

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Act III (Part 1) – The helter-skelter As with the four ‘positive’ narrative arcs through the Dark Forest, our Chosen Ones will each have a different route or reaction to the Dark Forest depending on which inversion of the paradigm they are embarked upon. The Mistaken/Willing Chosen One will revel in the journey and enjoy the feeling of power they get from entering a space so in tune with their psyche. The Mistaken/Accidental Chosen One will want to escape this place but, in understanding more about its nature, may decide that it is more fitting home for them than their Once Upon a Time. The Mistaken/Unable (to Believe) Chosen One will gradually gain inner strength and self-belief from the Dark Forest, often with the support of a Mistaken mentor but sometimes searching fruitlessly for a mentor and therefore heading off track. The Mistaken/Unknowing Chosen One will explore deeper and deeper into the Dark Forest, assimilating it and helping it to grow deeper and darker as they progress. In all variations of the arc our Chosen Ones realize that they are not in control any longer. The darkness that they have unleashed in their response to the Invitation is much more powerful than they can imagine, and it will not be long before they reach the point where there is no hope that they will ever be able to return to the version of themselves that we met in Act I. Things are beginning to spiral away from them and the shadows that they are slowly being absorbed into have dark and malevolent things hidden within them. With Joker, Arthur’s social worker states that they are no longer going to be able to support him as they are closing their office due to budget cuts. This is despite the fact that it is very evident that Arthur is in desperate need of help. In line with the greater thematic experience that the piece explores, his social worker plainly states that no one actually cares about people like them. Arthur, it seems, is now entirely left on his own and, significantly, without his medication. In his delusional state, Arthur thinks that his life is on track, but as it is with the other Chosen Ones on this arc, he is an unreliable narrator. As the inverse of the Unable (to Believe) narrative, this is a moment where Arthur needs his mentor figure the most as he begins to emotionally invest in

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his journey. However, in being unable to orient himself with the guidance he should be receiving, his descent becomes all the more tragic. In Parasite the Kim family have finally successfully assimilated into the world of the rich family and begin to enjoy the status that they have accumulated. After their employers leave the house for the weekend to go camping, the Kim family live like kings in the empty abode. Drunk on the expensive liquor that they find, Ki-woo seems determined to travel further and deeper into the Dark Forest. He plans to ask out the daughter of the rich family. As the inverse of the Unknowing Chosen One, Ki-woo should be starting the process of understanding that the deal that he made during his response to the Invitation is an uneven one. However, he does the opposite and continues to tie himself up further in the parts of the bargain that he has not foreseen. This spiral can only continue for so long, though, before it reaches a crescendo and we arrive at one of the more explosive moments within any narrative and everything is upended.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – The goose is cooked In a Mistaken arc this is where our Chosen One finally truly disassociates from their old identity. This is the first time where, for a moment, they allow the monsters inside them to come out and they realize the terrible truth that the Dark Forest has grown around them. More than any of the other paradigms this is where our Chosen One has to accept that their internal and external worlds are not fully aligned and the journey that they are on is not what they thought that it was. Only now do they begin to realize that they are indeed a Mistaken Chosen One. In Host, Caroline peeks into the loft of her house with her selfie stick and for the first time we see the dangling feet of the malevolent spirit that they have awoken. Similarly, in The Lighthouse (2019) where two lighthouse keepers find themselves slowly unravelling on a remote island, the Thomases stand on the shore of the remote island and understand that there is no boat coming to

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retrieve them. In both instances it is now clear to our Chosen Ones that they are truly at the mercy of the Dark Forest and are being subjected to a force which they have no hope of controlling. Justine in Raw is convinced by her tormentor sister to cause a car crash by running across the road as a vehicle approaches. This is so that they can satisfy their cannibal urges and so that the young Justine is able to learn to fend for herself. Here we see the lengths that Alex is willing to go to satisfy her hunger and the cold and callous way that she is able to kill another human being. Meanwhile, Arthur in Joker is humiliated as the real segment that he performed at the comedy club is played on his favourite TV show ‘Murray’. When the host, Arthur’s most prominent mentor figure, ridicules him, Arthur begins to awaken from his current delusion and begins to see his Dark Forest for what it really is, a hostile and unwelcoming place for people like him.

Act III (Part 2) – The hall of mirrors After the Flipping of the Hourglass, our Chosen One looks around and is exposed to the horrors of the Dark Forest. There is danger everywhere and they see the true power of the shadows around them and the evil that lurks amongst them. During this falling action our Mistaken Chosen Ones again fall clearly into their recognizable but inverted pathways. The Mistaken/Willing Chosen One relishes the darkness. They have found space where they belong. The Mistaken/Accidental Chosen One is terrified and desperate to escape from the Dark Forest however they can. The Mistaken/Unable (to Believe) Chosen One is beginning to realize that their personality has adapted to this place and they begin to enjoy the ride. The Mistaken/Unknowing Chosen One explores further and learns more about the Dark Forest thereby embracing rather than fighting against the deal made at the point of the Invitation. In all pathways except for the Mistaken/Accidental arc (the most common arc for the slasher movie) it is important that the Chosen One has begun to

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embrace the Dark Forest. They have found a home here, and they have begun to realize that they do not want to find the exit. As it is with all paradigms, this is often the part of the narrative where a Chosen One will begin mirroring actions that they performed thus far in order to showcase the growth that they have experienced during their journey, or they will see a mirror of themselves in order to gain a greater perspective of the change that they have gone through. In Parasite after the explosive drama of the Flipping of the Hourglass sequence the pain for the Kims is compounded as the rich family return home from their camping holiday early because of inclement weather. As this sequence progresses, the Kims try to escape the house but end up trapped under the table like insects and have to endure them being bad mouthed by the rich husband and wife who then role-play being poor as part of their foreplay. Arthur in Joker heads to the pictures to confront Thomas Wayne in the bathroom and confesses that all he wants in life is a little warmth and decency. He admits out loud for the first time that he is longing for the loving embrace of a father figure in his life. After being rejected once again, Arthur heads to Arkham Asylum where he discovers a terrible truth about his mother and the abuse that she allowed him to suffer at the hands of the men in his life. Finally, the horrors that he endures during this part of the narrative come to a head as we discover that the blossoming relationship that we have seen Arthur cultivating with the woman down the hall has been a further part of his delusion.

Act IV – The tide is high but I’m holding on As we head into this sequence there is a momentary flickering of ‘hope’ for our Chosen One. We, and they, believe that they might be able to emerge from the Dark Forest in some way. They are either formulating a plan which they anticipate will allow them to escape unscathed or are racing towards what they pray is an exit. However, this is all short-lived. Any light that they may be aiming for is getting dimmer and dimmer, or they will soon come to realize that it is a trick that the Dark Forest is playing on them and they are actually heading further and further into the darkness.

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Frequently within this part of the Mistaken arc there are motifs of descending into a space either physically or mentally for the Chosen One as they begin to prepare for their final challenge during the Last Throw of the Dice which will occur in their version of a hellscape. With the Kim family in Parasite they are able to escape from the house and literally descend several flights of stairs back to their own dwelling. Their shame is further compounded when they discover that their basement has been flooded and all of their possessions destroyed. Lying on the floor of the gymnasium Ki-woo apologies to his father for getting them into this mess. Come the morning we see the juxtaposition of the Kims and the rich family. Returning to work, Ki-taek even has to endure the wife of the rich family saying how thankful she is for the rain as it means that there will be good weather for the party that she is planning. Arthur plans his own exit from the Dark Forest in Joker first by killing his mother in her hospital bed and then rehearsing his own suicide, which he plans to go through with on live television. In addition we also see a fabulous subversion of the visual motif of descending as Arthur effortlessly dances down the long flight of stairs that he has been laboriously trudging up since the beginning of the film. It is clear that he is very much revelling in this new emerging identity. In It Follows, Jay has sex with Greg from across the street in the hope of passing on the monster to someone else and thus leaving the Dark Forest. However, this only brings about a brief period of relief from her pursuit and eventually the death of Greg as the monster arrives at his door. This fills Jay with a huge amount of guilt and plunges her right back into the Dark Forest as the monster again turns its attention to her. However, it soon becomes clear that leaving the Dark Forest is not on the cards for our Chosen One and they too understand this as they transition into the next sequence of the narrative.

The Last Throw of the Dice – It’s Too Late With the four differing paths that our Chosen Ones are on there are two corresponding revelations that they might have during this moment depending

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upon the themes that you are exploring within your screenplay. There are those, on the Mistaken/Accidental arc, who regret their decision to enter the Dark Forest and then there are those on the remaining story arcs, who revel in the shadows that they have found there. They all share the profound realization that It’s Too Late for them to do anything which will allow for them to leave the forest. They are trapped and are unable to leave the Dark Forest unless it is through their death. Even those rare figures who survive the onslaught of the monster chasing them may leave the space physically, but it can be argued that they will never truly be able to disassociate from the trauma that they found there. For our revellers, this moment looks like this: HOW – They revel in the darkness down here. WHAT – They believe if they’re in for a penny then they’re in for a pound. WHY – They come to the profound realization that this is the way that they are meant to be. WHERE – In the Dark Forest, things only get worse from here on in. If we take Arthur in Joker through this sequence: HOW – Arthur literally revels in the limelight that he finds on the TV stage of the late night show ‘Murray’. We see him for the first time don the full garb of the alter-ego that he has been crafting throughout the narrative of the film, and he truly becomes Joker. WHAT – Through the realization that he makes during the WHY beat of this sequence, Joker decides that he isn’t going to turn the gun on himself, but instead he is going to kill Murray. WHY – This beat motivates the WHY as he looks into his notebook of jokes and sees the phrase, ‘I just hope my death makes more cents than my life.’ The homonym here is interesting to draw attention to as it drives at the theme of capitalism within the piece and the commentary that the work is making about how an individual’s life can ultimately be reduced to the monetary value which can be attributed to it.

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WHERE – Arthur now moves into Act V to revel in the chaos that he has caused through his actions which were broadcast live, and he becomes the king of Gotham. For our regretters, the moment shapes out more like this: HOW – They regret that they can’t find their way out. WHAT – They want the ride to stop, but they can’t find a way to get off. WHY – They wish that they had never been invited to the Dark Forest. WHERE – In the Dark Forest, things only get worse from here. If we look at Justine in Raw as she experiences this sequence: HOW – As the rush week ends for the pledges to the veterinary society the promised air horn blows signalling that those who are still standing have been accepted into the fold of the organization having made it through the brutality of the experience. WHAT – Justine wakes in her bedding with her roommate dead next to her with half his leg eaten. This truly is finality for Justine. She is totally assimilated into the Dark Forest in more ways than one, and we believe for a beat that she has allowed her hunger to overtake her and she is responsible for his death. WHY – However, she looks to the corner of the room where her sister/ tormentor sits on the floor with blood smeared around her mouth. It was she who murdered the roommate with a ski pole and devoured his leg. Justine momentarily presses that same implement against her sister’s forehead. She is unable to end her life and piles her into the shower to clean her off. WHERE – Justine moves into Act V where she discovers the dark secret behind her hunger and the familial sin at the centre of it. Finally, we have those who ‘leave’ the Dark Forest. This is only possible through their death as they have become so entrenched within the forest that they must either destroy it and/or themselves. Examples of this include The Lighthouse and Uncut Gems where after our Chosen One’s demise we are now

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simply shown that the Dark Forest is so sprawling that it endures without them, waiting for another Chosen One to come along.

Act V – The king is dead. Long live the king Now we truly see our Chosen One for who they were meant to become. They ascend to the position of the King or Queen of the Dark Forest and take this space for their own. During their journey within the Dark Forest they have altered it to fit them and their needs. The space around them has been reshaped in their image or due to their responses at the Last Throw of the Dice moment understand their place within it. They are then anointed with a literal or metaphorical crown which is placed upon their head to showcase that they indeed are the undisputed ‘ruler’ of this brave new world. Arthur in Joker rises up on top of the police cruiser in downtown Gotham as the crowds around him cheer. He has finally achieved everything that he wanted and is able to command an audience who seem to love him. The same is true for Dani in Midsommar who is literally anointed as the queen of the festival after winning the challenge at the end of Act IV and finding that the community around her will cry with her as she has found her place in the world. Making her final decision, she has to choose between sacrificing her ex-boyfriend or a member of her new community. Choosing her ex, he is stuffed into the skin of a bear and burned inside a barn. Watching the final echo of her previous life literally go up in smoke she smiles, her new life beginning. The Mistaken/Accidental Chosen One realizes that no matter their response to the ordeal they experienced in the Last Throw of the Dice sequence, they are either forced to experience a similar moment to that of Dani or Arthur, or they are horrified to find themselves still trapped within the Dark Forest. With Jay in It Follows, she believes that she has vanquished the monster who has been chasing her. However, we are left with the frightening image of someone stalking behind the teens at the end of the film. Whether this is the monster or not is for the audience to interpret, but it showcases the

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psychological scars that linger irrespective of the defeat of the monster as they will forever have to be looking over their shoulders for the remainder of their days. In Raw, as we transition from Act IV to Act V the sisters’ reflections overlap in the transparent divider between them in the prison visiting room. Justine has usurped her and now takes her crown as the replacement out in the Dark Forest. As the film ends, Justine sits with her parents at their dining room table saying to her mother, ‘I’m full.’ It appears that she has taken some agency and autonomy from the shadows in the Dark Forest and exhibited some growth. However, when her father reveals the dark secrets of how her mother satisfies her own cannibalistic cravings we understand that she is running from a monster that she cannot escape.

Exercises The Mistaken Chosen One doesn’t know that they are mistaken. This narrative arc, or set of narrative arcs, borrows from all of the other story paradigms so it is important for you to identify exactly what journey your Chosen One is on in order for you to create a successful and satisfying story. In the following exercises we concentrate on helping you to focus in on the correct trajectory for your Mistaken Chosen One.

Which of the other paradigms does your Chosen One think that they are on? No Chosen One considers that they have made a mistake at this point in the narrative. Only you as the writer and us in the audience (to some extent) know that. Currently, your Chosen One believes that they are on an entirely different trajectory and that there is a Happily Ever After in their future. Doing a bit of imagineering, write down a brief beat sheet which outlines the narrative your Chosen One would be on if you were not writing a Mistaken arc and you were going to allow them to exist in a real version of their delusion from Act I to Act V (you might want to refer to previous chapters of this book for reference).

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In order to gain a greater understanding of the Mistaken path your Chosen One is on, you could subvert these beats to showcase their negative alternative. This might bring about some interesting sequences should you write them into this paradigm after seeing what a positive change arc would do for them.

What is the ‘sin’ that your Chosen One commits during the Invitation? Tying the Invitation of a Mistaken arc to a specific sin is a powerful and interesting way to launch your Chosen One into the Dark Forest, but it also ensures that your narrative is both focused on character (only specific Chosen Ones would respond to a ‘sinful’ Invitation) and is able to link to a dynamic and interesting theme. For this activity have your Chosen One enter into a ‘confessional’ where they are able to purge themselves of their ‘sinful’ behaviour with a professional to guide them through the process. This can be a spiritual leader (priest, rabbi or imam, for example) or a medical professional (therapist, counsellor or psychiatrist) depending on who you think your Chosen One would speak to about their ‘bad’ behaviour. Write down the dialogue between the pair of them and see what it is that your Chosen One thinks and feels about their response to the Invitation. How this ends (regret/shame/pride/acceptance/ further delusion) is entirely up to you, but remember to make it truthful to the character of your Chosen One.

How will your Chosen One reign over their Dark Forest at the end of your narrative? Every new state, country or kingdom needs a manifesto, and your Chosen One is now in a position to draw one up as the ruler of the Dark Forest. Your Chosen One’s manifesto should give an indication of the sort of ruler they are going to be and the kind of kingdom that they are going to preside over. Is your Chosen One going to be a tyrannical dictator or a chaotic enabler? Will they show mercy or crush all those who oppose them with righteous fury?

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9 Willing case study You Were Never Really Here

Plate 9  Burn the Forest, by Francesca Hughes-Campbell.

Logline: A ​veteran with PTSD tracks down missing girls for a living. He accepts a job that draws him into a deep conspiracy that brings his nightmares to the fore. Release date: 6 April 2018 Screenplay: Lynne Ramsay (screenplay by), Jonathan Ames (based on the book by) You Were Never Really Here contains an excellent example of a Willing story arc. Our Chosen One, Joe, is certainly physically adept when it comes to navigating the Dark Forest as the task he is set is essentially his day job. Even as things begin to spin out of control and the conspiracy unfolds around him he is able to deal with the physical challenges that confront him with relative ease.

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As it is with many Willing Chosen Ones, the further he ventures into the Dark Forest, he comes to realize why it is that this arena must be burnt down. The corruption and abuse that goes on within cannot be allowed to continue. All it takes is for him to find the match that he will use to start the fire. This comes in the form of Nina, the girl that he will ‘liberate’ during the Last Throw of the Dice sequence. In a rather compelling twist on the stock version of the arc, it is the young woman who is able to not only save herself but also save Joe from his own damaged psyche.

Act I – I need to breathe Dappled light moves across the water as a young boy delivers a countdown in voice-over interspersed with various lines which include ‘I must do better.’ We then cut to a man with a carrier bag tight to his face as he restricts his intake of oxygen. This is Joe, our Chosen One. It is his job to track down missing children and bring them back through any means necessary. The opening image is a bold and disconcerting one that not only hints at the wider violent and dark tone of the piece but also points towards the yearning for more that becomes part of Joe’s journey. It is clear, from the start, that he is being stifled and is looking for a purpose that will allow him to breathe freely. We will frequently return to the motif of asphyxiation that is accompanied by traumatic recurring memories that only leave Joe once he is able to finally leave the Dark Forest. Although Joe is not as noble and virtuous as some prototypical Chosen Ones, he has his own moral code that we can respect. It appears that he does not want to hurt anyone who he does not have to and only uses force against those who are, in his eyes, deserving of it. He exists in a world where shades of grey are preferable to the blackness that surrounds him within the Dark Forest. It is evident that he has finished his current job as he performs the ritual that marks the end of each contract. He does so in a proficient and professional manner. This experience is routine for him. One of the most striking visuals of this sequence shows him wiping the blood from a hammer (his weapon of choice). It is clear that there is violence in his life, and it is not something that concerns him.

