Adventures in the Screen Trade

by William Goldman

The scene with the governor was certainly a darling of mine, but eventually I realized I had to kill it. Because, probably not consciously, I was approaching what I believe to be the single most important lesson to be learned about writing for films and this is it: SCREENPLAYS ARE STRUCTURE. As I said earlier, there are two Roman numeral I’s to this book—the first being that nobody knows anything. Well, this is the other, in well-deserved caps: SCREENPLAYS ARE STRUCTURE. Yes, nifty dialog helps one hell of a lot; sure, it’s nice if you can bring your characters to life. But you can have terrific characters spouting just swell talk to each other, and if the structure is unsound, forget it. Writing a screenplay is in many ways similar to executing a piece of carpentry. If you take some wood and nails and glue and make a bookcase, only to find when you’re done that it topples over when you try and stand it upright, you may have created something, but it won’t work as a bookcase.