The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Cocoon

written by Tom Benedek


Cocoon warrants careful study because of its skilled use of converging narrative lines and its ensemble story-telling. It is a sci-fi story that touches themes with much wider interest.

Structural Analysis

  1. Hook (5 min.)
    • Ben and his male cohorts from the Sunny Shores retirement community trespass at a neighboring, abandoned mansion in order to use the swimming pool.
  2. Complication (12 min.)
    • Walter and company rent the mansion - no more swimming for the old guys.
  3. Call to Action (18-9 min.)
    • When Ben and friends see the new occupants unloading strange things (probably drugs), Ben decides to "take a risk" and use the pool anyway. They do, and now the activity revitalizes them.
  4. Act One Plot Point (44-7 min.)
    • But they discover that Walter and friends are aliens - and get caught using the pool. They flee.
  5. Midpoint Plot Point (70-1 min.)
    • After Ben confronts Walter - Joe is dying of cancer and needs the revitalizing power of the pool - they cut a deal where the old guys can use the pool secretly. No one is to know (52 min.) But one resident squeals that the pool is the Fountain of Youth, causing a panicked rush into the water, destroying the cocoons being stored there. Ben has let Walter down.
  6. Act Two Plot Point (85 min.)
    • Ben and the others help the aliens return the cocoons to the ocean (setting up a sequel). Walter offers to take them into outer space with them, and Ben with great difficulty tells his grandson that he and grandma will be taking the incredible trip.
  7. Climax and Resolution (99 min.)
    • The old folks narrowly escape, helped by the grandson who diverts the Coast Guard by jumping into the water. Only the grandson knows that there was not a mysterious accident killing everyone at sea, that in fact granddad and grandma are living "up there" with the aliens.

    Notes

    Cocoon follows several characters whose stories have complete development. Ben is the protagonist because he is the primary "doer" and because his grandson provides important frame action to the story. But considerable time is taken elsewhere, with Joe and Walter and other characters, and half a dozen different storylines are developed with beginnings, middles and ends. This helps explain why Act One in the main Ben story comes relatively late: with so many storylines, twists come quickly here, and our attention never strays. Also, all the different strands work together into two main storylines: the old folks and the aliens (and Jack, whose boat they use) with their mission to gather and return their friends who were left behind.


    MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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