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Trudging slowly into the motel lobby he sees that there are flashing police lights outside, and he doubles back and heads out the back. Joe is not someone who wants to account for his presence and does not like to be noticed. The notion that he is invisible is suggested throughout the piece with the duality of his character on display. In his professional life it is an asset to able to blend in with the world around him; however, it is evident that he not only needs to connect with people in order to help him move beyond his personal trauma, but he is also a charming and personable individual under his hardened exterior. As he leaves the building and walks down the alley Joe is attacked by what appears to be an opportunist looking for someone to rob. Joe swiftly deals with him, landing one savage headbutt that puts an end to proceedings. Joe then takes a cab to the airport. The cabbie mouths the lyrics ‘You were never really here’ as he sings. As Joe takes a drink from the water fountain in the departures lounge, we cut to the POV of another passenger waiting on the benches. They simply see the water fountain working all by itself. These moments again reinforce Joe’s invisibility. Joe then calls a number from a payphone and leaves a voicemail simply saying, ‘It’s done.’ Heading to his mother’s apartment he looks towards the fire escape and notices someone watching him. He evidently is not happy. Opening up the door he moves inside to find his mother asleep in front of the television. If you look closely you will see a picture of Joe in full military dress uniform on the side. He approaches his mother who was only pretending to be asleep. The pair of them joke with one another, and it is clear that they have a great relationship. She then says that she has been watching the Hitchcock film, Psycho (1960). This reference is a brilliant cinematic comparison. Joe and Norman Bates (the anti-hero figure of Psycho) have a great many things in common. Their existence is one haunted by a past that follows them wherever they go, both are compelled to be violent beings and both are seemingly stunted by their relationships with their mothers with whom they share a history of united trauma. Joe helps his mother into her bed. She begs him to stay. He does, blaming her fears on watching scary films.

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We are then shown the large and painful scars that are all over his body as he ices a fresh bruise on his shoulder. As it is with many other Willing Chosen Ones Joe carries around the marks of the previous Dark Forests that he has journeyed through. However, it isn’t just the physical damage that Joe has to contend with; it is also evident that he is carrying a significant number of emotional and psychological issues that he is not either able or willing to address. He has the first of several flashbacks which come to us in disjointed images. This allows us to experience the world that Joe has ‘inside’ him, giving us greater insight into how these things develop during the narrative in tandem with the unfolding external conflict(s). His mother then calls him to come and help her with something in the bathroom. It’s clear that she is in distress but doesn’t want him to come in. With the knife from earlier he stabs at the closed door whilst humming Bernard Herrmann’s ‘Murder’, the staccato score accompanying the various murders in Psycho. Finally ushering his mother out of the bathroom, he sees that she has flooded it. He cleans up after her (another subtle nod to Bates who Joe is being actively compared to). Joe then heads into the city and goes into a grocery store. He sees the person from the fire escape stacking the shelves. They share a look of surprise. Evidently neither of them knows what to do about the situation. Joe then heads to the back of the store with the owner who hands him an envelope full of cash from the ceiling tiles. He is told, ‘The man called, and he wants to see you right away.’ Joe then questions the owner about how his son came to see him. Evidently terrified, the owner tries to reason with Joe. Finished with the conversation, Joe just hands him a little more from the wad of money letting the owner know that they are done and leaves the store as if he were a ghost. Returning to his mother’s house, he wraps himself up in a garment, once again restricting his breathing. He then has a flashback to himself as a child doing the same thing. This behaviour is evidently something that has been going on for some time.

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The Invitation – Why am I here? Heading inside an office block, Joe lays down on a sofa opposite McCleary (his boss). The pair make small talk about the flowers around the room – a present from a client who has just had their daughter returned. Joe mentions that he has lost the grocer’s number. He is evidently being cut out of the operation. Joe then simply asks, ‘Why am I here?’ McCleary lets him know that he has a new contract for him. A state senator, Albert Votto has asked that he bring his daughter back. Apparently, Votto’s wife killed herself a few years ago and the young girl has been running away ever since. Because he is currently running for office on Governor Williams’s ticket, he is unable to go to the police to sort this out. Joe is told to go and meet the senator at the Union Club at 2.00 pm and that’s it. Joe heads into the Dark Forest. Willing Chosen Ones typically accept the invitation immediately, with no delay.

Act II – Are you talking to me? At the Union Club Joe gets information from Votto about Nina (his daughter). Votto has an address that he believes is a brothel full of underage girls. Votto asks Joe if he has any kids. Joe answers no. This moment is an interesting extension of the Invitation as it represents an interruption of Joe’s ‘fate’ and sets him off in pursuit of his ‘destiny’. During his journey within the Dark Forest, he must not only learn to become a father figure of sorts to the young Nina but also allow her to assist him in coming to terms with his own trauma. Joe reassures Votto that he will be able to get the girl back and that he should be at a specific motel at 3.00 am. Currently it seems that Joe thinks that this is going to be an easy job. Visiting a hardware store, Joe picks up supplies. This is him physically preparing for the trials that lie in wait. We linger on a hammer. Joe’s weapon of choice.

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We then see another moment that hints at a further trauma that Joe has experienced when he agrees to take a photo of a group of young women on the street. Instead of their smiling faces he sees them silently screaming. Eventually, he is fixated on the face of one of them as tears pool in her eyes. Following a violent altercation with a back-alley drug dealer, we have another sequence where Joe deals with flashbacks to his trauma that occurred during his service in the military. He drives through the streets of New York late at night observing the seedy, rundown side of the city. This moment is another cinematic reference to Taxi Driver, which the piece has strong connections to. Joe begins to stake out the brothel. He watches as a man with a refuse sack arrives and then eventually leaves the property. Ambushing him on the street Joe bundles him into the back of the car and interrogates him. The man gives up the information that Joe wants without much pressure and Joe knocks him out and tapes him up in the car. Entering the building Joe swiftly deals with the guards and clients who are there, battering them with a hammer.

Act III (Part 1) – I need to go Joe is then able to find and free Nina who we will come to recognize as the match in this narrative. Currently, she is lying in an almost comatose state on a bed counting backwards in voice-over much as the young Joe did in the opening scene. It appears that these two are in some way already connected. Carrying her out, Joe sees another client in the corridor. Putting Nina down he encourages her to close her eyes as he batters his skull. Nina simply stares dead ahead. She seems to be dissociating from the violence happening around her. Returning to the car, Joe dumps the guy he previously tied up onto the street and pulls away with Nina in the front seat. As they drive away, she continues with the voice-over counting down reinforcing this coping mechanism that she shares with Joe. Arriving at a car park the pair wait in silence. Eventually he asks her, ‘Do you want something to drink?’ Touching the central console of the car she

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pulls her fingers back revealing that they are now covered in blood. Joe tries to help her wipe it off saying that she doesn’t want to touch that as it’s gross. He is trying to protect her from experiencing any further trauma. Joe is emotionally investing in his journey. He is beginning to show some paternal instincts which will only grow as he spends more time with Nina. Nina then throws her arms around him. Joe enjoys this experience. We are given the impression that this is the first time that someone has done something like this for quite some time. However, she evidently misunderstands his intentions in rescuing her and she tries to kiss him. Pulling back, he says that there’s no need for that and puts her back into her seat and belts her in. This again is another exhibition of his paternal instincts. He is literally making her safe in this environment. The pair then head to the hotel that is the drop-off point.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – The mirrored ceiling Once they are there, Joe wraps her up in a towel and dries her wet hair, telling her not to worry as her father will be with them soon. Little does he know; he is now her only remaining father figure (SING IT LOUD AND SING IT PROUD). Flipping through the channels, Nina lands on a news report that informs her that her father has killed himself by jumping from the twenty-second floor of a building. This completely destroys Joe’s EASY PLAN as there is now no one that he will be able to hand the young Nina to. This is his YOU CAN’T PUT IT BACK IN THE BOTTLE moment as he now has to recognize his responsibilities with a young charge in his care. There is a knock at the door. Joe answers it. It is the man from the front desk. He is then shot in the back of the head by one of a pair of unseen assailants who then force their way inside the room. Joe backs his way onto the bed with Nina as two police officers enter, one training a silenced pistol on Joe. The other then hoists Nina off the bed and carries her out. She calls after Joe. Joe tries to reason with the officer left in

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the room saying that he is just a hired gun. This is of course all a ruse, and he uses his wits to fight the officer and eventually subdue him. These two beats combine together to become Joe’s I’M READY TO ADMIT and THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT moments. Finally, the camera inverts, looking at the action through the mirror on the ceiling of the motel room. The world has literally been turned upside down and we are looking at it in an entirely new way (just as Joe is), and we reach the I HOPE I PACKED A PARACHUTE section of the sequence. It is clear that Joe is involved with something that is more terrifying than anything he has experienced before, and we move from the rising action of the first half of the film to the falling action of the second. He is now knee-deep in a conspiracy that he is going to have to bring down.

Act III (Part 2) – A boy’s mother is his best friend Dropping down the fire escape he exits the motel and performs a frightening bit of dental self-surgery. He simply cleans the blood off himself as best he can and carries on. Trying to phone McCleary he gets no answer. Something is evidently wrong. Taking a cab, Joe heads back to his house. Drawing a knife off the kitchen counter it is evident that he suspects that there might be someone uninvited in the property. Discovering that he is alone he heads to one of the drawers and finds his gun. He then takes his keys and drives rather erratically downtown. Heading to McCleary’s office he finds that his old boss has been brutally killed. More worryingly, as Joe tries to get in touch with the grocer from earlier there is no answer. The grocer and his son are being held at gunpoint by unseen men who then execute them. This section could either be the objective truth, or it may be that Joe is imagining this ordeal. Either way, Joe’s darkest fears come to pass and, when he returns to his mother’s house, he finds her dead in her bed, the pillow covering her head with a single shot through her eye.

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Shaking with rage he tries to keep calm. Moving down the landing Joe experiences his most intense flashbacks yet, and we finally understand the emotional relationship that he has with the hammer and why it is his weapon of choice. Raising his pistol, he heads downstairs and fires at the two men who are in his house. He kills one of them outright and injures the other one who attempts to crawl away.

Act IV – We scratch and we claw . . . Joe heads to the kitchen, stepping over the man who is crawling on the floor. He asks the man, ‘Who killed my mother?’ He gets no response as the man flips onto his back, revealing the American flag pin on his lapel. It is clear that he is part of a security detail. Joe begins to crudely torture the man. It transpires that the man works for Governor Williams and that Nina is ‘his favourite’. The conspiracy that Joe is embroiled with evidently goes right to the top. It is never made explicit but as an audience, we understand that Governor Williams is directing the authorities to cover up the human trafficking that he is involved with. It is likely that Nina is not actually Votto’s daughter and that this was all part of a deception to bring Joe into the Dark Forest. Sliding onto the floor, Joe then asks, ‘Was my mother afraid?’ The man next to him mumbles something about how she was sleeping, evidently in the process of succumbing to his own wounds. In a strangely tender and touching moment, Joe holds hands with the man as he dies, offering him comfort as he slips away. Joe then drives his mother’s body wrapped in a bin liner to a large lake. Looking towards the body of water he begins filling his pockets with rocks. It is clear that he plans to sink with his mother into the darkness of the water and die there with her. Falling through the lake Joe is lit by a single shaft of light as he slowly descends. He is a broken man who has lost everything. Allowing the body of his mother to slip through his hands he hangs there alone in the shadows. He begins a countdown to the time when we assume that he will simply

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accept his death. It stops abruptly and there is silence. However, Nina’s own countdown takes over and he has a vision of her drifting deeper into the water below him. Suddenly, he has a reason to continue living. Out there somewhere is a girl that he has responsibility for, and he finally examines his psychology and reconsiders his attempt at suicide. Taking the rocks from his pockets he quickly swims to the surface. The vision of Nina follows him. He has literally found a reason to breathe again. We then cut to Joe on his slow trudge again, moving forward to his ultimate goal. Camping out in a car outside Governor Williams’s office Joe waits for him to come out of the building. He then follows the governor’s car to a large, secluded house in the middle of nowhere.

The Last Throw of the Dice – . . . but only at the air, only at each other . . . Joe stalks the grounds of the house with his hammer. As he enters the house, he sees that the governor’s heavies have already been dispatched. He heads to the bedroom where he discovers the body of Williams with his throat cut. Overcome with everything that has happened to this point Joe breaks down and allows himself to cry in frustration and desperation. Moving to leave, Joe has several haunting flashbacks of the people in his life. However, this time they seem to have invaded the ‘real’ world. It appears that his psyche has been entirely deconstructed, and the past and the present blur into one. As he walks past the dining room, he sees Nina eating dinner with a bloody straight razor unfolded next to her. The match, it seems, has ignited itself this time and Burned the Forest behind her. Joe approaches her and reaches out, more it seems to check if she is real than anything else. She is the one to console him at this moment telling him that it’s all going to be OK. It appears that the conspiracy has been unpicked, the forest has been burnt and for once Joe has found someone who cares for him.

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Act V – . . . and for all of it, we never budge and inch Joe and Nina sit in the booth of a diner. Nina asks where they are going to go now. Neither of them know. Nina then leaves the table. Left alone again, Joe places a gun in his mouth and shoots himself through the roof of his mouth. The conversation carries on around him, and it appears that no one has noticed. The waitress freckled in his blood even comes to deposit the cheque on his table. Nina then returns and gently strokes his head. He raises it (no longer covered in blood) and implores him to leave as it’s a beautiful day. They smile at one another. This sequence allows our Chosen One to exhibit the spiritual transformation which is present within this part of their arc. This may be a visual indication that Joe, leaving the Dark Forest, has destroyed his old life and is reborn spiritually with greater purpose. When Nina reawakens him he is able to see this purpose and begin to move beyond the trauma of his past. The fact that the other patrons and the waitress ignore him reinforces this reading as it fits with the grander thematic arc of Joe’s invisibility. However, an alternative reading is that his death is literal, and the spiritual transformation is all a wilful vision of what could have been. There is little to support this in the external action of the other characters within the sequence, though. However, as we have spent the entire film only experiencing the narrative from Joe’s point of view it may be that we are being deceived at this final hurdle as to the dramatic truth. As the credits roll, we are then offered a final frame of an empty booth at the diner with the scattered crockery that Nina and Joe have left behind. We are left to wonder what awaits them in the future. It now appears that there are two characters who were never really there.

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10 Accidental case study Soul

Plate 10  The Return, by Francesca Hughes-Campbell.

Logline​: There’s a soul missing. Release date: 25 December 2020 Screenplay: Pete Doctor, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers The Accidental story arc is easy to identify but difficult to pull off effectively. The animated children’s film Soul is a wonderful example. It’s surprising, imaginative, entertaining and really hard to second-guess (unless you are reading this book, in which case the ending is inescapable . . . and you are reading this book come to think of it). It is interesting how stories for an adult audience often cover everyday issues such as relationships, theft, murder and driving very fast, whilst stories for or about children and young adults very often look to the big-ticket items such as good versus evil in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) or religion in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) or

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life and death in Stand by Me (1986). Soul tackles perhaps the biggest issue of all: the meaning of life. The Accidental arc introduces us to new worlds or new ways of looking at the world we inhabit and, as such, surprise is central to the conceit. Soul delivers surprise and innovation time and time again as we follow Joe Gardner’s journey from restless wannabe to contentment and acceptance. This arc is all about learning and acceptance. Chosen Ones who find themselves on an Accidental journey generally have an awful lot to learn about themselves, and Soul tells this story with real humour and heart.

Act I – Alright, let’s try something else We are introduced to teacher Joe Gardner as he conducts the middle school band whilst a series of minor calamities reveal that the kids’ hearts aren’t really in this performance. Then Connie plays an amazing trombone solo, much to her embarrassment and the kids’ amusement. Turning the situation around, Joe opens his heart to us and the band members recalling a shared musical experience with his father, getting ‘lost in it’. The opening scene works hard to establish a number of things, as all opening scenes should: whilst Joe conducts the school band we see that he is too good for this position but that he has patience and empathy with the kids in his care. We see that, most of all, it is music that motivates him and particularly the power of music to transport a person to another place. Lastly, we meet Connie who is wrestling with one of the major themes of this film – what gives her joy in life or her Spark. The next scene firmly establishes Joe’s thwarted ambitions as he is offered a full-time post as band leader of the school. This is clearly not his dream job. In her tailor shop, Joe’s mother, Libba, however, is delighted by the news. He has been offered a job and, as she points out, ‘playing music will finally be your career!’ But we know, and Joe knows, that the school band does not produce the kind of music that he hankers for. What his mother refers to as his ‘dead-end gigging’. What follows is an invitation of sorts when his old pupil, Curley, offers him an audition for the Dorothea Williams Quartet but this, as we will discover,

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is not Joe’s Invitation into the Dark Forest, but rather an illustration of his ambitions and aspirations in life. His subsequent audition with Dorothea in a New York jazz dive takes us, once again, to the ‘zone’ as Joe gets lost in the music he loves. This sequence is all about raising the stakes for Joe for what is about to come. We have to feel every ounce of sympathy and empathy for him as he negotiates the Dark Forest and this sudden offer, to join the band of his dreams, does this effectively. As Joe himself says, ‘I would die a happy man if I could perform with Dorothea Williams.’ The next beautifully choreographed sequence sees Joe transported, once again, from reality, as he breaks the news of his upcoming gig to family and friends on his cell, narrowly avoiding death from bricks, a bus, detritus on the sidewalk, an angry dog and a motorcycle, before falling down a manhole. Crucially, Joe has died just before performing with Dorothea Williams, and it will become clear, very quickly, that he is not a happy man.

The Invitation – What the – ? Typically for an Accidental story arc the Invitation comes out of nowhere for the Chosen One. They do not have a chance to accept it, dismiss it or even consider it. They are thrown into the Dark Forest and they are left to fend for themselves. This moment, for any audience, interrupts the forward motion of the drama suddenly and irrevocably. The effect of a powerful Down the Rabbit Hole moment can be disconcerting, but also holds within it a strong dramatic impetus. Joe’s got something he has to do. The audience wants Joe to succeed. But this thing has just happened.

Act II – I don’t think you’re supposed to go that way When Joe finds himself, now a transparent soul, on ‘a slidewalk’ heading towards the Great Beyond, his first instinct is to go against the flow. To head away from death.

