John Trubyâ??s Great Screenwriting Class on DVD - Review One

Reviewer: Sarah Nathan

If you’re looking for an easy to understand screenwriting class that you can take in the comfort of your own home, this DVD is for you. If you’re looking for some DIY script doctoring to diagnose the problems you’re facing in your story structure, this DVD is also for you too. But if you’re a seasoned writer, you may resist some of the things that Truby has to say. I know I did. Not that I’m seasoned just, ahem, opinionated, vain and smug. More on this later.

First, let’s take a look at what’s on offer.

Truby has distilled his screenwriting wisdom into four two-hour DVDs. Even though a good portion of this time is comprised of clips from classic films to illustrate his point, this is a serious investment of time and taking notes is recommended.

The four discs are entitled Classic Structure, Character, The 22 Building Blocks of Every Great Script and lastly, Dialogue. In addition to the lessons, there are extra features such as additional story examples and writing exercises to help you use what you’ve learned in your own projects.

Let’s look at each DVD in order.

First, Truby gives advice on the foundation of your story – classic structure. He boils this down to seven main steps that form the line of your story: hero’s need and desire, their opponent, etc right through to the battle and the new equilibrium. Then Truby shows three variations on the structure theme: myth, fairytale and drama. It’s good, sensible stuff, well described and illustrated. It’s nothing new, but a novice screenwriter couldn’t ask for a clearer introduction.

Disc two concerns itself with character. There’s a wealth of information here: the five stages of building your character, ensuring they have a moral dilemma, an inner need and a strong desire line. Truby also shares the six steps to creating the best premise for your story – valuable whether you have yet to start your masterpiece or are lost in the mire of your second act. He also shares the wisdom that it’s better not to have a drop-kick for a hero, spells out the requirements of an effective hero and notes the things to avoid.

And so to disc three, in which Truby takes his original seven steps of story structure and expands them into the important-sounding “22 building blocks of every great script”. Naturally, I was more than a little intrigued. His 22 points are well-made and largely common sense in hindsight – don’t we always say that? – but do seem overly prescriptive. Does there really have to be an ally who we later learn is an opponent? Couldn’t it be the other way around? Couldn’t you skip this character altogether?

By now the process of screenwriting seems like little a how-to for a mass-produced jacket, rather than the unique couture creation you intend to lovingly hand-stitch. And that’s the crux of the John Truby experience. For all of the benefits of structure, it starts to feel less like tailoring and more like a straitjacket.

But wait, there’s hope. Because when Truby plays the clips he has amassed to illustrate his point you realise that these “rules” can be interpreted in very flexible and loose ways indeed. Some of the clips almost fail to illustrate the rule he’s just expounded, such is the flexibility. At first this is almost amusing but then you realise Truby’s showing a principle and encouraging the writer to use it – or maybe even subvert it – (sorry Truby, putting words in your mouth now) in whatever imaginative and fresh way they can.

The fourth disc, Dialogue, is perhaps a touch misnamed, as it’s as much about the nuts and bolts of writing of your screenplay as the spoken words. Truby explains how to get started with your writing. He recommends first making an outline of your story: each scene described in a single sentence. This provides you with your last chance to check the architecture of your story. He then defines the six kinds of dialogue and shares many tips for making your screenplay a compelling read. The writing exercises on this disc are split between starting out with your writing and the editing process.

It’s at this point that I put Truby’s 22 steps to the test with my painfully slow work-in-progress – a first draft screenplay. I have a story I am happy with although, truth be told, the whole thing feels a little “small”. I had already decided that I would finish this screenplay as a writing exercise and would pick a “bigger” story next time. Then came Truby.

I put my existing screenplay to one side (as best I could) and started on the 22 steps. Vain, smug and stubborn, I expected to find only evidence of my genius. Despite finding some of the steps tediously prescriptive, I was faithful to each and every one. What I saw at the end of the exercise shocked me. There was a much bigger and better story lurking within my script than I had imagined. A lot of the stakes I had originally developed turned out to be false. Now the story has a drive, an energy and an integrity it simply didn’t have before, not to mention a driving line that has made it a lot quicker to write. Direction and certainty are wonderful things.

While I in no way expect to wind up with a masterpiece, I am encouraged to think I have, with Truby’s help, uncovered the true story lurking within my idea. And, most encouraging of all, John Truby assures his viewers that he’s not intending to prescribe the one way of writing a screenplay:

“The point is not to write a script that meets the 22 steps, the point is to use the 22 steps to write a great script. If that means you’ve got to make changes, go ahead and do that. You’ve got to make sure your script is unique and each script has its own unique requirements.”

Yes, I am a humble convert – but I look forward to one day subverting the structure...