Still Amazed by the beat sheet

princethomas · Cub Joined: 01 Mar 2008 Posts: 7

I watched The Graduate today and in the middle, I started thinking about the Beat Sheet. Specifically about the Midpoint. And I checked to see what the actual Midpoint was. It falls in, probably, the most recognizable shot in the whole movie. In the Hotel when Ben is about to leave, because he is upset. Its the movie poster even. And it spot on the turning point of the movie. Anyway, I keep doing this and I am amazed by how accurate it is.

How purposeful is it, I'm wondering. I am writing my feature right now and I am obsessed with the Beat Sheet. I wonder if I am trying to hard to follow it.

Not important. Just blown away by it. I love Beating Out my favorite movies.

-T

Kevan · Liger Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 951

GHarris · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 9:13 pm Post subject:

In my opinion when following the beat sheet, it's more of a guide(line) than a rule.

For example, you don't HAVE to state the theme on page 5, it could be page 1, page 7, or even after the catalyst if you want, but it just better be there.

But I'm not saying throw things wherever you want. Because if your Midpoint happens before your Break into Two (lol) you've got problems. Just be aware of what things can be slid in and out of place.

So to me, the only way to follow it "too much" is to force things to happen on certain pages, in a certain order, etc., because it could throw off your own flow of your story and put your vision and voice in a box, so to speak.

But it's a great tool to have. It'll keep your story well-paced and keep you on the right track to getting your hero from point A to point B.

Of course, I'm just speculating. I haven't sold anything (or tried), I just love reading, writing, and watching movies. And there are movies that work with the BS2 completely intact, and others that are good with certain beats swapped or even missing.

brianna · Siberian Tiger Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 457

So, heres something I was thinking, what if you decide that you want to plot out a 22 episode theme of a show. Like a season into the beats, how would you change around the beats and where they go so that it was more episodic?

I was just thinking about that... because every season should follow the beats the same as the over al story, so what do you guys think?

Kevan · Liger Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 951

brianna

You can only beat out each episode because that is an individual script. So if you have 22 episodes then you need to produce 22 beat sheets, one for each episode..

Usually you write a pilot anyways with the view a studio head or heads like the idea to make it into a fully fledged series..

If the pilot is sucessful then you become a Show Runner and recruit a group of staff writers who share the writing week to week... The group of writers will work on plot and storyline and one or two writers will write the script.

Once you have a concept your weekly show will adhere to a theme, style, tone, etc but your weekly stories will be different from week to week for that 22 weeks Season..

brianna · Siberian Tiger Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 457

Right, I totally get that. But I mean personally, I would probably Beat out an over all idea of what would happen from the start of the first episode to the last episode in the season.

So I mean like your opening image is episode one, then your catalyst... would be around episode 7.. like that. Does that make sense? I think that that is neccessary too to make sure you have a working story line for a season.

JD Scruggs · Cub Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Wheaton IL

I would have to say, just my 2 cents here, but I think you have the right idea. However I would think that, as an over all layout that you would get to your catalyst in the first episode, you would want you viewers to know what we are up against in the first viewing. The next several episodes would be a debate, and then you would get into your act two and then the fun and games for a big chunk of the series. Remember your mid point would come in there, so your episodes would always have a new conflict through the run. Within each episode you would have a mini beat sheet that would cover all the beats for that little mini-movie episode. You would very subtly gloss over your theme and catalyst in each, if done well you would hardly notice it, then you would run through the sheet for each situation that drives you forward to the final episodes. Any of the good series follow this pattern always keeping you in the original but providing you with a new situation each episode.

Mike Rinaldi · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:46 pm Post subject:

I hear the new X-Files movie falls into the Monster-of-the-Week category, at least in that it can stand alone from the TV series.

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Martin Blank · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject:

Brianna,

I don't have access to one these days, but you might find it really useful if anyone here can get you a show bible. (And a season one.) On TV shows the character acrs are changed VERY slowly, because they have to last over many seasons.

From what I know of TV, I tend to agree with Kevan that every episode needs all the beats. It's a very HIGH CLASS problem. Also, look for an Email from me tonight.

Cheers,
Martin

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