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He fights, he strains, he does everything he can to escape the Great Beyond until, by tearing a hole in the membrane that surrounds the souls on the slidewalk, he manages to tumble over the edge and ends up in the Great Before. This section of the film is all about exploring, understanding and discovering things about the Dark Forest. Like Oz or Wonderland this is a world which does not work by the same set of rules as ours so Joe must learn quickly if he is going to survive this place. Crucially, we discover here that the Great Before is where souls gain their personalities prior to being allowed to head to earth. As we have seen from the basic outlining of the paradigm over the preceding chapters of this book, the Accidental Chosen One’s journey is one of selfdiscovery facilitated by their being thrust into an alien universe and the first reaction is always to rail against their arrival in the Dark Forest and try to find an easy way out. Joe, however, has a lot to learn about himself and life before he will be allowed to experience the Return. And this journey will not be easy. At this point we meet Terry, the accountant, whose job it is to count souls entering the Great Beyond. Terry notices the count is off and he will represent a major obstacle for Joe as the story proceeds. Terry’s first job is to find out who that missing soul is and that search is going to take a whilst, allowing the story to unfold further as he progresses. Terry, here, represents a long dangling cause, which is a common device in filmic storytelling. Here, a series of events to happen at some point in the future is hinted at in an often low-key way. Terry’s scenes here do not appear as vital or dramatic as Joe’s; however, the events put in motion at this early stage of the film will have enormous significance later on. Meanwhile, Joe has been mistaken for a mentor and, through a mentoring seminar, we are treated to some neat exposition that fills in the rest of the information we need for this story to play out. All unborn souls must collect a series of badges that create a ‘personality profile’ for themselves. The final badge represents their ‘Spark’. It is the job of the mentor to help the soul find the Spark that will allow them to be born. Joe interprets the Spark as being a new soul’s purpose in life and hatches a plan to help a soul gain their complete personality profile, steal their badges

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and return to earth in order to perform with Dorothea Williams. He has no doubt that his musical skills will be enough to provide a Spark for anybody. Here, at the end of Act II, Joe, mistaken for Dr Bjorn T. Borgensson, is assigned the troublesome 22 to mentor. The Accidental Chosen One, typically, cannot find their way through the Dark Forest alone. They need others to support them on their journey. Very often these supporting characters, like the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow, are even less capable at negotiating the Dark Forest than the Chosen One and call upon their help. The tables are turned. In helping others, the Chosen One learns more about themselves and is able to grow as a character and often understand the folly of their ways.

Act III (Part 1) – That’s not how I remember it going down As we head into the heart of the story, Joe’s problems have multiplied and the obstacles standing between him and his performance with Dorothea Williams have become more difficult to negotiate. However, as with so many of these story arcs, the solution to his issues remains firmly by his side throughout – this time in the shape of 22. As is common in so many stories, the engine behind this narrative comes in the form of opposites. 22 is seemingly the opposite of Joe in so many respects. Joe has ambition, 22 has none, Joe wants to return to earth, 22 does not, Joe embraces creativity and humanity, 22 embraces nothing. When Joe reveals the truth of his own life to 22, through the exhibition in the Hall of Joe Gardner, it is not as impressive as he might have hoped or expected. 22 finds him laughable in his lack of achievement, and Joe comes to the swift conclusion that ‘my life was meaningless’. Here we are asked to ponder the meaning of a life. Joe believes that it is music that gives his life meaning and his lack of notable success in that area strips his life of significance in his eyes. His ambitions here are entirely focused upon the upcoming performance at the Half Note jazz club. This is the moment that will give his life meaning, he thinks.

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At this point we discover that, first, Joe’s body is still on life support on earth and that unless 22’s badge becomes an Earth Pass it cannot be passed on to Joe. 22 agrees to give Joe the badge if they can turn it into an Earth Pass – 22 would get to skip life and Joe would get to return. Win-win. Joe’s quest to find 22’s Spark becomes even more serious and the stakes are raised once more. Unfortunately for Joe, 22 remains unmoved by music so they head off to the Hall of Everything where we are treated to a number of scenes of souls finding their Sparks and completing their Earth Passes. Sadly, for Joe nothing sticks and 22 remains completely untouched by the experiences on offer. When Jerry comes to end the mentorship and send Joe onwards to the Great Beyond, however, something has changed. They have become a partnership. 22 encourages Joe to run and they escape together to the Astral Plane. 22 has become intrigued by Joe. Why would he want to return to his ‘sad pathetic life’? This partnership is based upon two characters who fundamentally misunderstand the meaning of life and are self-centred and obsessional about that misunderstanding. Stories based around such partnerships require each to move towards the other and embrace and understand their own life views. Ultimately, they will recognize that they are two sides of the same coin.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – Some people just can’t let go of their anxieties and obsessions Another landscape, another series of bizarre and imaginative visuals. Here we meet Lost Souls, people ‘in the zone’, and Moonwind Stardancer, the mystic, dedicated to helping Lost Souls rediscover themselves upon earth. It is typical of the Accidental storyline that the worlds our Chosen Ones encounter should keep revealing themselves throughout the story. We are constantly discovering something new as we travel deeper into Wonderland, Oz or Punxsutawaney, both in terms of landscape and the characters who inhabit that landscape, and in terms of our Chosen One and their unfolding internal journey.

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Here Joe discovers that he is an ‘untethered soul’ (i.e. his body is still on life support) and Moonwind commits to helping him return. This point in a film is normally when the Chosen One learns truths about themselves and expresses long hidden emotions so that they can move on and solve the riddle of the narrative. However, Joe is an obsessive and will not give up his obsessions until the very final moments of the film. It is left to the audience here, then, to recognize in the Lost Souls elements of Joe’s own ‘anxieties and obsessions’ (I’M READY TO ADMIT, THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT). Joe’s eagerness to return to his body creates the next turn in the story and the next step towards Joe’s self-realization (I HOPE I PACKED A PARACHUTE). By rushing his return (THE EASY PLAN) he reappears on earth in the shape of the therapy cat and accidentally nudges 22 into his own body. Here we have entered the falling action of the second half of the film as Joe struggles to return the world to normality. Once again, as the Hourglass flips, the stakes are raised and the obstacles more difficult to overcome.

Act III (Part 2) – I’m back! Their immediate tasks are to get used to their physical bodies, negotiate New York City and find Moonwind. When they discover him twirling his sign on a street corner, Moonwind tells them he must perform an astral transmigration displacement. A ceremony that can only happen half an hour before Joe is due on stage at the Half Note. The ticking clock set up since Joe’s descent into the manhole has just started to tick more loudly. . . . Made even more insistent by a brief return to Terry the accountant searching for the missing soul . . . and Dorothea spotting 22 and Joe on the street thereby losing Joe his spot in the band. In this mid-section of the film our Chosen One thinks they have all of the rules and regulations of the world at their fingertips and that their job is to overcome the obstacles in order to escape to normality. But . . . remember those ruby slippers that were on Dorothy’s feet all along? Generally, there is something that our Chosen One still needs to understand both about

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themselves and about the strange world of the Down the Rabbit Hole paradigm. For Joe Gardner this is definitely true. We are also dealing with 22 here, though. The trajectory of the secondary Chosen One can be just as dramatic and pronounced for them as a character, but the story beats are further apart and potentially more seismic. It is Connie’s appearance at Joe’s apartment that gives 22 an insight into what a Spark really means down here on earth. She is suddenly intrigued. In the meantime, the falling action of the narrative dictates that the way ahead should become more difficult and fraught with danger for our Chosen One as they proceed towards the conclusion of their journey.

Act IV – I just let out the me The joy of a story such as this is that it just doesn’t stop racking up the drama. Just as Joe seems to be lining things up down on earth to achieve his dreams, in the Great Before, Terry has found out who he is and where he is. And he’s going after him. The long dangling cause set up in Act II is about to pay off. Meanwhile, following a haircut disaster, Joe and 22 have headed over to Dez’s barber shop. Here, should he choose to listen, Joe is treated to some home truths about himself which he really needs to understand if he is ever going to get out of the Dark Forest. As 22 talks openly and honestly about life, ambition and aspiration, others are drawn in. Thinking that 22 is Joe, Dez laments that they have never talked like this before, always discussing jazz previously. Also, we learn something more about the Spark which will return shortly. As 22’s confidence grows she begins to realize that she can have an effect upon others by ‘jazzing’. A term that infuriates Joe. 22 is beginning to appreciate the feeling of being an individual. When Joe’s pants split, however, he is forced to make a decision that will tie up a second long dangling cause in this script – the relationship he has with his mother. When we last met her, Libba was celebrating Joe giving up the life of itinerant gigs and taking on a full-time job. He never told her about Dorothea Williams.

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As we head towards the final act, the more obstacles the better. Particularly if obstacles help us to tie up loose ends. As they approach the tailor shop, however, it is abundantly clear that Joe has still not learnt the key lesson he needs to learn from his experiences. He tells 22 to lie about the reason for getting his suit fixed; however, Libba already knows about the gig. This confrontation leads to a moment of real honesty for Joe. He tells his mother how he really feels about music, his life, his father . . . Libba is moved and donates Joe’s father’s suit to him. Honesty finally worked for Joe. 22 tells him that he was ‘jazzing’. With everything lined up and ready they arrive at the Half Note Club, but there is still an opportunity to throw in a couple more obstacles. As Moonwind declares that everything is ready for the transfiguration, 22 says she has finally found the confidence to want to live, but Joe needs 22 to return to the Great Before so he can get to his gig. 22 refuses . . . and runs.

The Last Throw of the Dice – This is water, what I want is the ocean Everything combines here to create the all is lost moment for Joe as Terry finally manages to trap them in Limbo and return them to the You Seminar. 22 is furious with Joe for not giving her time to find her Spark. Joe is distraught at missing out on his opportunity to play with Dorothea Williams. However, it appears that 22 has completed her Earth Pass and Joe is convinced that this is only because 22 inhabited his body. He was the reason why 22 found her purpose. Angry, 22 leaves Joe the Earth Pass and disappears. Here Joe is given the final key to the puzzle, but he is too stubborn to accept it. Jerry tells him that the Spark has nothing to do with a purpose. Passions, purposes, meanings of life – ‘so basic’ says Jerry. But Joe won’t listen. He is convinced that music is his reason to live and Joe returns to earth and his body to prove it.

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Everything is set for the fulfilment of all Joe’s hopes and dreams whilst, in the Great Before, 22 is lost and alone muttering that she has no purpose. Joe secures his place in Dorothea’s band once more and the gig is a roaring success. However, the moment that Joe has been waiting for his whole life is a let-down. The world hasn’t changed. His life is the same as it was. His job is to return the next night and do it all over again.

Act V – You’re pretty great at jazzing Memories of 22 and her experiences on earth flood his head, followed by other memories: Connie ‘in the zone’, riding a bike, watching fireworks, being with his father, memories imbued with emotion and meaning. As he realizes that ‘just regular ol’ living’ is the meaning of existence, he enters the zone once more and meets up with Moonwind in order to set things right. 22 has become a Lost Soul and it is up to Joe to find her and return her Earth Pass. The film concludes with 22 accepting that she is good enough to live and Joe, in recognition of his mentorship, being given another chance back on earth. So, the story arc is complete as Joe is allowed to experience the Return and find his way back to his own body and his life on earth.

11 Unable (to believe) case study God’s Own Country

Plate 11  The Reveal, by Francesca Hughes-Campbell.

Logline: ​A young farmer seeks to forget his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until a Romanian migrant worker arrives for the lambing season and ignites an intense relationship, setting Johnny off on a new path. Release date: 24 August 2017 Screenplay: Francis Lee Based on the lived experience of writer/director Francis Lee, God’s Own Country is a unique twist on the Unable (to Believe) arc. During the narrative, a young farmer from Yorkshire called Johnny Saxby is mentored by a migrant worker Gheorghe Ionescu. The piece is interesting as it explicitly wraps the introduction of the mentor figure up with the Invitation.

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Gheorghe functions as both of these elements within the narrative as he first interrupts Johnny’s assumed identity and changes his physical space, but also assists him through his sexual awakening. The visual grammar on display within the piece is superb with imagery and motifs used throughout to help tell the story, either in isolated incidents or over several sequences.

Act I – I never wanted him here in the first place We open on a small farmhouse in the darkness of early morning in the far north of rural England. A single light shines from the porch. The only one that can be seen for miles around. The sound of retching breaks through the silence as a light is turned on upstairs. We cut to Johnny Saxby bent over double throwing up in the toilet after a night of heavy drinking. He is evidently not in a good place. Johnny is then called downstairs where he receives instructions from his grandmother (Deirdre) that his father (Martin) needs help with a cow in labour. She then scolds him for his drinking. It is clear that Johnny’s behaviour is a regular occurrence. Heading out into the fields, Johnny begins to attend to his duties as a farmhand, closing up the gaps in the fences around the farm. It’s clear that his hangover is doing him no favours as he struggles with the task in hand. Glancing over at a large gap in the boundary wall he drops his head and sighs. This is a job that he has been promising his father that he will do for some time. He then heads back to one of the barns and checks on the pregnant cow. Stroking her tenderly he mumbles that it won’t be long until she gives birth. He then playfully instructs her that she is to wait until he returns before giving birth. At the cattle market, Johnny stands amongst the other farmers from the area watching the proceedings unfold. As Johnny looks around at the faces to his left and right, he sees no one like him. This short sequence reinforces Johnny’s isolation. Successfully selling his cow he then heads to the café to get some lunch. He glances across at another patron giving him a secret signal. The pair have sex

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in Johnny’s horsebox. As the young man tries to kiss him, Johnny pushes him away, a significant gesture. The opening gives us a clear picture of the ugly duckling that is Unable (to Believe) in themselves. Johnny is evidently isolated, unhappy and unable to fully express his sexuality. His bitterness, anger and resentment will continue to be on display during the remainder of the opening act. However, we identify with him strongly. There is something inside him yearning to come out and eventually, under the right conditions, we will see him Become a Swan. Johnny then proudly returns to the family farm with the money he got for the cow. However, his grandmother is not happy saying, ‘Where’ve you been? Dad had to see to her.’ Stepping into the barn Johnny sees that the calf has been born lame. His father, standing at the scene with his walking sticks, blames Johnny for this as he took too long to get back from the market. Johnny suggests they call the vet but Martin tells him, ‘don’t be soppy’ and makes the young man shoot the calf. It is clear that Martin wants Johnny to be more like himself. Martin is the antagonist holding Johnny back from realizing his true nature. Martin tells Johnny how happy he is that another farmhand will soon be there to help. Johnny insists that he can manage just fine on his own. With his father gone Johnny kicks the body of the dead calf in frustration. He cannot live up to what Martin wants him to be. Later at dinner Johnny tucks into his meal and cracks open a can of lager. His grandmother pleads with him not to drink so much as he needs to go to the station to pick up the new farmhand. Johnny moans that he doesn’t want to do that, and he never wanted him to come in the first place. This sets up the conflict between Johnny and Gheorghe in the initial stages of their relationship. It also transpires that Gheorghe was the only applicant for the position. No one, it seems, wants to be on this farm.

The Invitation – Do they call you Gheorghe or something? Pulling up at the train station Johnny picks up Gheorghe. The slightly older man has a mysterious air about him. A strong silent type who we come to learn

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has grown up in a similar situation to Johnny and has struggled with the same conflict about his sexuality. Gheorghe is the perfect mentor figure for this story as he has literally walked through this Dark Forest before our Chosen One and is now able to help them navigate it, having learnt valuable lessons. It will fall to Gheorghe to not only assist Johnny in understanding his identity but also help him become a better farmer. The pair drive off in an uneasy silence. Gheorghe pulls his phone out of his pocket, but Johnny mentions how that is going to be of no use to him here. This further reinforces the isolation of the location and the prevailing theme of the piece.

Act II – Rebirth Arriving back at the farm Johnny shows Gheorghe his new quarters, a caravan. Johnny is rude and aggressive and racist. It is evident that these two are starting off on a confrontational footing. Furthermore, this heightens how Johnny’s space has now physically changed, and he lashes out in response. Throughout the scene Gheorghe remains calm and composed. He is the level-headed mentor figure. Leaving the caravan before slamming the door Johnny leans back into the space: ‘See, shite hole. I bet you wished you stayed in Romania.’ Like all Unable (to Believe) Chosen Ones, Johnny experiences a strong reaction against the Invitation and is combative with his mentor. Later in the farmhouse, Gheorghe and Martin make awkward small talk. Martin makes it clear that Gheorghe is here to help with the lambing and after a week or so he’ll need to go elsewhere. This starts a ticking clock of sorts. Johnny announces that he is going out to the pub. Disapproving, Martin asks if he might want to invite Gheorghe. It’s evident that neither particularly wants to be in the company of the other. Gheorghe returns to his caravan and unpacks. We glimpse him removing a sweater, a motif which will develop during the course of the narrative. We cut to Johnny propping up the bar at his local pub. Heading outside he lights up a cigarette. There he runs into an old school friend who enquires about his father’s health. During the conversation it appears that he is jealous that she has managed to ‘escape’ to her ‘fancy’ college.

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She then mentions, with a knowing look, that Johnny would particularly like one of her university friends. It is clear that she is aware of Johnny’s battle with his sexuality and wants to try and help him express his desires. Furthermore, she remarks how Johnny used to be funny pointing to the potential inside him before the cynicism and depression took over. He hits back at her kindness with a snippy, ‘Before I joined the real world.’ She heads inside the pub to be with her friends. Johnny is left outside looking in on them, partly curious and partly jealous. We then cut to Gheorghe in the caravan. The wheels of an approaching taxi wake him. The driver dumps Johnny and leaves him on the cold drive. Drunk and unable to move, Johnny simply curls up and sleeps. In the morning Gheorghe assists a ewe in giving birth. He lays the animal on its side in a similar position to the drunken Johnny. In contrast to Johnny, though, in the lamb’s hour of need it is being assisted. Martin watches on, seemingly satisfied with Gheorghe’s efforts. However, he looks over at the stone wall that Johnny saw in Act I and despairs that it is not yet fixed. We are then shown a hen pecking at a broken egg on the floor, literally cannibalizing its young. Johnny emerges from his night spent under a tarp which is lent against a wall. This is like a birth and is framed as such with Johnny first trying to push his way out of his makeshift shelter. He then leans over the side of the wall and vomits. This whole sequence showcases imagery associated with birth. This part of the narrative is indeed a new beginning for Johnny. He is physically preparing for the journey that he is about to go on where he will become a newer and better version of himself. There is also implicit reference to Johnny’s motherless upbringing and the high, and unrealized, expectation of his father. Later, Johnny is chastised by Martin for not fixing the wall as he promised and for getting drunk. Johnny shoots back that he only had a few pints and that there is nothing else for him to do. The two expose some of the resentment that they evidently have for one another. As Johnny states, ‘I’m not you’, he is revealing his disappointment in himself for not being Martin. Martin’s disappointment matches Johnny’s. Johnny must learn to believe that he is good enough to be Johnny – with the help of Gheorghe.

