Screen Adaptation: Beyond the Basics

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Reshaping Structure

 

 

 

A number of years ago, I was hired to rework a script and I started noodling around with different configurations. I was exploring the Hero’s Journey and simultaneously trying to figure out whether the original screenwriter had used a Three-Act Structure, when I discovered something: The Three-Act Structure and the Hero’s Journey were actually very similar. In fact, they can be laid atop one another as a creative and analytic tool. To demonstrate, let’s examine the Academy Award-winning script Argo written by Chris Terrio. In brief, Argo is about a CIA exfiltration expert—Tony Mendez—who is sent to Iran in 1979 to rescue six American embassy employees who narrowly escaped being taken ...