David Siegel's 9 Act Structure - and thriller stuff, like Dan Brown, and whatnot

So, in this, the (free), Feature Screenwriter's Workbook:




(Note: Free)



The David Siegel 9-Act Model of Storytelling is summarized... 


I of course, refer to: Page 68 of the above:



DAVID SIEGEL'S NINE-ACT STRUCTURE


David Siegel, WWW design legend and author of Designing Killer Web Sites has
invented his own structural film story paradigm.


His `Nine-Act Structure‟ runs thus:


Act 0: Someone Toils Late into the Night.
Act 1: Start with an image.
Act 2: Something bad happens.
Act 3: Meet the Hero (and the Opposition).
Act 4: etc
Act 5: etc
Act 6: etc
Act 7: etc
Act 8: etc


Source: http://www.dsiegel.com/film/Film_home...



So, in this paradigm, the "someone" in "Act 0" refers to a Bad Guy... 


When he is "toiling late into the night" Siegel means: someone like Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), the villain in DIE HARD : 


i.e. - Hans plans to rob the vault of the Nakatomi Building, and obviously, mid-divorce cop John McLane (Bruce Willis) gets stuck in the middle with him , as Stealer's Wheel might say...


Or, say the dead guy in The Louvre, in The Da Vinci Code . 


This ties into something Stephen de Souza (screenwriter of DIE HARD ) also says - namely that The Bad Guy is actually the Protagonist, in almost all Action films - and the good guy is the Antagonist, even though we (The Audience) root for him... 


i.e. - The good guy is reactive, in trying to foil (or - survive) the Bad Guy, but essentially the Bad Guy's actions "drive" the story...


This is how most action / thriller novels work too: 


Dan Brown's story stuff ( The Da Vinci Code , etc) is usually kicked off a bunch of bad guys toiling late into the night, eg Opus Dei - or - some such. This backstory comes out later.


Jurassic Park , (that guy trying to steal the eggs... you know, Neumann) and - many others by Michael Crichton... (eg Westworld, which is just Jurassic Park with cowboy-robots)


All of James Bond... (the Act 0 "someone" would be Dr No, Goldfinger, or Blofeld, Kananga, Scaramanga, or Dr Evil, etc)


All of the Jason Bourne series...(er, in the first one, probably Conklin, if not Wombosi - or maybe even Bourne/David Webb himself...? )


All of Stephen King...


- etc...


This also ties into something in PLOTTING PROFITABLE PICTURE$, the White Paper, which is also free, here:


http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/joeteevee


Namely that - the Top 20 Return-On-Investment Films Ever - are all "VILLAIN TRIUMPHANT" stories.


Something to think about, when plotting films, novels, or even songs with a narrative.


The song "Long Black Veil" is a good example of this.
Check out how many covers have been done of this song(?!)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Black_Veil_(song)

Lyrics here:

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/33466/

However - whether this song is also a VILLAIN TRIUMPHANT genre, remains debatable. 
The real killer got away... BUT - The guy did cheat on his best friend's wife.
Morally and ethically, that makes the Narrator the bad guy...
Also, it makes the song a Bangsian Fantasy:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangsian_fantasy


If Bangsian Fantasy is "your thing" (for e.g. - The 6th Sense, Sunset Blvd, American Beauty, etc) then, maybe go here for a "BangsTian" Fantasy: 


See the novels BaNGST - and especially, AM SO AS.


http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/joeteevee




Ciao 4 niao...