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We are then shown a bird hopping around a wire mesh cage. An isolated visual metaphor which echoes Johnny’s feeling of being trapped. He and Gheorghe then prepare to head up onto the fells to assist with the lambing. Johnny rejects the gloves that his grandmother offers him and the pair head off.

Act III (Part 1) – It’s beautiful here but lonely, no? The pair trudge across fields distanced from one another and make their camp in a half-ruined structure. In the evening one of the ewes is having a hard time giving birth. As the lamb comes out it seems to be stillborn, but Gheorghe refuses to give up on it, giving the animal CPR and rubbing straw across its body. Johnny isn’t impressed with Gheorghe’s attempts to revive the lamb, insisting that it won’t be worth it as ‘It’ll be a runt.’ Through Gheorghe’s persistence he is able to bring the lamb back to life. A triumphal moment. Johnny however leaves the structure saying, ‘Suit yourself.’ Both men then huddle around a fire and eat their dinner of pot noodles. Gheorghe brings out his own flavouring sachet. Food will become another motif which develops as the narrative continues and showcases the way that Gheorghe begins to care for Johnny as their relationship grows. Come the morning Gheorghe washes himself with river water as Johnny and the young lamb stare into the flames of the fire. The lamb and Johnny are here linked both metaphorically and literally together. Johnny abruptly stands up and exclaims, ‘get your arse into gear, gyppo.’ As he marches off, Gheorghe chases him down and pushes him over before telling him, ‘I will fuck with you.’ It is both an aggressive and sexual act. The line is either a threat or a promise. It is evident that Johnny is emotionally investing in his experience with Gheorghe. As the pair get to work rebuilding that wall Johnny hurts his hand. Gheorghe insists on seeing the wound as it might become infected. He then cleans the wound as Johnny watches on in awe. In another overtly sexual moment, Gheorghe licks the wound.

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The following morning Gheorghe quietly leaves the structure. Johnny wakes and follows him out onto the fells. As Johnny approaches Gheorghe it appears that the pair of them are going to fight. However, Gheorghe easily subdues Johnny and they begin to undress. Gheorghe stops Johnny from treating him in the same way as the stranger in the horsebox and the moment is rendered more personal and gentle as Johnny performs fellatio on Gheorghe. Returning to their work the pair continue to build the wall, and Johnny tries to warm his hands up as he refused to take his gloves with him. Johnny’s stubborn nature has once again placed itself between him and a level of comfort. When Gheorghe kindly offers his own gloves, they are refused. Johnny still has a journey to go on before he can believe. Taking a break from his labour, Gheorghe looks around at the majestic scenery and says, ‘It’s beautiful here but lonely, no?’ The subtext here is that Gheorghe understands what Johnny is going through and is showing that he too is emotionally invested in the experience that they are going through. That evening both men huddle around the fire again and eat their pot noodle dinner. Gheorghe has the lamb tucked inside his jacket. Bringing out his flavour sachet he now gives some to Johnny, slowly developing the motif of him caring for the young farmer and showing him a more emotional version of what a relationship can be. Potentially scared of these burgeoning feelings Johnny quickly leaves the fire and heads to bed. In the morning we see that a lamb has died. Gheorghe removes the hide from the animal and drapes it around the resuscitated lamb. The dead lamb’s ewe takes to the lamb straight away. Here is another visual representation of Gheorghe taking Johnny under his wing and a motif which will be developed later in the piece.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – See this world through my eyes In the ruined building the pair bed down for the night. They begin to become intimate with one another exploring each other’s bodies and kiss for the first

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time. It is clear that this is a significant relationship for Johnny and a milestone in accepting his sexual identity. This is a story about Johnny’s journey to come to terms with himself and in this moment the theme of acceptance is truly on display (SING IT LOUD AND SING IT PROUD). However, simply internalizing his sexual awakening isn’t enough for him to fully realize his new identity and this is Johnny’s EASY PLAN. There is still much more that he needs to do in order to fully Become a Swan. In the morning Gheorghe tells Johnny about the beauty of Romania in the spring. Johnny opens up about his mother and how she left them when he was younger. For Johnny this is his I’M READY TO ADMIT moment as he emotionally exposes himself to Gheorghe, and we get a clearer picture of his neurosis linked to this abandonment. Just before they prepare to head home, Gheorghe bounds up the fells and Johnny follows. They arrive at the top of a hill where they overlook the beautiful vista below them. Johnny sees the world through fresh eyes. He has come to the high point of his journey. It’s now evident that Johnny has rejected the old version of himself and has understood the THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT beat of his sequence. This sequence represents a finality for Johnny and there is nothing that he does during this section of the film that he can take back (YOU CAN’T PUT IT BACK IN THE BOTTLE). The two men then transition to the falling action of the second half of the film. Their secluded ‘honeymoon’ is over, and they now have to return to the farm and the ‘real world’ (I HOPE I PACKED A PARACHUTE).

Act III (Part 2) – Life on the farm Arriving back on the farm the pair are now under the watchful eye of Johnny’s father and grandmother. On their first evening back Johnny and Gheorghe watch the television as Deirdre does the ironing. Evidently keen to get her out of the room Johnny offers to help her fold the ironing board, and he wishes her a good night. He

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then kisses Gheorghe on the neck and invites him upstairs. Gheorghe feels that they should go to his caravan, which Johnny reluctantly agrees to. Later on, whilst the two men head to have a dip in a nearby lake, Martin suffers another stroke. Returning from their swim Johnny discovers the news that his father is in hospital and races to see him. At Martin’s bedside Johnny considers his emotional attachment to his ageing parent. His grandmother worries that she didn’t leave him with any tea. He says that he doesn’t need any, but she insists that he has to get something to eat as the responsibility for the farm is now on his shoulders. Vulnerability, death and responsibility are all closely tied in this story. Heading to the hospital canteen Johnny finds Gheorghe who offers him an affectionate touch of a finger to comfort him. Johnny then returns to his father’s bedside and musters the courage to reach out and hold his hand. Johnny is now externalizing his own feelings and is beginning to be able to transfer the affection that Gheorghe has shown him onto others. The lessons that his mentor is teaching him are being internalized and Johnny is on his way to Become a Swan. This also represents the beginnings of a change in Martin. The unemotional and bitter side of his personality, brought to the fore by his wife’s disappearance, begins to thaw. Up until now he has discouraged his son’s emotional side, denying Johnny the happiness that by the end of the story, he will explicitly allow him. After tending to his chores back on the farm Johnny heads back into the farmhouse and finds that Gheorghe has prepared a meal for them. It is a continuation of the motif of preparing food for the young farmer and again showcases how Gheorghe is caring for Johnny. Back at the hospital Martin wakes up and is comforted by Deirdre. Johnny then receives a call from his father. The signal that it is all OK. Gheorghe and Johnny then have a bath together. Gheorghe says that he will stay longer to help out on the farm until Martin is better. He is now fully emotionally invested in this relationship. Gheorghe tells Johnny that the farm isn’t viable. As a business model it doesn’t work. Here is another reason Johnny is going to have to reject his father’s way and become his own man, spurred on by his mentor.

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Act IV – Spring has sprung Johnny’s grandmother returns from the hospital and discovers that the farmhouse has been left in a state. On the floor of Johnny’s room, she uncovers a used condom. She exhales, evidently not impressed. She then gathers some clothes to take to Martin. Unable to contain her emotions any longer she cries into the shirt that she is ironing. Johnny then comes through the door and they have a functional conversation about the chores on the farm and Martin’s health. They then have a veiled discussion about Gheorghe and how he is here to work. Johnny reveals the plan that Gheorghe is only going to be here until Martin is better. His grandmother makes him aware that Martin isn’t going to get any better. Johnny is forced to examine his psychology as he realizes he is going to have to take on more responsibility for the farm tethering him more completely to this life. He then takes Gheorghe to the pub. Johnny quickly sinks a pint with Gheorghe next to him with his glass still full. The publican and a patron watch on, evidently not impressed with Gheorghe’s presence. As they discuss whether Gheorghe will go back to Romania, Johnny asks if Gheorghe will stay on the farm with him. He is admitting to his state of loneliness and further examining his psychology. Gheorghe says he might stay if things were to change. Johnny shuts the conversation down quickly and orders a fresh round of drinks. Later in the evening the pair play darts. Johnny is really drunk. Glancing over he sees his friend from his school days in a group. Johnny is particularly drawn to one young man who follows Johnny to the toilets where they have sex. Meanwhile, back in the bar Gheorghe, after being abused by one of the patrons for being an immigrant, heads to the toilet to get Johnny but sees him in the stall with the young man. Bereft, Gheorghe leaves the bar alone. Johnny then emerges and pulls his trousers up. Immediately filled with regret he heads back into the pub but can’t find Gheorghe. Unwisely driving home, Johnny sees Gheorghe marching away from the farm with all his belongings. He tries to stop him but can’t and Gheorghe pushes past Johnny and disappears into the night. Now mentor and Chosen One part, and we are left at the lowest moment in the narrative. Our Chosen

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One is going to have to navigate their Dark Forest alone and will have to prove that their journey so far has been worth it and that they have learnt the lessons they needed to in order to make lasting changes to their life. This moment is a good example of the Chosen One not wanting to be on the journey or in the Dark Forest at all. It normally takes the mentor to keep dragging the Chosen One back onto the path, but in this case it is the mentor in absentia because Johnny has fallen in love with him. The mentor has effectively completed his mentorship, but Johnny has to assimilate all of the learning and take the last steps himself . . . In the morning, Johnny comes down the stairs alone and his grandmother chastises him for letting Gheorghe leave. However, Johnny insists that he can manage on his own. Later, Johnny pulls a beer out of the fridge but quickly returns it, deciding against getting drunk. He then has a laboured conversation with his father whose speech is now a struggle. In contrast to his previous interactions with Martin, Johnny is now kind and understanding. Heading to the caravan Johnny takes out his anger and frustration on the furnishings. However, in the corner of the domicile he finds the jumper that Gheorghe has frequently worn throughout the film. He takes this upstairs to his bedroom and puts it on, mimicking the lamb’s fleece which Gheorghe draped over the rejected lamb in Act III. The regret and shame is clear on Johnny’s face as he feels the fibres of the jumper. In a way the mentor is there by proxy – through the jumper – pulling Johnny back onto the path. Johnny then tries to dial Gheorghe’s phone, but it goes straight to answerphone. He doesn’t leave a message.

Last Throw of the Dice – I want to be different In one of the more visually striking moments of the piece, Johnny begins washing his father in the bath. He rubs a washcloth across his father’s back in a similar way that Gheorghe did with the newborn lamb in Act III. It is almost as if he is bringing the old man back to life. He is immediately rewarded as

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his father reaches out and grabs his hand saying, ‘Thank you.’ At this moment Johnny understands his mentor’s lessons fully. Later he does the farm’s accounts and is attentive to his grandmother helping her with her chores. It is made evident that he has always been a swan, he just needed his mentor’s guidance to get to this point. As he assists his grandmother, she tells him to get some rest. Johnny insists that he can manage. ‘What, like your dad?’ comes the reply. It seems to awaken something in Johnny as he realizes that he has to have the confidence to do things his own way. He then wheels his father out into the fields so that they can have a talk man-to-man. Johnny tells his father that he wants to be able to run the farm his way. This would involve him leaving to go and get Gheorghe back. His father evidently has his own neuroses regarding abandonment, but Johnny reassures him that he is coming back. Although not an explicit moment of ‘coming out’ this is Johnny admitting to his father the things that will make him complete which include having Gheorghe in his life. He literally transforms into a swan before our eyes. He is again rewarded for the exhibition of these new behaviours as his father praises him for the work that he has been doing with the paddock. Martin is explicitly allowing Johnny to be happy. During the whole sequence our Chosen One has proven himself without his mentor by his side, and it is now up to him to showcase that this is not a one-off event, by fully completing his journey.

Act V – I don’t want to be a fuck up anymore Johnny takes the bus to the large industrial farm where Gheorghe now works. When Gheorghe finally appears, he is not impressed to see Johnny. Johnny makes a weak attempt to convince Gheorghe that he should return to the farm, which is rejected. Gheorghe turns to leave. Johnny chases him down and makes him pay attention. Johnny tells him that he doesn’t want to be a fuck up anymore. The pair kiss. Returning to the family farm, Gheorghe and Johnny watch as the caravan is towed away from the courtyard and they head inside the farmhouse together. Our ugly duckling has truly Become a Swan and the Reveal is complete.

12 Unknowing case study Jojo Rabbit

Plate 12  The Deal Undone, by Francesca Hughes-Campbell.

Logline: ​A young boy in Hitler’s youth army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home. Release date: 8 September 2019 Screenplay: Taika Waititi based on the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Christine Leunens’s novel is an imaginative and original take on the Unknowing story arc. Whilst it had some detractors upon its release who found its whimsical tone combined with its satirical take on Nazism misjudged, the film garnered many more supporters than naysayers, including an Oscar for best-adapted screenplay. In the film, Jojo has no idea what he is signing up to when he unwillingly accepts Elsa’s occupancy of the attic crawl space but, as with many Chosen Ones who find themselves on this particular journey of discovery, he makes a deal. Elsa agrees to tell him about

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the ‘true nature’ of the Jewish people for Jojo’s book, and in return, Jojo will keep her secret safe. Typically, the Unknowing Chosen One strikes an uneven bargain as they enter the Dark Forest, and they do not read the terms and conditions closely enough. The deal that is struck will be the undoing of this Chosen One’s assumed identity and set in motion a fundamental character change which will form the basis of the entire narrative. Tonally, the film veers between broad comedy, intense tragedy, action and political satire. For some critics this disparity of tone created an imbalance, particularly in the comic delivery of a story dealing with such provocative historical topics.

Prologue – Operation screw-up The short opening sequence sets up our Chosen One neatly and effectively. Jojo is preparing for his first day as a member of the Hitler Youth and being encouraged by his imaginary friend, a comical caricature of Adolf Hitler. But the sequence gives us more than just a place and a time – we learn that Jojo is a devoted Nazi, but also an outsider, an unpopular and scared little ten-year-old boy. All in two minutes. The film continues to play with expectations, however, in expanding this sequence through the first fifteen minutes of the film as we see Jojo at the training camp for the Hitler Youth, where we meet Captain Klenzendorf, SubOfficer Finkel and Fraulein Rahm. Here Jojo will be taught to be a ‘good’ little Nazi along with a group of other kids and his best friend, Yorki. Incongruously, there is a fun, light-hearted feel to the event as the children are given their Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ) knives and practice various fighting activities, topped off by a lecture on ‘Jews’ in which we learn that the Nazi children are being fed a bizarre litany of ‘facts’ about Jewish peoples. Later on, Jojo and Yorki discuss Jews, and Jojo declares how he would know a Jew immediately and would kill them on sight. These opening sequences inform us about both how the children are being indoctrinated by the German state and how desperate Jojo is to fit in with

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the crowd. We are given the opportunity to look forward to Jojo’s imminent meeting with a Jew and compare his ambition with the reality of the moment. In this sequence we are invited to recognize the disconnect between Jojo’s ambitions and his reality – a perfect illustration of his conflicted nature. As Elsa will tell him much later on in this film, ‘Jojo, you are not a Nazi.’ Jojo’s flirtation with Nazism and the ‘true’ meaning of what it is to be a Nazi are the narrative driver behind the film and Jojo’s coming of age. His lack of understanding as to what it really means to be a Nazi is something that we, the audience, can see from the earliest images, but that it will take Jojo some time to learn. The next scene will also give us more insight into the gap between Jojo’s vision of himself and the reality as he is challenged to prove his killing abilities by dispatching a rabbit in front of all the other children. When Jojo fails to do this, he is accused of being a coward ‘just like your father’. Jojo swears his father is fighting in Italy but the bigger boys think they know better – they tell him that his father is a deserting coward who nobody has heard from in two years. ‘He’s scared and so are you. You’re as scared as a rabbit.’ And so, Jojo is rechristened Jojo Rabbit. The Unknowing Chosen One is often living a life that they feel is right for them and they have, at least outwardly, an air of contentment. Their goals are right in front of them and relatively easily achievable. Jojo wants to be a ‘good little Nazi’. His journey is an inner, as well as an outer, one. The events of the narrative will make Jojo realize that it is not Nazism that he craves after all but the universal human needs of acceptance, belonging, love and family. Jojo’s adventure with the Hitler Youth is brought to an abrupt end in a scene in which his imaginary Adolf persuades him to embrace his inner rabbit, which concludes with Jojo blowing himself up with a hand grenade.

Act I – We need somebody to walk the clones The main narrative of the film begins as the injured Jojo opens his eyes in hospital, and we are introduced to his mother, Rosie. Jojo, now disfigured by

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the explosion, is cared for by Rosie in the absence of his father and sister, Inga, who, we learn, is dead. This, then, following the extended prologue, is our first act showcasing Jojo’s Once Upon a Time proper as a disfigured young boy who still craves an unattainable position in the Nazi hierarchy. Rosie forces Klenzendorf to give the even more shy and reticent Jojo a job at the Hitler Youth offices. On his way to disseminate Nazi propaganda Jojo finds his mother contemplating a line of bodies hanging from gallows in the town square. ‘Yuk’, he declares and tries to turn away, but his mother turns his head back and makes him look at them. Jojo asks what they did. His mother responds, sadly, ‘what they could’. Here, for the first time, we see a distinct difference in ideologies between mother and son. Upon returning home later in the day, Jojo hears a noise from upstairs and, going to investigate, he finds a girl hiding in a hidden nook in Inga’s bedroom. This is Elsa. After a tense confrontation, Jojo tells her that he knows she is a Jew and Elsa informs him that Rosie allowed her to stay in the house. Elsa lays out Jojo’s dilemma – if he tells the authorities they will all be done for and if he tells his mother that he knows about Elsa then she will cut his ‘Nazi head off ’. And thus the Invitation is delivered.

