[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row padding_mobile=”off” custom_margin=”|||0px” column_padding_mobile=”on” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” src=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/one-act-films.jpg” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_overlay=”off” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Over the last few years I am noticing what seems like a trend or at least a drift toward minimalism and a focus on inner conflict. More and more well-regarded films are being told in just one act. <\/p>\n
Conventional full-length three-, four-, five- or more act films dynamically progress their conflicts around major turning points to an all-or-nothing climax. A one-act telling, on the other hand, accumulates pressure gradually, often exclusively within the protagonist\u2019s psychological and emotional life, and usually ends on a quiet release. If a story spans only one movement with no major turnings, it usually asks its audience for less than 30 minutes of performance time: short stories, short films, one-act plays.<\/p>\n
Feature films run around 100+ minutes. If a writer wants to tell a full-length work in only one act, the first problem is how to hook and hold interest for up to two hours while the film paints a portrait of silent inner conflict? Deep psychological change takes time, often years, even decades. When that\u2019s the heart of the telling, major outer events that happen along the way may seem irrelevant, even melodramatic.<\/p>\n
Recent one-act films that pulled this off with success: WILD (2014)\u2014a woman in recovery; 45 YEARS (2015)\u2014a woman in despair; PATTERSON (2016)\u2014a poet adrift. <\/p>\n
Stories of inner conflict build around a life dilemma and end on the protagonist\u2019s choice to change her mind in one direction or the other. For that reason, they cause a second problem: risk. No story is worth telling until you answer these critical questions: What\u2019s at stake? What\u2019s the risk? What does the protagonist stand to lose if she doesn\u2019t get what she wants? And if a change of mind climaxes the story, what\u2019s to stop the protagonist from changing it back again? Can a true ending be so easily reversed?<\/p>\n
The three previous examples work beautifully because what\u2019s at stake feels weighty and the end change seems irreversible. In WILD, we feel that she\u2019s off of drugs forever. In 45 YEARS, a wife discovers that her husband has always loved another woman more than her throughout nearly a half-century of marriage. Her realization makes her life meaningless, and nothing will ever change her mind. In PATTERSON, a poet loses his only copy of a lifetime of writing, but then gathers himself and decides to begin again. We feel that he will keep at it no matter what. <\/p>\n
Given the inherent problems dramatizing inner conflict, how is the writer to hold an audience\u2019s involvement over time? One possible answer: substitute discovery for suspense.<\/p>\n
Three-act tellings offer the pleasure of suspense, defined as an empathetic curiosity about outcome, powered by major jeopardies and risks at stake in the protagonist\u2019s life. <\/p>\n
Full-length one-acts offer the pleasure of discovery, defined as the seeing, hearing, and vicarious living in a fascinating world filled with people, things, and more you\u2019ve never known before. These fresh encounters pull the audience through the telling because each one delivers a new pleasure. Like picking up beautiful stones on a beach, we want more and more. Therefore, one effective way to hold and build interest for nearly two hours without a compelling plot twists is to create fascinating, utterly original, vivid details. <\/p>\n
Below are four one-acts from 2017. I\u2019ve broken them into five key elements: Inciting incident, object of desire, storyline, details and risk. Notice that in three of them the inciting incident is in the deep backstory\u2014the bad luck of being born poor. Notice also that the protagonists are all female (as were two of the three above). And except for the last, the endings are rather soft and possibly reversible without great consequence. Note also that it\u2019s the details that hook and hold interest.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=”3.0.106″ use_icon=”off” url_new_window=”off” title=”A FANTASTIC WOMAN” use_circle=”off” use_circle_border=”off” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” background_layout=”light” image=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/fantastic-woman.jpg” custom_css_blurb_image=”width:150px;” custom_css_blurb_content=”margin-left:0;||width:100%;||max-width:100%;” header_font=”|700|||||||” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”on||”]<\/p>\n
Inciting Incident:<\/strong> A transsexual\u2019s lover dies. [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” src=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/fantastic-woman.jpg” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_overlay=”off” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”|on|on” \/][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=”3.0.106″ use_icon=”off” url_new_window=”off” title=”A FANTASTIC WOMAN” use_circle=”off” use_circle_border=”off” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” background_layout=”light” custom_css_blurb_image=”width:150px;” custom_css_blurb_content=”margin-left:0;||width:100%;||max-width:100%;” header_font=”|700|||||||” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”|on|on”]<\/p>\n Inciting Incident:<\/strong> A transsexual\u2019s lover dies. [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=”3.0.106″ use_icon=”off” url_new_window=”off” title=”LADY BIRD” use_circle=”off” use_circle_border=”off” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” background_layout=”light” image=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-bird.jpg” custom_css_blurb_image=”width:150px;” custom_css_blurb_content=”margin-left:0;||width:100%;||max-width:100%;” header_font=”|700|||||||” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”on||”]<\/p>\n Inciting Incident:<\/strong> Her birth to financially and emotionally damaged parents, followed by a childhood of dissatisfaction in a do-nothing town. [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” src=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-bird.jpg” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_overlay=”off” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”|on|on” \/][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=”3.0.106″ use_icon=”off” url_new_window=”off” title=”LADY BIRD” use_circle=”off” use_circle_border=”off” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” background_layout=”light” custom_css_blurb_image=”width:150px;” custom_css_blurb_content=”margin-left:0;||width:100%;||max-width:100%;” header_font=”|700|||||||” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”|on|on”]<\/p>\n Inciting Incident:<\/strong> Her birth to financially and emotionally damaged parents, followed by a childhood of dissatisfaction in a do-nothing town. [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=”3.0.106″ use_icon=”off” url_new_window=”off” title=”COLUMBUS” use_circle=”off” use_circle_border=”off” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” background_layout=”light” image=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/columbus.jpg” custom_css_blurb_image=”width:150px;” custom_css_blurb_content=”margin-left:0;||width:100%;||max-width:100%;” header_font=”|700|||||||” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”on||”]<\/p>\n Inciting Incident:<\/strong> Her birth to a drug addicted mother, followed by a childhood of dissatisfaction. [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” src=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/columbus.jpg” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_overlay=”off” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”|on|on” \/][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=”3.0.106″ use_icon=”off” url_new_window=”off” title=”COLUMBUS” use_circle=”off” use_circle_border=”off” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” background_layout=”light” custom_css_blurb_image=”width:150px;” custom_css_blurb_content=”margin-left:0;||width:100%;||max-width:100%;” header_font=”|700|||||||” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”|on|on”]<\/p>\n Inciting Incident:<\/strong> Her birth to a drug addicted mother, followed by a childhood of dissatisfaction. [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=”3.0.106″ use_icon=”off” url_new_window=”off” title=”THE FLORIDA PROJECT” use_circle=”off” use_circle_border=”off” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” background_layout=”light” image=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/florida-project.jpg” custom_css_blurb_image=”width:150px;” custom_css_blurb_content=”margin-left:0;||width:100%;||max-width:100%;” header_font=”|700|||||||” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”on||”]<\/p>\n Inciting Incident:<\/strong> Her birth to a backstreet prostitute. [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” src=”https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/florida-project.jpg” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_overlay=”off” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”|on|on” \/][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=”3.0.106″ use_icon=”off” url_new_window=”off” title=”THE FLORIDA PROJECT” use_circle=”off” use_circle_border=”off” icon_placement=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” background_layout=”light” custom_css_blurb_image=”width:150px;” custom_css_blurb_content=”margin-left:0;||width:100%;||max-width:100%;” header_font=”|700|||||||” disabled=”off” disabled_on=”|on|on”]<\/p>\n Inciting Incident:<\/strong> Her birth to a backstreet prostitute. [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n Of the four films, THE FLORIDA PROJECT is my favorite.<\/strong> What makes it hook and hold is writer-director Sean Baker\u2019s unique renderings of the spirit, tricks and fantasies of childhood play\u2014all brought to life by a brilliant seven-year-old actor: Brooklynn Prince. We\u2019ll see more of her genius in the future. Of that I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the last few years there seems to be a trend or at least a drift toward minimalism and a focus on inner conflict. More and more well-regarded films are being told in just one act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-works-doesnt-work","post_format-post-format-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/one-act-films-2.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10504"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10546,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10504\/revisions\/10546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckeestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nObject of Desire:<\/strong> To shed tears of grief over her lover\u2019s corpse.
\nStoryline:<\/strong> Repeated indignities suffered by a transsexual.
\nDetails:<\/strong> Various passive\/aggressive tactics used by the police and her dead lover\u2019s family to humiliate her.
