The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Bullets Over Broadway
written by Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath
Bullets Over Broadway is a delightful comedy
with a winning premise and a full cast of comic character types. The 3-act
structure is firmly in place.
Structural Analysis
- Hook (0 min.)
- "I won't change a word of my play!", says David Shane in the first
line of the movie. An artist who won't sell out, he journeys into
surprising territory in this spoof on theater and 20s gangster movies.
- Complication (4-6 min.)
- Shane's agent finds financial backing for his new play, but with a
hitch: a gangster's girlfriend must be cast. Shane doesn't want to accept.
- Call to Action (17 min.)
- Shane awakes in a nightmare, "I sold out!" He made a deal with
the devil, letting the gangster back his play.
- Act One Plot Point (34 min.)
- Olive, the gangster's untalented girlfriend, has a body guard,
Cheech, who won't let Shane cut any of Olive's lines. In fact, she needs
more. Shane is not getting free rein to direct his play.
- Midpoint Plot Point (52-3 min.)
- The play's in trouble in rehearsal, but Cheech has a raw talent.
He starts making suggestions to Shane, who incorporates them under his own
name.
- Act Two Plot Point (78, 83 min.)
- Cheech becomes so possessive of the play, now largely his, that
he murders Olive because she is so bad in it. Shane confesses to his
longtime girlfriend Ellen that he has been having an affair with an actress.
But Ellen confesses back that she has been having an affair with one of
David's friends. Shane has lost both his play and his girl.
- Climax and Resolution (91-4 min.)
- During opening night, gangsters learn Cheech killed Olive and
bump him off backstage. Shane begs Ellen to come back, admitting that
he is not an artist after all, just a man. She goes back to him, and
they walk off into the future together.
Notes
The tight focus and solid structure hold this zany comedy together. All
the wonderful moments and comic frills work because everything is held
together by such a strong premise and delivery, every piece of this fast-moving
story having its place. This is a superb movie to study for story structure,
focus, and comic characterizations.
MODULE 4:
SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting
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