Act II – Backwards mind power trick Utilizing an extended prologue sequence in which characters and world are set up, screenwriter Taika Waititi is able to deliver shortened Acts I (twelve minutes) and II (ten minutes) whilst retaining the essential integrity of the classic five-act structure. Act I deals with Jojo’s Once Upon a Time and takes us to the delivery of the Invitation with the discovery of Elsa in the crawl space. Act II begins with Jojo’s dilemma at the receipt of the Invitation – he has a Jew in his house, should he tell the authorities and risk all of their safety or tell his mother and risk his own life? We then follow his thought process through, with the support of invisible Adolf, to his acceptance of the Invitation and his first steps into the Dark Forest. Act I concerns itself with the Chosen One’s ambitions for themselves and these should be strong and self-satisfying in order for the Invitation to have maximum

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effect. The Invitation must fundamentally challenge the Chosen One’s assumed identity in this story arc because the direction of the narrative will show them that there is a different future awaiting them. They will accept the Invitation because they do not have any conception of the true nature of the deal they are accepting. But that is because our Chosen One is Unknowing . . . Rosie opens her heart to Elsa as they eat together late into the night. Her focus is upon Elsa rather than Jojo. She allows him to be a member of the Hitler Youth so that she can get him out of the house and give Elsa more space. She tells Elsa that her survival will represent a win against the evils of the regime but, more importantly to the mother–son relationship at the centre of the story, she also says, although Jojo is a ‘fanatic’, ‘I know he’s in there somewhere.’ She sees what Elsa also sees so clearly, that Jojo is not a Nazi. As she leaves the room to go to bed, Jojo hears her and intones darkly ‘bad mama’. It is another familiar trait of the Unknowing Chosen One that their character should be deeply flawed because it is the journey they are on that will teach them what they need in order to leave the Dark Forest. The Unknowing Chosen One is blind to both the extent of the journey that they are embarked upon and the flaws in their own character which must be revealed and reversed before the journey is complete. The next day, Jojo asks Klenzendorf, ‘what should I do if I see a Jew?’ Klenzendorf confirms that this would probably lead to the death of the Jew, Jojo and all Jojo’s loved ones, which doesn’t help Jojo’s decision-making process. Debating how they might recognize a Jew, however, Klenzendorf admits that this is very difficult and declares that somebody should write a book about them, ‘It would be a big hit,’ which sparks an idea in Jojo.

The Invitation – Tell me everything about the Jewish race Jojo’s acceptance of the Invitation happens as soon as this idea comes to him. He lays out the ‘Mexican Stalemate’ that he finds himself in and then he declares that he will strike a bargain with Elsa. He will allow her to stay and not tell his mother that he knows about her if she tells him ‘everything about the Jewish race’.

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She agrees. The bargain is struck. The path into the Dark Forest lies in front of Jojo. This is the path that the Unknowing Chosen One thinks is simple to negotiate and that they can clearly see the gate at the other side that will let them return to their Happily Ever After. But this, as Jojo will discover, is an illusion. Jojo has much to learn before he will escape.

Act III (Part 1) – How do you love a son like this? Once again, this sequence is quite short, leading to the midpoint of the film. The unusual structure of the first half of Jojo Rabbit returns to a more familiar form here as we head towards the somewhat extended Flipping of the Hourglass sequence made up of a number of revelatory moments that, together, constitute a dramatically effective sequence. Jojo’s first interview with Elsa plays off their uneasy relationship. She is more worldly wise, more outwardly intelligent, more knowing, stronger than Jojo and he simply doesn’t know how to proceed. Already she has confounded the beliefs that have been instilled in him. The change in his character has begun. Later, whilst fretting with invisible Adolf about what to do next, he observes his mother burning something in the fireplace . . .

The Flipping of the Hourglass – We’ve got a good kid there, Rosie. I love him to bits The relationship between Rosie and Jojo has been irrevocably altered by Jojo’s discovery of Elsa (YOU CAN’T PUT IT BACK IN THE BOTTLE). As Rosie attempts to save food to feed Elsa, Jojo eats it so that she cannot be fed (THE EASY PLAN). Mother and son are lying to one another. Trust has broken down completely. At the dinner table, Jojo declares that he wants his father, so Rosie creates a beard for herself with ashes from the fireplace and they have an ersatz confrontation in which we see what Jojo really needs – a family (I’M READY TO ADMIT, SING IT LOUD AND SING IT PROUD). He is just a little boy

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who revels in having his ‘father’ and mother back together. It is an emotional point in the film and signposts the continuing process of change for Jojo. As the sands of the hourglass run backwards, so Jojo softens and reveals more of his true nature (THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT). The first half of this film is about secrets and lies, the second half is about the emergence of love and honesty (I HOPE I PACKED A PARACHUTE).

Act III (Part 2) – Love is the strongest thing in the world The road to true honesty, however, is going to take a little longer as Elsa tells Jojo about her fiancé, Nathan, who is fighting in the resistance. However, following a discussion on girlfriends, love and Nathan’s favourite poet, Jojo’s gradual change in character is further reinforced when he heads to the library to find a book by Rilke. The last time books were mentioned in this narrative was when the Hitler Youth held a ‘book burning’ training session. The mirroring of these two moments could not be more stark as Jojo hides the poetry book in his jacket in order to get closer to Elsa. The change in the Unknowing Chosen One is gradual but eventually total. Their flaws tend to run very deep and require seismic activity to unseat them. Jojo keeps up his relationship with his invisible Adolf until he simply can’t keep it up anymore. It will often take irrefutable external forces to turn the Unknowing Chosen One from their deeply held beliefs (in this case, the death of Hitler in his bunker). The Unknowing Chosen One will also very often have a voice of reason or conscience, who at least represents an alternative point of view in order to facilitate their change. At the opening of the story, Adolf represents a mentor figure for Jojo, but his position becomes increasingly confused and ineffectual as Elsa’s alternative mentorship takes over. Adolf begins to misunderstand Jojo’s motivations as Jojo embarks on various plans to get Elsa to fall for him. Adolf represents the old Jojo and the more Jojo moves away from him, the more ridiculous and irrelevant he becomes.

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As Jojo begins the process of writing letters from Nathan to Elsa, intended to break the couple up, so he and Elsa get closer for a different reason – because Jojo cares. And his letters serve a different, and unintended, purpose, to have Elsa recognize Jojo’s inherent kindness, something that he himself would almost certainly deny. So many filmic narratives require the Chosen One to change that it is important to recognize that each of these story arcs achieve this transformation in a different way. The Unknowing Chosen One has no interest in change. They resist change and deny change, but the circumstances of the story in which they are involved and the make-up of the Dark Forest spark something inside them, often long dormant or ignored, that will enhance their lives, almost despite themselves. As with all Unknowing Chosen Ones, Jojo began his journey into the Dark Forest in an attempt to achieve something that he felt would be relatively simple and within his grasp – to learn about the Jews in order to help him write his exposé on the Jewish people. In his naive, childish imagination, this would be a way of gaining acceptance by the Nazi elite and give him an opportunity to rise in their ranks. As with all Unknowing Chosen Ones, however, the task is much more complex and will have much more of an effect upon Jojo’s life than he could ever have imagined when he struck his bargain. The next sequence, in which Jojo and Rosie walk by the river and discuss life and love, reveals how Jojo’s philosophy of life is moving, incrementally and inexorably, closer to his mother’s. Jojo tries to resist his mother’s exhortations to enjoy life and embrace dancing, but the feeling of the sequence is happy, innocent and joyous. She also tells Jojo that he will fall in love and it will feel like butterflies in his tummy. Jojo’s resistance is weak and his pleasure in his mother’s company is clear. The unease between them – the secrets and the lies – have gone. Rosie tells him that the Germans are losing the war and, as they are passed by a group of wounded and dejected soldiers on a truck, the evidence is right before Jojo’s eyes. Later, with Elsa, as he continues to work on his book, it is clear that their relationship, too, has subtly altered. Jojo is initially disinterested but Elsa

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hooks him with more outrageous stories of the Jews and their culture, teasing the naive, gullible Jojo. She also draws a beautiful picture of ‘a Jew’. The scene hits an uneasy note when Jojo gets Elsa to confirm that Jews are attracted to ugly things, before he catches sight of his own disfigured reflection in a mirror. As the film moves towards its final act, relationships and external conflicts begin to close in upon one another. Elsa asks Rosie how you trust somebody. Rosie tells her – ‘you trust them.’ Klenzendorf designs an outrageous costume for himself in preparation for the invasion. Jojo begins to trumpet his research on his exposé on Jews as he simultaneously steals coloured pencils to give to Elsa. He is at his most torn here. A brief detour as Jojo collects metal on the streets and spies his mother leaving anti-Nazi propaganda for people to find before Jojo’s growing unease and discomfort with the way things are is further brought home when he gives the pencils to Elsa and she (almost) offers to kiss him. This is the moment when she tells him in no uncertain terms that he isn’t a Nazi. Jojo’s attraction to Elsa, his inherent kindness and his inquisitive intelligence all mitigate against his acceptance of an ideology that flies in the face of all of these character traits which are so a part of Jojo’s make-up. The sequence is complete when we see butterflies in Jojo’s tummy. He is in love.

Act IV – I’m not sure we chose the right side Captain Deertz and his Gestapo agents appear at Jojo’s door. They appear to know something – and they ask pointed questions about Rosie. However, they are pleased to see that Jojo is wearing his Hitler Youth uniform. Jojo is clearly frightened, but when Klenzendorf arrives, it is clear that a friend has entered the house. Klenzendorf ’s true nature has been unclear until this point but this scene will reveal where his true allegiances lie. As the search moves closer to the hidden space in Inga’s room, Elsa appears, claiming to be Inga. A tense moment when she hands over Inga’s papers to Klenzendorf who asks for her date of birth . . . which he accepts.

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The tension is broken when Deertz discovers Jojo’s handwritten book on the Jewish people, which Elsa claims to have written. Entitled ‘Yoohoo Jew’, this is the book which is the result of all of his interviews with Elsa and Deertz is delighted with its ludicrous contents. When they leave, Elsa reveals that she gave the wrong date of birth. Klenzendorf was helping them by not revealing Elsa’s mistake. But, as Elsa says, ‘they’ll be back.’ As Jojo heads out onto the streets, a butterfly appears. This returning motif leads us now to the lowest point of the film as Jojo follows the butterfly to discover his mother’s body hanging from the gallows in the town square. The transition from a symbol of love (fluttering in his tummy) to one of death and loss (revealing his mother’s dead body) is striking. Heartbroken and angry, Jojo attempts to stab Elsa but is too weak to do any real damage. She doesn’t resist – recognizing his pain. Elsa explains that Rosie held other secrets back from Jojo – that his father was also fighting for the resistance. Jojo decides that his mother didn’t tell him the truth about his father because he is a Nazi – ‘the enemy’. Elsa tells him, no, it was to protect him. ‘What’s the first thing you will do when you are free?’, asks Jojo. Elsa replies, ‘Dance.’ Whilst this is clearly a low point in the drama, here we are invited to look forward to a point when Elsa will be free, but also we see a clear change in the relationship between Jojo and Elsa. They are now close. As the penultimate act draws to a close, we see Elsa and Jojo trying to live in impossible circumstances – struggling to collect wood, living off water soup . . . The invasion finally happens and, through Yorki, Jojo discovers that Hitler is dead and, with him, invisible Adolf . . . at least for now. Jojo also tells Yorki that Elsa is ‘basically’ his girlfriend. The story is coming to an end and the world is completely inverted. All of the expectations and beliefs that Jojo had when we first met him have been subverted and he is lost. When Jojo is caught by the Russians, it takes Klenzendorf to finally save him. In the most extreme act of inversion and self-sacrifice, Klenzendorf accuses Jojo of being a Jew and Jojo is freed.

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Act V – Is it dangerous out there? As the final scenes play out, Jojo’s character has been completely transformed. When we met him he was a self-professed Nazi who hated the Jews. Now, he literally identifies as a Jew in order to escape the clutches of the invading armies. But he has yet to fully realize the implications of his transformation. He seeks Elsa out and tells her that the Germans won the war. He is scared that her freedom will mean that she is lost to him and so concocts an ‘escape’ plan to keep them together a little longer. As Elsa tells him that Nathan is actually dead, Jojo finally declares that he loves her. His transformation is almost complete when, in a final confrontation with a fatally injured invisible Adolf, Jojo rejects Adolf and Nazism entirely. As Jojo and Elsa finally step out onto the streets and Elsa sees the American soldiers celebrating their victory, she slaps Jojo . . . and then they dance. Jojo, the Unknowing Chosen One, now knows what it means to be honest and free. He realizes that the deal he signed up for, to ‘understand the Jews’, was ill conceived but that now he understands what is really going on around him and how he truly feels. His journey is complete and, in the final images of the film, the Deal is Undone.

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13 Mistaken case study St Maud

Plate 13  It’s Too Late, by Francesca Hughes-Campbell.

Logline: ​A reclusive, impressionable nurse believes that she has been sent by God to care for a retired dancer and save her soul from eternal damnation. Release date: 21 March 2020 Screenplay: Rose Glass St Maud is a strong example of a Mistaken/Willing arc. A flawed Chosen One falls into a Dark Forest from which there is no escape. Maud ultimately grows accustomed to the shadows that she finds in this world that she ventures into and we come to see that she belongs here. Although this piece is very much classified as a horror film the arc can be adapted to other genres as we have mentioned in the chapter outlining the mechanics of the paradigm. As with all Mistaken Chosen Ones, Maud believes that she is on a different arc. Maud thinks that she is a Willing Chosen One looking for a way to answer

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a higher calling sent to her from above. Maud, like many Mistaken Chosen Ones, is an unreliable narrator which leads to some really interesting moments where the audience gets to debate the intention of an action and/or question the motivation of a character.

Prologue – God, are you there? It’s me, Maud Opening on the haunting image of blood running down her hair and dripping onto the floor, we are then shown Maud, our Chosen One, who is backed into a corner both literally and metaphorically. She has attempted to resuscitate a patient, but it has gone horribly wrong. She has killed the woman who she was trying to save. Glancing upwards, Maud sees a beetle crawling across the ceiling towards her, and she seems enraptured by it. This, we will come to learn, is what Maud believes is a manifestation of God. This prologue sets out both the tone and the genre of the piece.

Act I – I could have danced all night We are now in a depressing bedsit. Maud closes the window on the outside world, a slight nod to her reclusive and lonely state. Looking around her space we see that she is extremely neat and tidy. She sits and eats, praying before she takes a mouthful. In voice-over she talks to God as if He is an old friend. She is searching for purpose, directly asking if the plan which He has for her might be revealed soon. She considers that she must be being saved for something greater than this. Trudging through the small, miserable seaside town where she lives we sense the superiority that Maud feels towards others. Although her costume is not fully revealed, we are to see her as a nun on a saintly mission to care for the sick and dying. She arrives at a large house overlooking the town. The route that she takes will act as a trail of breadcrumbs that we will follow once again in the final sequence of the film. The symbolism of the large house atop the hill also

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further reinforces the genre and tone, harking back to the gothic traditions of the monster that lives above the sleepy village. Maud is let into the house by the previous carer. The pair have a functional conversation about how to care for the patient, Amanda. When Maud asks what Amanda is like, the nurse, desperate to leave, lets her know that she is not someone who you want to spend any time with. This character serves an important dramaturgical function in the Mistaken narrative as she is the harbinger who attempts to stop the Chosen One from entering the Dark Forest. Maud ignores the warnings and continues on – the Willing Chosen One on the Mistaken path. We then see Amanda and Maud together. Maud is literally shining a light into her eyes, a moment filled with metaphorical significance as Maud hopes that Amanda might see the light and allow for her soul to be saved. We see that Amanda is fiercely independent despite her condition. Later, Maud is helping Amanda with her exercises. The visual metaphor is evident with Amanda spread out on a crucifix, Maud seemingly pinning her there. That evening, Maud leaves the house as a male guest comes to visit Amanda. In town, Maud has an interaction with a beggar who she offers money to and says a small prayer for him. Later, back at the house, Maud sees that Amanda has had too much to drink. She immediately attends to the drunken dancer.

The Invitation – My little saviour Coming out of the kitchen with a glass of water for Amanda, Maud stands under the light in the hallway as it flickers. Something strange is happening. In Amanda’s bedroom they have a conversation about Maud’s faith. Maud explains the mechanics of how she believes God speaks to her. On the surface, Amanda is sincere here. However, the complexity of the characters and the problematic relationship that we have with Maud as unreliable narrator are worth bearing in mind. Amanda is sat up in her bed like the Big Bad Wolf, wearing grandma’s clothes in the hope of tricking the young doe-eyed Maud.

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It could be that Amanda is manipulating Maud (for either psychological or sexual gratification), or it could be that this is an earnest desire to connect which she soon loses interest in due to her fickle nature. Either way, Maud has now opened herself up . . . Mistakenly. She has involved herself with Amanda’s twisted games and she will come to regret this. Amanda and Maud have a conversation about death and Maud tries to reassure her that death isn’t the end. Her words seem to comfort Amanda who takes her by the hand and calls her ‘my little saviour’. This excites Maud. Leaving the room, Maud experiences an episode which writer/director Rose Glass has called a ‘godgasm’. There is, indeed, something orgasmic about the way that Maud writhes on the floor and pulls at her features as she experiences these moments in the film. Maud’s identity has been interrupted. She has found her calling and she now enters the Dark Forest.

Act II – What is a movie without popcorn? Maud sprinkles popcorn kernels on the rug in front of her crucifix and kneels on them in prayer. Through her voice-over she piously proclaims that she has found her purpose and believes that she is there to ‘save’ Amanda’s soul. She pours away all the alcohol in the house and assists Amanda in performing her physiotherapy exercises. Maud is physically preparing herself and Amanda for what is to come. As Maud is doing the dishes that evening, she begins another ‘godgasm’ which is interrupted by Carol who forces her way inside to see Amanda despite Maud insisting that it is too late for her to have visitors. Maud believes that Carol is an antagonistic force in the narrative. As Maud heads to bed, she can hear Carol and Amanda having sex. In the morning, Maud is preparing medicines for Amanda and spies Carol leaving Amanda’s room counting a significant amount of money. Later that day, Amanda calls Maud to sit with her whilst she eats. Maud sets herself up to sheepishly pray before starting. Amanda turns the television off and copies her with a rather mischievous look on her face. Maud asks that God

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look after Amanda and reach out to her as He did for Maud. It could be argued that we see a flicker of sincerity on the ageing dancer’s face. As Maud has another ‘godgasm’, Amanda seemingly feels the presence and mimics her. However, as it was with the moment the pair shared at the Invitation, the Machiavellian Amanda is manipulating Maud. We are then offered a glimpse of stretch marks on Maud’s stomach whilst she is on her bed, an indication that she once had a child. However, this is never returned to in the narrative. Maud continues helping Amanda who is seemingly interested in exploring her faith. In return, Amanda gives Maud a book of William Blake’s paintings which Maud flicks through. It is the depictions of hell which fascinate her the most, particularly the flames. When she arrives at the painting of an angel with their hands clasped in prayer, Maud copies the pose. This hints towards the performative nature of Maud’s piety; however, it could also be that Maud wishes to be seen as the angelic figures in Blake’s pictures. Before heading to bed that evening, Maud peeks through Amanda’s door. Either Maud is concerned, or she is curious about what is going on in the room and jealous of the sexual attention that the two women are sharing. She believes that she sees Amanda’s face relax into unhappiness when she thinks she isn’t being watched.