\nWhat\u2019s at risk? What\u2019s the worst thing that could happen if she doesn\u2019t achieve her object of desire?<\/em><\/strong>
\nAnswer:<\/strong> She will cry at home alone, and then go on with her life.<\/p>\n
\nObject of Desire:<\/strong> To shed tears of grief over her lover\u2019s corpse.
\nStoryline:<\/strong> Repeated indignities suffered by a transsexual.
\nDetails:<\/strong> Various passive\/aggressive tactics used by the police and her dead lover\u2019s family to humiliate her.
\nWhat\u2019s at risk? What\u2019s the worst thing that could happen if she doesn\u2019t achieve her object of desire?<\/em><\/strong>
\nAnswer:<\/strong> She will cry at home alone, and then go on with her life.<\/p>\n
\nObject of Desire:<\/strong> To escape her mother\u2019s domination and find her true identity at a big city university.
\nStoryline:<\/strong> Crosscut scenes of a teenager\u2019s struggles with a lying lover, demanding mother, and out-of-reach college.
\nDetails:<\/strong> The tactics she uses to give herself prestige are delightful: a new name, a phony address, and verbal putdowns of her mother.
\nWhat\u2019s the worst thing that could happen if she doesn\u2019t achieve her object of desire?<\/strong><\/em>
\nAnswer:<\/strong> She will go to a local college.<\/p>\n
\nObject of Desire:<\/strong> To escape her mother\u2019s domination and find her true identity at a big city university.
\nStoryline:<\/strong> Crosscut scenes of a teenager\u2019s struggles with a lying lover, demanding mother, and out-of-reach college.
\nDetails:<\/strong> The tactics she uses to give herself prestige are delightful: a new name, a phony address, and verbal putdowns of her mother.
\nWhat\u2019s the worst thing that could happen if she doesn\u2019t achieve her object of desire?<\/strong><\/em>
\nAnswer:<\/strong> She will go to a local college.<\/p>\n
\nObject of Desire:<\/strong> Escape from her needy mother and entrance into college to study architecture.
\nStoryline:<\/strong> Numerous intelligent discussions about art that in the subtext express her quiet aspiration for a meaningful life.
\nDetails:<\/strong> The silent beauties and varieties of modernist architecture found in an unlikely place: Columbus, Indiana.
\nWhat\u2019s the worst thing that could happen to if she doesn\u2019t achieve her object of desire?<\/strong> <\/em>
\nAnswer:<\/strong> She goes to college next year or the year after or never.<\/p>\n
\nObject of Desire:<\/strong> Escape from her needy mother and entrance into college to study architecture.
\nStoryline:<\/strong> Numerous intelligent discussions about art that in the subtext express her quiet aspiration for a meaningful life.
\nDetails:<\/strong> The silent beauties and varieties of modernist architecture found in an unlikely place: Columbus, Indiana.
\nWhat\u2019s the worst thing that could happen to if she doesn\u2019t achieve her object of desire?<\/strong> <\/em>
\nAnswer:<\/strong> She goes to college next year or the year after or never.<\/p>\n
\nObject of Desire:<\/strong> To stay with her mother while she plays with her friends.
\nStoryline:<\/strong> A little girl fills her days with imaginative play while her mother hustles to pay the rent.
\nDetails:<\/strong> The myriad ways she makes something out of nothing: the fun and adventure she creates while playing in a crumbling motel and the shrub lands that surround it.
\nWhat\u2019s at stake?<\/em><\/strong>
\nAnswer: <\/strong>In time she could become a prostitute like her mother and use drugs to kill her humiliation.
\nWhat\u2019s the worst thing that could happen if the police arrest her mother?<\/em><\/strong>
\nAnswer:<\/strong> In a satisfying ironic twist, she would be adopted by surrogate parents and given a chance in life.<\/p>\n
\nObject of Desire:<\/strong> To stay with her mother while she plays with her friends.
\nStoryline:<\/strong> A little girl fills her days with imaginative play while her mother hustles to pay the rent.
\nDetails:<\/strong> The myriad ways she makes something out of nothing: the fun and adventure she creates while playing in a crumbling motel and the shrub lands that surround it.
\nWhat\u2019s at stake?<\/em><\/strong>
\nAnswer: <\/strong>In time she could become a prostitute like her mother and use drugs to kill her humiliation.
\nWhat\u2019s the worst thing that could happen if the police arrest her mother?<\/em><\/strong>
\nAnswer:<\/strong> In a satisfying ironic twist, she would be adopted by surrogate parents and given a chance in life.<\/p>\n