Act III (Part 1) – We don’t need anyone else As Carol goes to leave in the morning, Maud asks to talk to her. Taking her aside, Maud demands that Carol stop seeing Amanda as she has big things which she needs to be focusing on. It’s clear that she is now emotionally investing in Amanda’s fate. Maud believes, in her piety, that she is protecting Amanda, that she is in a particularly vulnerable state right now and this is part of the plan to save her soul. Surprisingly, Carol agrees not to see Amanda anymore. Maud then paces around the house painting tiny water crucifixes on the walls. From her voice-over it’s made clear that Maud believes that Amanda is

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in the first flushes of God’s love as she thinks that she is behaving in the same way as Maud did when she found her faith. It does appear that Amanda is happier than previously. Maud rounds off her voice-over by saying, ‘we don’t need anyone else.’ Wandering down the street later that day, someone calls out to Maud . . . ‘Katie’. Maud turns, but then walks in double time keeping her head down. Catching up with Maud, Joyce is keen to catch up with ‘Katie’. It seems that Maud has changed her name. The two women used to work together at the hospital and Joyce is surprised that after something which she refers to as ‘the accident’ Maud is allowed to continue practising as a nurse. Maud is evidently keen to get away, but Joyce insists on leaving her with her number in case she wants to get a drink sometime. Back at the house Maud takes Amanda’s blood pressure whilst she plays patience. Maud instructs her every move much to Amanda’s displeasure. Eventually Amanda tries to cheat, which Maud scolds her for. Amanda’s phone rings and she sends Maud away to make some tea. Maud is evidently worried about the call and tries to linger at the door but is uncertain who is on the other end. Bringing back the tea it is evident that Amanda is crestfallen. Maud tries to lift her spirits by proposing that they go to the theatre. Amanda rebuts her and insists that she simply wishes to go to bed. Evidently wracked with guilt for upsetting Amanda, Maud then burns herself on the hot stove in an act of self-harm. In the morning, Maud serves Amanda breakfast. A much cheerier Amanda is engrossed by her phone, largely ignoring Maud.

The Flipping of the Hourglass – Let (s)he who is without sin cast the first stone Maud is in the kitchen being treated like the hired help as Amanda throws a large party for her friends. They share a sweet smile together as Amanda wheels herself into the kitchen to try the food. However, this is cut short as Carol turns up in a sparkly dress and Maud is soon forgotten.

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Maud then tries to light the candles on the cake, but she struggles with the matches. Another guest elbows her out of the way and lights the candles for her before taking the cake in and instructing Maud to bring the plates. With the emotional act of delivering the cake taken from her, Maud is left to stand in the corner of the room alone and shrouded in darkness as everyone else sings happy birthday. As she goes to leave the hubbub of the party, Maud overhears Amanda talking about how Maud doesn’t like Carol. Evidently her secret is out. This has unravelled her EASY PLAN, where she believed that all it would take to save Amanda’s soul would be to get rid of Carol. Amanda then probes Maud further asking if she considers her ‘indecent’ to which Maud replies, ‘No, you’re lost’ (I’M READY TO ADMIT and YOU CAN’T PUT IT BACK IN THE BOTTLE). The party then seems to turn on Maud and she is humiliated as the other guests wrap her up in a veil of sorts and mock her. Amanda then professes to be doing all of this for Maud’s sake and is trying to get her to loosen up and have some fun whilst she still can. Maud believes that she has more important things on her mind (THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT and SING IT LOUD AND SING IT PROUD). It all becomes too much for Maud and she snaps, slapping Amanda across the face. We then reach a crescendo of the narrative and the hourglass is upended (I HOPE I PACKED A PARACHUTE). Maud is then hastily ejected from the party, but not before thinking that Amanda looks at her with evil intent, which causes Maud to double over and convulse.

Act III (Part 2) – What is life without God’s love? After being fired, Maud returns to her bedsit. She speaks to God and is worried that she is now simply in pain and without Him. We are shown her room which is now a mess, and it is clear that she is entirely lost and alone. She laments in her voice-over that she is unemployable, listless and lost, even going as far to say, ‘Perhaps You aren’t as wise as I thought.’

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Maud then heads to the pub in a full face of make-up and a revealing outfit, and she sits drinking alone. She has various attempts at making new friends which all fail. Increasingly desperate and drunk she tries to call Joyce. However, it is clear (at least from Maud’s POV) that Joyce isn’t all that interested in coming for a drink. Returning to the bar Maud continues to drink evidently pushing herself to breaking point. She then sees tornados appearing inside the pint glasses in front of her and she panics knocking them over and attempting to flee the bar. She then crashes into another patron (Christian), who insists that Maud owes him a drink as she has spilt his. We then cut to Maud straddling Christian in bed having rather lacklustre sex. She refuses to let him touch her. After placing her hands on his chest, she has a flashback to the traumatic incident in the prologue where she killed the patient. She screams and jumps off him only for him to pursue her to the other side of the bed and rape her. As Maud dresses to leave, Christian rather ominously states that he knows who Maud really is and how she used to be out all the time. He shames her about her past sexual exploits. She quickly leaves the room and stumbles home. Arriving back at her bedsit the night out catches up with her and she sits in despair and tries to speak to God again, begging Him to return to her. Her wish is granted, and she begins to shake violently and vomits. A firework display erupts outside her window and she falls to the floor and continues to convulse. Finally, in one of the more spectacular visual moments in the narrative, Maud is hoisted into the air and left dangling there. God, it seems, has returned. In an odd subversion of the standard arc for the Mistaken Chosen One, Maud is now outside her physical Dark Forest for the majority of this part of the narrative (she is no longer caring for Amanda). However, it is very clear that this is a place which is even more terrifying from Maud’s POV. Her Once Upon a Time is actually a space where she does not belong. She has adjusted to life within the Dark Forest, and it is only there that she is able to complete her journey.

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Act IV – Revelations Maud deep cleans her bedsit, returning it to how it was at the beginning of the narrative. She even goes as far as to take her old clothes from her wardrobe and burn them in the sink. She then pushes pins through a piece of cardboard and places this device in her shoes. This is evidently Maud’s way of further proving her devotion. All of these actions are Maud explicitly examining her psychology. Something that she continues to do throughout this act as she moves steadily towards her Last Throw of the Dice. She believes that she has truly found her place within the Dark Forest and she has a certain mastery over it. It appears that she has pulled herself out of her funk and is back on her mission. She is just looking for a way to see it finished. Determined to save Amanda’s soul, Maud researches Amanda on the internet and begins to cut up the book of Blake’s paintings, accompanied by her sinister voice-over, ‘Never waste your pain.’ Maud then interacts with Amanda’s current carer after stalking her to the seafront. This woman is called Ester, another biblical reference (Ester was the second wife of King Ahasuerus who remarried as his first wife refused to obey him). Maud tries to solicit information from Ester who will only let slip that she doesn’t think that Amanda has much time left which gives Maud more impetus to speed up her plan. However, Maud also discovers from the conversation that Ester and Amanda are ‘good pals’ and that she is able to have a life outside of her job which includes her attending choir practice. Both of these revelations seem to hurt Maud. There is little else in Maud’s life other than her work. Back at her bedsit we finally hear Maud speak to ‘God’ who tells her, ‘Take on this last test and we will be together truly.’ The voice that Maud hears is of Morfydd Clark (the actress playing the part of Maud) suggesting that her continuing conversation with the Almighty has been happening in her head all along. In the morning, Maud takes her bedsheet and fashions it into a biblical smock before holding her hands in prayer in front of the mirror to see how she

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looks. Again, revealing the performative nature of Maud’s actions. Her first thought is always how she is perceived by others. She then blesses some holy water before we are shown a frightening cocktail of flammable liquids. Joyce then arrives. Maud initially tries to get rid of her, but Joyce forces her way inside. Maud moves to the other side of the room with a bottle of flammable liquid hidden in her hand. Joyce apologizes to Maud for not being able to see her the other night. Every moment that Joyce is in the room the tension rises as we worry about Maud’s intentions. This is only made worse as Joyce sparks up a cigarette. Eventually, Joyce says, ‘What happened before, it wasn’t your fault.’ This is a finality for Maud’s psychological examination as Joyce believes that this is what Maud needs to hear in order to help her move beyond the trauma that she experienced in the prologue which still haunts her. It could be argued that this is Joyce’s attempt to save Maud’s soul and prevent her from continuing on her trajectory. However, there is no way out of the Dark Forest for Maud. She is no longer listening to Joyce, and her voice falls away as Maud looks up and sees a tornado begin to gather in the sky. Maud returns to Joyce and kisses her on the cheek and rather worryingly states, ‘Now I am transformed, and everyone will see.’ A direct indication of the transformation that she has gone through during this journey. Under the cover of darkness Maud follows the same path that she took at the beginning of the narrative towards Amanda’s house (her trail of breadcrumbs) wearing her newly fashioned smock. She watches Ester leave and then heads into the house.

The Last Throw of the Dice – Daemon, I cast you out Sneaking through the house, Maud retraces the path that she used to take to Amanda’s room as she continues to follow the trail of breadcrumbs. Entering the bedroom, Maud sees that Amanda is sicker than ever. The pair share a brief moment where Amanda apologizes for being unkind. Maud says that she forgives her and tells Amanda that God has sent her to

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help. This is her moment to revel in the darkness down here as she is finally able to complete what she thinks is her mission. She attempts to bless Amanda with her homemade holy water. Struggling away from Maud, Amanda refuses to be ‘saved’ saying that she won’t have any of that ‘nonsense’. Maud is hurt and tries to remind Amanda when the pair of them felt the presence of God together. Amanda confesses that she was only humouring Maud for entertainment. She then finally tells Maud that ‘nothing you do matters . . .’ Sobbing, Maud tries to protest but Amanda transforms into a frightening daemon who is pleased to have broken Maud’s faith with such ease. The daemon relishes the fact that Maud only returned to the house because she is broken and alone. Maud grabs some scissors and stabs Amanda over and over again. As she lets out her final death rattle Amanda doesn’t wear the frightening mask of a daemon but the terrified look of a woman who has been murdered. This beat is the moment when we finally understand that It’s Too Late for Maud. She is now stuck within the Dark Forest. Maud drifts away from the house seemingly floating, covered in Amanda’s blood. Her mission complete, she laughs with a strange ecstasy. She realizes this is who she is meant to be.

Act V – Burn, baby, burn In her bedsit Maud’s life briefly seems to have returned to normal. However, when Maud wakes up, angelic wings have sprouted from her back. She heads to the beachfront in a clean smock and two large shopping bags filled with her flammable liquid. Standing under a gathering tornado in the sky she gently sings a hymn to herself and covers herself in the liquid. A small crowd gathers wondering what she is doing. Some call out to stop her. Others simply watch. Flicking a lighter, she sets herself ablaze with a strange smile on her face. A light radiates from her and her wings reappear. She becomes one of Blake’s

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paintings as tears pool in her eyes. Those around her drop to their knees in prayer. It appears that Maud has achieved her spiritual transformation. However, before we cut to black, we are offered a momentary frame of the reality for those on the beach. Finally, a moment of complete objective truth outside Maud’s broken psyche. Maud is screaming in pain, her skin charred from the flames in the midst of her act of self-immolation. She has finally left the Dark Forest, but it took her death for her to be able to do so. The Mistaken Chosen One who thought she was a Willing Chosen One ends up burning herself instead of burning the forest and, for Maud it is definitely Too Late.

14 Breaking the paradigm

We can all point to successful films that do not fit neatly within our thesis, but they are remarkably few and far between. It is much easier to identify critically unsuccessful films that fail because they do not obey the narrative rules that we have laid out in the preceding chapters. As we frequently see, there are a whole host of reasons why a film is made, and the structural integrity of a screenplay is sometimes not the top priority. As screenwriters, we must control what it is that we have the power over and ultimately crafting an emotionally satisfactory story should always be the first and foremost priority in our minds. However, we are very far from wanting you, dear writer, to churn out cookiecutter plotlines and fill the cinema listings with predictable, over familiar, worn-out stories. Obviously, we don’t believe that our ideas will have this effect – in fact the largesse that these narrative arcs provide to you in inventing storylines are pretty limitless. We are offering you signposts on your way to creating work that you are truly passionate about. This book is here to help you when you are lost within your own Dark Forest. It will be your companion on your way to discovering how your story should be told. In this final chapter we would like to go further and suggest that you fly in the face of everything we have heretofore suggested and break the paradigm. Let’s look at some ways in which potentially new story shapes can come into being by mixing it up a little. Here is a simple chart overview of our five story shapes. We have not included the Hourglass moment here because this sequence does not appear to be as distinct in relation to each narrative arc. The Hourglass sequence is,

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Table 2  Narrative Arcs Character

Invitation

Last Throw of the Dice

Willing

Selfless, brave, noble

Take Me Instead

Burn the Forest

Accidental

Frightened, vulnerable, naïve

Down the Rabbit The Return Hole

Unable (to Believe)

Flawed, feelings of inadequacy Become a Swan

Unknowing

Content, unaware of their shortcomings

Drink the Potion The Deal Undone

Mistaken

Self-obsessed, Machiavellian/ the victim

Kill the Goose

The Reveal

It’s Too Late

universally, a period of revel​ation​/self​-real​izati​on/de​cisio​n-mak​ing that heralds the second half of the film and points the direction towards the Last Throw of the Dice whatever narrative journey our Chosen One is embarked upon. However, as you will have read in previous chapters, there are commonalities across the films that fit within these paradigms (Table 2).​ Let’s begin this experiment with some ‘what-ifs?’ and for our purposes let’s take these from the case studies earlier in this book. As a simple exercise in playing with the story shapes, we can begin by placing the ‘wrong’ character in the ‘wrong’ situation and see how that might play out and what would be the natural outcomes from such a change. Let’s begin with the Willing Chosen One. In this case, this would be Joe from You Were Never Really Here. Joe, as we have seen, is brave, capable, dangerous and acts on a strong moral imperative. How would Joe react to being thrust into an Accidental story? These stories are typically inhabited by frightened, vulnerable and naïve Chosen Ones, and Joe is none of those things. This is probably the most extreme example of the wrong Chosen One in the wrong storyline. In order for this narrative to work, the Chosen One must be completely at sea when they arrive in their Dark Forest. This place represents all that scares them or makes them feel uncomfortable. Already we have a problem here with Joe as he is not scared of much, but let’s try to construct a narrative that might work and see where it takes us.

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As films so often thrive on the conjunction of opposites, what would be the greatest juxtaposition of environment for a hired killer to find themselves in? An old people’s home perhaps? Sweet little old ladies offering to knit Joe jumpers and popping happy pills all day and night? It’s an appealing idea, but as soon as we place Joe in this uncomfortable environment, he instantly becomes the vulnerable, naïve character who is prototypical of the Accidental story arc. He may also be frightened, but he would probably bury that emotion very deep. It seems that by placing your Chosen One into an unfamiliar environment in which they have to learn to sink or swim, the ‘fish out of water’ element is a necessity and, therefore, their character is immediately knocked off balance. They are naïve and vulnerable. Let’s move on . . . Let us, instead, drop Joe into an environment where he is content and capable – let’s say an alien world where humans are at war with terrifying creatures from beyond the stars. Joe is instantly able to call upon his skill set to join in with the fun, but the story requires another element to make it work. Joe would have to have been sent there for another reason – an inward character journey, perhaps. A journey to overcome trauma, understand love, find a family, and so on, and instantly we are back into the safe zone of the Accidental narrative arc in which our Chosen One must negotiate a rite of passage in order to solve the puzzle of how they will Return. Both of these examples are begging our Chosen One to learn something from his journey and Return to his reality a changed man. We haven’t broken any paradigms yet. How about if we change the set-up? You Were Never Really Here, at the opening, could well turn into a Drink the Potion storyline. Joe accepts the job of rescuing Votto’s daughter from the brothel, but the key to this arc would be his lack of knowledge about the journey to come. The storming of the brothel and the rescue of Nina would lead to a different kind of tale as Joe would begin to uncover a web of lies and deceit that would consume the action rather than the existing film that is a relentless effort on behalf of the Willing Chosen One to set things right. In the Unknowing version of the film, the brothel would just be the entry point to the story, whereas here, it is at the heart of the action. There are few

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surprises here for Joe. The world he uncovers is a world he is familiar with and he takes each step towards the destructive conclusion in his stride. The Unknowing storyline would see a fundamental change in his character from moralistic killer to something else. Peace-loving father figure perhaps? In our attempts to disrupt the system, the problem we encounter here is that every time we attempt to place our Willing Chosen One into a different scenario, their character must alter accordingly. Our mantra that character is structure holds firm because both are inextricably interconnected. Character and structure work in tandem to create a storyline that is affecting emotionally and effective in a narrative sense. The Willing Joe may be, at heart, the same character as the Accidental Joe, but because the nature of the Invitation and the subsequent Dark Forest changes, so Joe’s motivation must change . . . and as that motivation changes, so the character shifts. The Willing Chosen One is always willing, always a hero, always fighting for the cause. The other Chosen Ones are in a state of flux as they learn, grow, assimilate and experience the worlds around them. If we want to break the paradigm, then, simply placing a character into an opposing scenario doesn’t help. Tinkering with the narrative mechanics rather than the fundamental nature of the Chosen One can lead to some interesting and engaging pieces that have the potential to shock and surprise. However, this decision means you are going to have to choose between creating either an emotionally or intellectually satisfactory narrative for your audience. Catharsis is a powerful feeling that as writers we should strive to bring to all of our work, but having an audience finish a film debating the intended meaning of a narrative can be just as intoxicating for them. Often subverting narrative expectations can lead to such open-ended or debatable conclusions but may rob those watching of the denouement that was promised by the Invitation you delivered. Let’s look, instead, at changing the nature of their journey through the Dark Forest. Is it inevitable that the Willing Chosen One should Burn the Forest? Must the Unknowing Chosen One always experience the Deal Undone? Let’s take each pathway in turn and suggest some alternative approaches: Being the Willing Chosen One is all about volunteering for the job in hand. They are involving themselves in this story for entirely unselfish reasons that

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presupposes there is an evil to be defeated – a wrong to be righted. The Burn the Forest ending suggests a big set piece in Act IV in which our Chosen One gives every ounce of themselves to make sure that this evil or this wrong does not re-emerge. They are noble and heroic after all. But perhaps it is possible for the Willing Chosen One to simply let the bad guys walk away? It doesn’t sound very dramatic or emotionally satisfying, but, in some cases, this might well work. Sometimes forgiveness is as strong an emotion and as powerful a weapon as destructive force. Though in a world as terrifying as it is, are you using your narrative to have us understand that sometimes there are forces in the world that we can’t control? No Country for Old Men (2007) is a wonderfully complex narrative of stolen drug money, hired killers and the inevitable weight of fate. Anton Chiqurh is the coin-flipping assassin who survives as the Big Bad of the narrative so we must accept the fact that in this case, Sheriff Bell, the Willing Chosen One, does not Burn the Forest. The story is still satisfying and affecting, and won an Oscar for bestadapted screenplay so the paradigm, in this case, is successfully broken. Another specific example comes in The Assistant (2019), where junior assistant Jane works for a faceless but evidently powerful media mogul who is sexually abusing young women in his office late at night. Determined to expose her boss through the right channels she heads to see HR during the Hourglass moment of the narrative only to realize the machinery that supports the culture of fear and code of silence that surrounds the Big Bad of this world. This time, it appears that even though our Chosen One holds the lit match in her hand there is no way that it would come close to burning this forest. As the piece concludes we are shown Jane waiting at the bodega across the street from where she works following her nightly ritual of eating alone and watching as the lights in her boss’s office are turned out. She is lost within the Dark Forest but one that she is determined to fight in her own small way. The Accidental Chosen One is trying to get back to their Once Upon a Time from the moment they are thrust into their unfamiliar Dark Forest, but it is possible for them to decide to stay in the Dark Forest without necessarily becoming a Mistaken Chosen One. Could they decide that they could do more good by remaining and living out their days in this now familiar world? Their new home perhaps? It might work. Pleasantville (1998), in which siblings

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Jenifer and David are magically transported into Jenifer’s favourite sitcom, sees Jenifer do just that. However, the audience are introduced to her in the opening act as the ugly duckling that we know is just destined to turn into a swan if only she can find the right mentor. This positions her as a Chosen One who is actually Unable (to Believe) who just happens to fall Down the Rabbit Hole. Her decision to stay within Pleasantville is the moment where she is able to Reveal she has been a swan all along. A similar thing happens in Come Play (2020) that flirts with the Mistaken arc. The film is firmly rooted in the horror genre with the tropes it explores; however, it does not conform to the conventions in a typical way. Parents Sarah and Marty fight to save Oliver, their son, from an entity that seems to have possessed his iPad. At the Last Throw of the Dice moment the creature called Larry is finally able to fully break into the real world and is about to take Oliver back with him. At the last second, Sarah offers herself in his place and Larry accepts this trade. At this point this is fulfilling the Mistaken arc, and we are shown that it is too late for Sarah and the only way to leave the Dark Forest is through her death. However, as we transition into Act V we see that Oliver is still able to play with his mother as her ghostly apparition swings him round and round in the living room of their home. She remains within the Dark Forest to ‘protect’ her son, having replaced the malevolent Larry, which jars tonally with the overarching narrative though fulfils the thematic elements of the story. The Unable (to Believe) Chosen One must strive to overcome their inner demons otherwise we don’t really have a film, but what if they fail? What if they decide they simply don’t have it in them to follow their mentor out of the Dark Forest and they turn back and return to their Once Upon a Time unchanged by the experience? There is certainly a message to be taken from a film like this, and it doesn’t sound like it would be particularly easy to achieve but . . . why not? These ‘flat’ arcs might be more ‘truthful’ to reality in that we don’t see such change in an individual dramatically occur in this way, but that’s not what the vast majority of audiences want to see when they come to the screen in search of escapism and entertainment. The Outsider (2018) is the tale of Nick, an American POW, who is thrown in a Japanese jail after the end of the Second World War. He agrees to assist a

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yakuza gangster called Kiyoshi in escaping and in return Kiyoshi promises to bring him into his Shiromatsu clan, where he will teach him the ways of the yakuza. However, Nick needs little to no training and assimilates quickly and effectively into the violence and criminality. It doesn’t take long for Nick to no longer need the guidance of his mentor and he even overtly betrays his explicit instructions not to pursue Miyu with no repercussions. When he arrives at his Last Throw of the Dice sequence he uses the weapon that Kiyoshi gave to him when he was within the Dark Forest to finally defeat the traitorous Orochi, but there is the clear sense that this is something that Nick could have easily done on his own long before he did and the lessons from Kiyoshi were superficial ones at best. There never seems to be a conflicted nature for Nick to grow beyond and he embarks on the story with a self-assured understanding of his identity, a confidence that gives him the air of a swan from the moment he leaves prison. The Unknowing Chosen One gets themselves involved in a deal that they are unprepared to deal with, but ultimately they succeed by undoing that deal and creating a satisfying ending for themselves through the lessons they have learned in the Dark Forest. What would happen if they didn’t undo that deal? What would happen if they accepted the terms of the original deal, however one-sided, and lived with the consequences? It might be worth a try. In The Tomorrow War (2021) teacher and former Green Beret, Dan Forester, agrees to be sent forward in time to fight a war that is yet to start in the present. He is evidently a man who is able to navigate the Dark Forest he is about to be thrown into, but he responds to a Drink the Potion Invitation. The deal is a simple one: if he comes back alive, he gets to carry on as normal in the present and all of the opening act sets this trajectory up with mentions of his wife’s work with those who come back and the difficulty they face adjusting. However, upon going through the wormhole his mission now changes to one where he must Burn the Forest in the present to save the future with him even taking a match back in time to assist him with that process. Beginning and end do not feel cohesive within this pairing, and the Chosen One’s growth appears to happen adjacent to the journey he is on rather than as an organic exploration of his own conflicted nature within the Dark Forest. This is because his desire for his life to mean something is that of a Willing Chosen

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One and therefore only the second half of the narrative truly challenges his conflicted nature. Finally, the Mistaken Chosen One . . . The whole point of the storyline is that it represents the antithesis of the other narrative paths and is the realm of the anti-hero, so that aspect must remain intact. The natural trajectory of the Mistaken Chosen One is that they should burn their bridges as they proceed through the Dark Forest that they will never leave. It’s hard to conceive of another fate for the Mistaken Chosen One as there are so many possibilities on offer here, and they must remain the anti-hero as redemption would simply turn them to a different narrative path. Amelia in The Babadook (2014), Rial and Bol in His House (2020) and Tomas in Apostle (2018) all manage to gain a semblance of redemption in their narratives having understood the error of their ways and given space to make amends for them. However, they have all sinned in some way as a response to their Invitation therefore no matter how they attempt to atone for that choice they must remain within the Dark Forest in some way, shape or form as their penance. As discussed in the Mistaken chapter, the only way to escape a Dark Forest that was entered as a mistake is death (either literally or metaphorically). Whilst there may be opportunities in all of these alterations to our story shapes, it is worth striking a note of warning here. In the many, many films we have watched and assessed over the years tracking their narrative trajectories and ascertaining where they lie in our narrative universe, it is those films that fail to fulfil the narrative promise of the Invitation by delivering a different Last Throw of the Dice that often fall down dramatically. If you are changing what we feel is the inevitable ending to a journey through a Dark Forest, then do so with care and be prepared to reverse that decision if it doesn’t work. We began this chapter by inviting you to break the paradigm so please do go ahead. Just take care because character is structure and if your structure and your character do not work in tandem to complete the journey in an emotionally satisfying way then your script will have an unconvincing ending and that is fatal for any writer. But, perhaps we have got it completely wrong and there is another way for a Chosen One to enter a story other than those we have laid out in this book?

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At its most basic a story is about somebody who wants to achieve something but obstacles stand in their way which they must try to overcome. Therefore, it seems logical that the Chosen One must: ●

choose to go after that something,

●

find themselves chasing that something through some external agency, or

●

is cajoled/bullied into going after that something by somebody else.

The obstacles are a given otherwise your film is going to be very short. But perhaps we’ve missed a trick? Is there another way to get us involved in a story? 1917 and The Invisible Man (2020), as we have seen, forgo their Once Upon a Time in favour of diving more or less immediately into Act II. The Invitation has either already been accepted before we enter the story or it is a very cursory, passing moment. Diving straight into the Dark Forest, then, is a choice you have as a writer, but, effective as they are, both of these films subsequently struggle to fill in backstory and character background that we would normally learn in the Once Upon a Time section of the film. Plus, both of these films fit very neatly into our thesis. Another area worthy of consideration is the ‘art house’ film. This is, of course, a broad, catch-all term that doesn’t really mean very much, but there are a large group of films that are lauded and loved that appear not to obey the same rules as your average Hollywood blockbuster. This book is all about storytelling and, as such, our focus is more upon the traditional narrative form. Many ‘art house’ films are auteur or directorled cinematic experiences that focus on other elements of the film-going experience beyond classical narrative. These films can be enormously engaging and emotionally resonant but often achieve their ends less through the interaction of Chosen One and plotline than through the visual or the vocal. Nomadland (2020), for instance, is a beautiful film that pulls an audience into its remarkable world and holds them through the force of character and situation. The cinematic experience is a stunning one and the world envelops and affects the viewer.

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The plot itself is relatively sparse. Fern has lost her husband, loses her job and sells up her land to go out on the road in an RV. She learns about life as a nomad from others on the road, and her interactions are affecting and touching. By the end she has committed fully to life as a nomad. There is very little in the way of overarching narrative here. We, as an audience, are not so much waiting to find out what will happen next as investing in Fern and her experiences and life-lessons as she travels on ‘down the road’. The essence of the story is the Unable (to Believe) story arc but only in a very tangential way. The story itself is less important than the characters and vistas that the film treats us to. This option is always open to the brave screenwriter. Films in this arena can surprise and enhance our lives. There are countless artistic gems out there which deserve our time and attention. Where these films focus away from storytelling and onto other aspects of the film-going experience, however, our input becomes less useful to you as a writer. Structure largely falls away and character becomes pre-eminent. Regard this chapter as an open door and the pages that precede it as inspiration. We are as excited as any filmgoer by the promise of a new way to tell a story or a new story to tell, and if this book inspires you to blaze a new trail through narrative burning bridges like the most memorable of our Mistaken Chosen Ones, then we feel that we may have succeeded in setting something exciting in motion. Alternatively, if these pages help you to recognize your story and identify where it sits in the world of storytelling and how those storytellers who have gone before us have used the same narrative arcs to express themselves and their characters’ wants and needs over and over again, then, once again, this book has been a success.

Exercise This may be the most important exercise of all because through experimenting with our ideas, new stories and new approaches to stories might emerge. Let’s imagine for a moment that our theories are correct and that good storytelling

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is told through one of our narrative arcs. Certain types of films will naturally utilize one of these arcs. By selecting a different Invitation it is possible that interesting things will happen. Romantic comedies will often use the Drink the Potion or Unknowing narrative. It is obvious why this is the case; a seemingly simple deal will be struck early in the film that will keep both parties together to enable them to grow, change and realize their own faults in order to come together by the end of the film. When Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin subverted this and created an Accidental romantic comedy in Groundhog Day, it resulted in one of the most original and memorable comedies of the 1990s. What, then, would happen if you created a romantic comedy that followed a Willing or an Unable (to Believe) arc? Use the same methodology to try to subvert the following familiar narrative tropes, or select your own: Superhero origin stories will generally follow the Become a Swan or Unable (to Believe) narrative. Is it possible to create an origin story that employs a different arc? NB: Origin stories do not have to be superhero movies. Slasher movies are mostly told on a Mistaken/Accidental pathway. Could a satisfying tale be spun using a Mistaken/Unknowing or Mistaken/Willing Chosen One? The classic action-adventure star vehicle is understandably told as a Willing narrative, but would it be interesting to subvert this expectation and select a different narrative arc to explore? The important thing here is to let your imagination run free and enjoy the process of invention. The aim of this book is to help you understand storytelling from the Chosen One’s perspective and then to explore that understanding by experimentation and creative imagination. Have fun.

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Glossary All Is Lost The moment, generally at the end of Act III, where the situation appears hopeless for our Chosen One. There seems to be no way to resolve the story satisfactorily. Assumed Identity The persona the Chosen One has adopted at the beginning of the film. This persona will be subject to change as they learn more about themselves and realize where they are at fault. Big Bad The antagonist. The largest obstacle standing between the Chosen One and the exit from the Dark Forest. Chosen One The central character of the screenplay. Conflicted Nature Your Chosen One will probably have an issue that is eating them away from the inside. Some trauma or hang up or prejudice that they must overcome before they can emerge from the Dark Forest. Dark Forest The arena in which the central action of your screenplay will take place. Disruptor A secondary character who will upset your Chosen One’s equilibrium and force them to do things they don’t want to do in the service of your story. The disruptor is a particularly important character in the Unknowing story arc. Falling Action The course of your narrative following the midpoint, or Flipping of the Hourglass sequence. The falling action of the story often mirrors the rising action of the first half of the screenplay in terms of location, character and action, but the plot is now heading towards the all is lost moment leading to the Last Throw of the Dice. Harbinger A character, event or artefact which will foretell or foreshadow events that are to come in your screenplay. Interrupt the Identity Your Chosen One will begin your story with an assumed identity which will harbour their conflicted nature. This identity must be interrupted, often by the arrival of the Invitation which will force or lead them into the Dark Forest where they will grow and change as individuals. The Invitation The invitation to the ball. This is the point in your story where your Chosen One will be asked to leave their Once Upon a Time and enter the Dark Forest. The Chosen One’s responses to each of the five Invitations are discussed in the relevant chapters relating to each story arc. The Last Throw of the Dice This is how your Chosen One will leave the Dark Forest. There are five different iterations of the Last Throw of the Dice which correspond to the five different Invitations, and each is discussed in the relevant chapter relating to each story arc.

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Long Dangling Cause An event or promise of an event which is set up early in a screenplay and paid off much later. The long dangling cause may be largely forgotten by the audience by the time it is reintroduced into the story but, if set up correctly, will be dramatically satisfying and avoid coincidence and deus ex machina in your screenplay. Match The clue, element, character, action or event which will provide the Willing Chosen One with the ammunition to Burn the Dark Forest and complete their narrative arc. Mentor/Tormentor The secondary character who will help our Chosen One, particularly those on the Unable (to Believe) narrative arc, to realize their full potential. The mentor will generally do this through support and nurture, and the tormentor will tend to do this through cajoling, bullying, pushing and belittling. Motif A recurring visual symbol, action, piece of dialogue or memorable element which will act as subtext or metaphor for something in the narrative, which the writer wishes to highlight. This motif may be representative of characters, relationships, geographical spaces or emotional journeys. The motif lends texture and depth to a story above and beyond traditional visual storytelling. Once Upon a Time This is where we meet our Chosen One. Act I of the narrative will introduce us to them in a place which they are destined to leave but attempt to return to. Your Once Upon a Time should also tell us something about the character of your Chosen One, the company they keep and hint at the issues they must overcome. Raising the Stakes A story is made up of a Chosen One who wants to achieve something and the obstacles that are standing in their way. These obstacles must increase in difficulty and complexity as the narrative progresses. As the stakes are raised, so the obstacles become more personal for the Chosen One and more difficult to overcome. Rising Action Following their arrival in the Dark Forest the Chosen One will go through a period of discovery and investigation which will represent the rising action of the first half of the film. This sequence culminates in the Flipping of the Hourglass section where truths are revealed, which lead to the falling action of the second half of the screenplay. Ticking Clock A device commonly used in screenwriting which places a time limit on the action of the narrative. A bomb counting down before exploding would be the most obvious example, but giving the Chosen One a specific time by which a task must be completed can add drama and tension to a piece of writing.

Examples of films and their pathways​ Table 3  Examples of Films and Their Pathways Accidental

Unable (to Believe)

Unknowing

Mistaken

#Alive

Aladdin

The Apartment

The Babadook

Blade A Quiet Place Runner 2049

Black Panther

The Big Sick

Cabin in the Woods

Children of Men

Alice in Wonderland

Black Swan

Dark Waters

Eden Lake

The Hunger Games

Attack the Block God’s Own Country

Hotel Artemis

Falling Down The Godfather

Willing Black Widow

I am Legend Back to the Future

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Ice Age

I Want Candy

Big

The Hobbit

I Used to Go Here Gran Torino

Labyrinth

Empire of the Sun

I, Tonya

It Happened One Host Night

Mulan

Freaky Friday

The Karate Kid

Jojo Rabbit

It Follows

Run

Groundhog Day The King’s Speech

The Little Mermaid

Joker

Saving Guns Akimbo Private Ryan

Kung Fu Panda

Logan

The Lighthouse

School of Rock

Happy Death Day

Lady Bird

Marriage Story

Midsommar

Sin City

Horse Girl

The Lion King

News of the World Nightcrawler

Examples of films and their pathways

208

Willing

Accidental

Unable (to Believe)

Unknowing

Mistaken

Searching

It’s a Wonderful Life

Looking for Eric

Planes, Trains Parasite and Automobiles

Taken

Jaws

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Portrait of a Lady Raw on Fire

Tenet

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Onward

Pretty Woman

Severance

The Third Man

The Lovebirds

Rocketman

The Report

The Social Network

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Misery

Rocky

Shrek

St Maud

Wonder Pieces of a Woman 1984 Woman

Thunderpants

Summerland

Taxi Driver

You Were Never Really Here

Whiplash

The Woman in the Window

Uncut Gems

Soul

Index 1917  2, 201 About a Boy  108, 114 Accidental (Chosen One)  9, 13–14, 25–6, 30, 32, 39–40, 67–83, 118, 120, 124, 126, 129, 131–56, 194–8, 203 Accountant, The  xiv Acolytes  24, 47, 58, 64 Act I  xvii, 1, 36, 53, 57, 68, 80, 84, 102, 118, 123, 124, 132, 136, 148, 158, 161, 171–3, 182 Act II  xvi, xvii, 11, 22, 46, 56, 71, 76, 88, 105–7, 109, 122, 124, 139, 149, 151, 154, 160, 172, 173, 184, 201 Act III  xvii, 39–41, 43, 46, 58, 60, 73, 75, 90, 93, 108–12, 123, 124, 126, 140, 142, 151, 153, 162, 164, 167, 168, 174, 175, 185, 187 Act IV  xvii, 21, 22, 36, 46, 61, 76, 94, 109, 112–13, 127, 131, 132, 143, 154, 166, 177, 189, 197 Act V  xvii, xx, 23, 32, 36, 63, 79, 97, 113, 130–3, 145, 156, 168, 179, 191, 198 Action-adventure  10, 203 Adventure xiii, xiv, xv, xix, 10–11, 25, 54, 61, 63–4, 68, 70, 85, 93, 101, 110, 112, 171, 203 Aladdin  86, 207 Alice in Wonderland  7, 9, 69, 73 Alien  2 #Alive  70, 72, 75, 207 All is lost  155 Anchorman  xi Animated  147 Antagonist  2, 10, 51, 159

Anti-hero  10, 29, 117–18, 121, 122, 137, 200 Apartment, The  108, 114 Apostle  200 Arc  2, 10, 24–5, 27–8, 35–6, 44, 46–7, 49, 53–7, 60–1, 68–9, 84–6, 88, 98–9, 101–2, 106–10, 114, 118, 120–2, 124–6, 128–9, 132–3, 135–6, 145, 147–9, 156–7, 169, 173, 181, 188, 193, 195, 198, 202–3 Assistant, The  197 Assumed identity  xix, 7, 19, 72, 106, 110, 158, 170, 173 Babadook, The  200 Back to the Future  79 Bates, Norman  xxi, 137 Beat  xii, xiv, 68, 94, 97, 99, 129, 130, 132, 133, 142, 154, 164 Beauty and the Beast (film)  8–9, 56–8 Beauty and the Beast (story)  7 Become a Swan  9, 83, 87, 93, 120, 159, 164–5, 168, 194, 203 Beginning, The  xiv, xvii, xix, xx, 1, 5–6, 27, 40, 53, 54, 59, 69, 77, 80, 88, 90, 101–2, 110, 114, 120, 123–4, 126, 128, 131, 141, 154, 161, 165, 189–90, 199 Bertie  26, 87–8, 96 Big Bad  51, 52, 55–60, 62–4, 73, 98, 105, 109, 113, 116, 183, 197 Big Sick, The  108, 207 Black Panther  88, 207 Black Widow  55, 58, 207 Blade Runner  2

210 Blade Runner 2049  52, 54, 57, 61–2, 207 Bloom, Leo  xiv Breaking Bad  xiv Bull Durham  2 Burn the Forest  24–5, 30, 32, 56–8, 60, 62, 83, 135, 194, 196–7, 199 Byrde, Marty  xiv Cabin Fever  123 Cabin in the Woods  121, 123, 207 Campbell, Joseph  xvii, 6 Capone, Al  xiv Casino Royale  65 Central dramatic question  3, 18 Challenge  xvii, xix, xxi, 5–7, 18, 19, 22, 31, 36, 43, 46, 47, 59, 64, 68, 69, 77, 79, 80, 82, 85, 89, 90, 96, 128, 131, 135, 171, 173, 200 change xii, xiv, xv, xvi, xvii, xviii, 5, 11, 14, 17–18, 24–5, 27–8, 35–6, 49, 57, 60, 79, 83–5, 87, 89–90, 97–8, 101–2, 105, 107, 112, 114–15, 127, 133, 165–6, 170, 174–6, 178, 194–6, 198, 203 Chariots of Fire  2 choice xiii, xvii, 7–9, 12, 18, 24, 29–31, 36, 41, 47, 61, 75, 98, 115, 117, 136, 139, 143, 200–1 Chronicles of Narnia, The  147 comedy  10, 41, 123, 126, 170, 203 Come Play  198 Coming of age  10, 84, 171 conditions  16, 23, 28, 84, 115, 159, 170 conflicted nature  3–5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 16–19, 21–3, 33, 36, 43, 47, 53, 57, 61, 64, 67, 69, 71–3, 77–81, 84, 87–90, 100, 102, 104, 108, 110, 112, 115, 119, 171, 199–200 conflict xii, xvii, 2–3, 13, 51–2, 64, 99, 138, 159–60 confrontation  12, 155, 160, 172, 175, 179 Connors, Phil  25–6, 32, 67 control  3, 4, 34, 49, 52, 53, 55, 70, 90, 92, 93, 105, 124, 126, 135, 193, 197

Index Darjeeling Limited, The  xx Dark Forest  xiv, xv, xvi, xix, xx, 2–11, 17–18, 21–6, 28, 30, 33, 35–7, 39–40, 42–7, 49, 54–64, 67–79, 82, 83, 85–6, 88–91, 93–7, 104, 108–15, 118–19, 122–33, 135–6, 139, 143, 145, 149–51, 154, 160, 167, 170, 172–4, 176, 181, 183–4, 188–94, 196–7, 199–201 Dark Waters  103–6, 109–11, 113 Deal Undone, The  28, 113, 169, 194, 196 defeat  xix, 8, 31, 55–7, 59, 60, 63, 78, 113, 114, 132, 197, 199 destiny  xviii, xx, 10, 15, 22, 29, 45, 49, 52, 54, 61, 62, 84, 88, 106, 108, 109, 139, 198 dialogue  81, 99–100, 133 dilemma xiii, 31, 34, 43, 45, 106, 172 discovery  46, 109–10, 150, 170, 173, 174 disruptor  106–12, 115–16 Docter, Pete  147 Dodgeball  2 Dorothy (from The Wizard of Oz)  25–6, 153 Down the Rabbit Hole  9, 67, 69–70, 72–3, 77, 149, 154, 194, 198 Down the Rabbit Hole  9, 67–73, 77, 81, 149, 154, 194, 198 drama xix, 2, 41–2, 114, 127, 149, 154, 178 dramatic  3, 5, 18, 24, 27, 42, 44, 52, 60, 93, 106, 145, 149–50, 154, 197 Drink the Potion  10, 101, 104, 110, 115, 194, 195, 199, 203 Easy Plan, the  43, 47, 74–5, 141, 153, 164, 174, 187 Eden Lake  123, 207 emotional xvi, xvii, 59, 73, 75, 76, 85, 90–1, 93, 99, 109, 124, 138, 141, 143, 162–5, 175, 185, 187, 193, 196–7, 200–1 end, The  xiv, xv, xvi, xvii, xix, xx, 8, 10, 13, 16–17, 21–5, 31, 35, 37, 40–2, 56, 58–9, 61, 64, 69, 74, 85,

Index 95, 108–9, 111–14, 120, 122, 127, 130–1, 133, 136–7, 148, 151–2, 165, 171, 178, 184, 186, 198–9, 202–3 Everdeen, Katniss  24, 55–8 exercises x, 18, 63, 80–1, 98, 115, 132, 183–4, 202 fairy stories  xviii, 6, 10 falling action  xx, 42, 43, 46–8, 92, 126, 142, 153, 154, 164 filmic xvii, 25, 150, 176 final act  xvi, xvii, 30, 44, 113, 155, 177 Finding Dory  5, 7 Finding Nemo  3–4 flaw xii, 3 Fleck, Arthur  xviii, 29–30, 35, 120 Fletcher, Terence  4, 5, 87, 92, 94, 96 Folk tales  xviii, 6 Fundamentals of Caring, The  86 Gandalf  xiii, 86 genre  10, 78, 108, 121, 182–3, 198 Glass, Rose  181, 184 goal  33, 34, 43, 63, 72, 108, 144, 171 godgasm  184–5 God’s Own Country  157–68, 207 Goldman, William  xi Good Dinosaur, The  67 Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, The  7, 10, 29, 120 greed  3, 17, 55 Groundhog Day  25, 32, 67, 77, 203, 207 guilt  3, 8, 70, 89, 128, 186 Guns Akimbo  71–2, 207 Happy Death Day  77–8, 80, 207 harbinger  183 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone  147, 207 hero/heroism  xvii, 6, 15, 30, 32, 45, 52, 53, 58, 63, 67, 70, 88, 101, 113, 119, 120, 196, 197 Hero with A Thousand Faces, The  6 His House  200 horror  10, 117, 121, 123, 181, 198

211

Horse Girl  69, 76–7, 207 Host  119–21, 125–6, 207 Hot Fuzz  108 Hourglass  xx, 37, 39, 41–9, 59, 74–6, 91–4, 109–10, 125–7, 141, 152–3, 163–4, 174–5, 186–7, 193, 197 Hunger Games, The  24, 55–6, 207 I, Tonya  87, 89–92, 95–7, 207 I’m ready to admit  42–3, 142, 153, 164, 174, 187 idea xix, 1, 28, 73–4, 85, 98, 106, 108, 119, 169, 173, 195 I Hope I packed a parachute, 43, 142, 153, 164, 175, 187 imagery  158, 161 Inception  3–4, 8 interrupt identity  7, 54, 158, 184 Invisible Man, The, (2020)  2, 201 Invitation, the  xiv-xv, xvi, xvii, xix-xx, 4, 6–13, 16–19, 21, 22, 30, 31, 33, 35, 39–41, 43, 47, 50, 54–7, 67, 69–71, 79, 80, 87–8, 102–9, 112, 120–2, 124–6, 133, 139, 148–9, 157, 159–60, 172–4, 183–5, 194, 196, 199–201, 203 Iron Man  xxi It’s Too Late  29–30, 35, 83, 128–9, 181, 191–2, 194 It Follows  118, 119, 121, 128, 131–2, 207 It Happened One Night  108, 114, 207 Jackman, Hugh  xx Jaws  xix, 72, 208 Jojo Rabbit  108, 169–79, 207 Joker  xviii, 29, 120–30, 207 Jones, Mike  147 journey xiii, xiv, xvi, xviii, xix, 3, 4, 6, 9–12, 22–8, 33, 36–7, 40, 43, 47–8, 50, 56, 58–9, 70, 72, 75, 77–80, 82, 85–7, 90, 93–4, 96, 98, 106, 109–11, 113–16, 119–20, 122–5, 127, 131–2, 136, 139, 141, 148, 150–2, 154, 161, 163–4, 167–9, 171, 173, 176, 179, 188, 190, 194–6, 199–200

212 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle  73–6, 78–80, 208 Karate Kid, The  86, 207 Kill the Goose  10–11, 117, 120–2, 194 King’s Speech, The  26, 87, 96, 207 Labyrinth  58, 207 Lady Bird  84, 90–2, 95, 97, 207 Last Throw of the Dice, the  xvi, xvii, xix, xx, 21–37, 39, 62, 76, 78, 95, 112, 128–32, 136, 144, 155, 167–8, 189–91, 194, 198–200 Lee, Francis  157 Lighthouse, The  125–6, 130–1, 207 Lion King, The  86, 207 Little Mermaid, The (character)  10, 28 Little Mermaid, The (film)  27–8, 207 Little Mermaid, The (story)  7 location  160 Logan  xx, 102, 104, 105, 109–11, 113, 207 Logic  xvii, 3, 29, 41, 201 Logue, Lionel  26, 87 Long dangling cause  150, 154 Lord of the Rings, The  86 Lovebirds, The  xix, 68, 71, 208 Machiavellian  119, 122, 185, 194 Match (to Burn the Forest)  xiii, 56, 60, 62, 136, 140, 144, 197, 199 Me and Earl and the Dying Girl  85, 98, 208 mentor  26, 27, 33, 34, 58, 84–100, 118, 120, 124–6, 150–2, 156–8, 160, 165–8, 175, 198–9 Middle, The  xiv, xv, xvii, xix, xx, 21, 41, 59, 144, 148 Midnight Run  108 Midpoint  xv, xx, 37, 40, 42, 44–9, 74, 109–10, 174 Midsommar  118, 120, 131, 207 Mission Impossible  xiii Mistaken (Chosen One)  10–12, 17, 29–36, 39, 41, 83, 86, 117–33,

Index 181–92, 194, 197–8, 200, 202–3, 207 monologue  2, 99 monster  117, 118, 121–3, 128, 129, 131–2, 183 morality  3, 24, 29, 31, 32, 42, 52, 117, 119, 136, 194, 196 Motif  74, 128, 136, 158, 160, 162, 163, 165, 178 motivation  3, 30, 40, 64, 83, 101, 115, 175, 182, 196 Mulan (character)  55, 58 Mulan (film)  55, 207 narrator  124, 182–3 News of the World  103–6, 109–11, 113, 207 Nieman, Andrew  5, 7, 96–7 Nightcrawler  119, 120, 207 No Country for Old Men  197 Nolan, Christopher  xx Nomadland  201 obstacle  4, 5, 8, 10, 30, 49, 52, 56, 65, 73, 112, 150, 151, 153, 155, 201 Once Upon a Time  xiv, xvii, xix, 1–7, 11, 23, 25, 27–30, 32–3, 36, 53–7, 60–3, 67–76, 78–81, 83–4, 102–3, 108, 110, 112, 118–20, 124, 172, 188, 197–8, 201 Onward  89, 93–4, 208 opening image  2, 136 opening sequence  5, 69, 170–2 Oscar (Academy Award)  xi, 169, 197 Outsider, The  198 Ozark  xiv paradigm  xxi, 54, 58, 68, 71, 83, 85, 87, 108, 117, 118, 121, 124, 125, 127, 132–3, 150, 154, 182, 193–203 Parasite  118, 120, 122, 125, 127, 128, 208 pathway  xix, 17, 25, 31–2, 36, 105–7, 111, 196, 203 physical  xvii, 11, 56, 59, 65, 71, 85, 89–90, 94, 113, 135, 138, 153, 158

Index Pieces of a Woman  72–5, 80, 208 Planes, Trains and Automobiles  108, 114, 208 Pleasantville  197 Point of View  10, 29, 40, 84, 145, 175 Potter, Harry  xiii, xix Powers, Kemp  147 predestination  22 Pretty Woman  108, 114, 208 Pride and Prejudice  xiii Producers, The  xiv psyche  6, 7, 32, 42, 124, 136, 144, 192 Psycho  xx, 137–8 psychological examination  xvii, 21–2, 95, 138, 190 psychology  61, 77, 144, 166, 189 A Quiet Place  69–70, 72, 207 Raising the Stakes  26, 58, 149, 152, 153 Ramis, Harold  203 Ramsay, Lynne  135 Raw  119–21, 123, 126, 130, 132, 208 relationship  2, 4, 26, 35, 40, 47, 49, 57, 68, 71, 73, 75, 77, 84, 86, 89, 92, 94, 107, 114, 116, 127, 137, 143, 154, 157, 159, 162–5, 173–6, 178, 183 Return, The  25, 70, 74–5, 78, 80, 147, 150, 156, 194 Return of the Jedi, The  xx Reveal, The  27, 34, 95, 157, 168, 194 Ring, The  1–2 Rising action  xx, 42, 43, 48, 49, 142 Rocketman  88, 92, 97–8, 208 Rocky  2, 208 Romantic  10, 108, 114, 123, 203 Rubin, Danny  203 Run  52, 55, 57, 60, 62, 65, 207 St Maud  181–92, 208 scene  x, xii, 41, 53, 63, 68, 77, 81, 102, 111, 140, 148, 159–60, 171, 177 School of Rock  47–9, 207 sci-fi  10

213

script xii, xiii, xv, xvii, 40, 42, 45–6, 154, 200 self-discovery  9, 28, 150 sequence  xv, xvi, xvii, 2, 5, 36, 49, 57, 60–3, 65, 69, 74, 77–8, 82, 87–9, 92– 4, 99, 111, 121–3, 127–31, 136, 140, 142, 145, 149, 158, 161, 164, 168, 170–2, 174, 176–7, 182, 193, 199 Set Piece  60, 65, 197 setting  3–4, 157, 202 Severance  123, 208 Shrek (character)  28, 35 Shrek (film)  208 sin  121, 130, 133, 186 Sing It Loud and Sing It Proud  43, 141, 164, 174, 187 Skywalker, Luke  xviii, xx Social Network, The  119, 208 Sorry to Bother You  3–4, 8 Soul  147–56, 208 Spiritual Transformation  xvii, 36, 63, 65, 85, 133, 145, 192 Stakes  5, 26, 34, 49, 53, 58, 99, 149, 152, 153 Stand by Me  148 Stark, Tony  xxi Status quo  14, 119 superhero  xxi, 53, 109, 203 symbol  48, 55, 56, 178, 182 Take Me Instead  8, 23, 51, 53–6, 194 Taxi Driver  118, 140, 208 Tenet  xx, 208 terms and conditions  28, 115, 170 That’s Not What I Want  43, 142, 153, 164, 175 theme  3, 5, 18, 43, 55, 63, 68, 84, 99, 111, 117, 121, 123, 129, 133, 148, 160, 164 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri  47–8, 208 ticking clock  87, 153, 160 Tomorrow War, The  199 tone  2, 14, 49, 136, 169, 170, 182, 183 tormentor  4, 5, 26–7, 84–100, 126, 130

214

Index

training  11, 55, 89, 95, 96, 141, 170, 175, 199 trait  3, 4, 11, 53, 63, 65, 84, 92, 98, 111–12, 173, 177 transformation  xvii, 11, 34, 36, 41, 63, 83–7, 89, 90, 99, 123, 145, 176, 179, 190, 192 transition  7, 85, 87, 90, 92, 95, 117, 122, 123, 128, 132, 164, 178, 198 trope  57, 86 Ugly Duckling, The (character)  9, 26–7, 41, 83–4, 87, 90–3, 98, 159, 168, 198 Ugly Duckling, The (story)  7, 9 Unable (to Believe) (Chosen One)  9, 14–15, 26–8, 30, 33–4, 39, 41, 83–100, 118–20, 124–6, 157–68, 194, 198, 202–3, 207 Uncut Gems  119–20, 130–1, 208 Unfair bargain  27–8 (Un)Happily Ever After  xvii, 30, 43, 113, 122, 132, 174 Unknowing (Chosen One)  10, 16, 27–8, 30, 34, 39, 41, 83, 101–16, 118, 124–6, 169–79, 194–6, 199, 203, 207

Vader, Darth  xx Visual storytelling  12, 56, 60, 128, 145, 158, 162–3, 183, 188, 201 Vogler, Christopher  xvii voice-over  136, 140, 182, 184–7, 189 Waititi, Taika  169, 172 Whiplash  4–7, 87, 92, 94, 96–7, 208 White, Skylar  xiv White Men Can’t Jump  2 Willing (Chosen One)  8–9, 12–13, 17, 23–5, 30–2, 39–40, 44–7, 49, 51–65, 83, 118, 120, 124, 126, 135–45, 181, 183, 192, 194–7, 203, 207 Wizard of Oz, The  25, 68 Wolff, Christian  xiv Wolverine (character)  xx, 102, 104 Wonder Woman 1984  51–5, 57, 208 writing  xi, xxi, 3, 12, 18, 22, 29, 64, 75, 99, 132, 176 You Can’t Put It Back In The Bottle  44, 141, 164, 174, 187 You Were Never Really Here  52, 135–45, 194–5, 208

 215

216

 217

218