"Based on a True Story" Part 3

In last week's post, we explored two of the reasons why movie studios use the term "Based on a True Story" when the story shown on the screen may not really be true. However, the third reason is the biggest reason why these movies aren't always true.

3. The scriptwriting process

This really boils down to the unwritten rules of scriptwriting. When you write a script, you have to keep in mind that if you don't write it the way the studio wants, then they won't even read it. There is little-to-no room for personalization in scripts. A major studio hires script readers who read through scripts and if you don't show promise in the first five to ten pages, then they will throw it away. If you aren't following the accepted structure, it will be thrown away also. The problem is that structure is looked at much higher than story, so it could be an awful story but a perfect structure, so it might get made.

The structure that I'm talking about is the 3 Act Structure. Here is a picture of what a 3 Act Structure drawn out would look like:

What this means is the first act is roughly the first 1/4 of the movie, the third act is roughly the last 1/4 of the movie, and the second act is approximately the middle and is 1/2 of the movie. Act I sets up the plot and sets the protagonist on their journey. Act II is where things change and things become more intense and bring conflict for the protagonist. Act III is where the movie's pacing is the fastest and the movie climaxes to whatever the situation is before the story ends. Just before each act break is a plot point where something happens to create a twist in the story.

You might wonder why this matters. Well, real life stories don't adhere to this structure, so when you write a script from a real story, then you have to mold the story into this structure. When you mold it into the structure, you end up changing things to make the story fit. A notorious trait for screenwriters with this are including myth or legend moments as opposed to things that are documented as happening (such as including a part of a script with a "someone once said the person did this", but no one really knows if the person did that or not).

The other notorious trait that screenwriters resort to (and this happens when adapting novels into screenplays also) is combining characters. Sometimes one character is instrumental in the first half and then disappears about the time someone else shows up. The screenwriter will probably combine both characters into one for the script. One reason is so that you have one character to go through the movie instead of having to remember two. The other reason is scriptwriters know that two characters with speaking parts means two salaries for the filmmaker, but one role will be cheaper, so it's more concise in a budgetary sense to have one. A third reason is simply that it's easier for the moviegoer to follow less characters. With less characters (but characters that are all throughout the movie), the viewer won't wonder what happened to some characters and where other characters came from.

The whole 3 Act Structure is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it makes writing a script easier in the sense that in your 100-120 pages, you'll have to include certain waypoints and you just fill in the story in between. The curse is that there is no originality and if you deviate from that structure, your movie won't be made. The script readers from above just don't understand anything beyond the 3 Act Structure, so you could write the most brilliant story ever, and no one will make it because the readers won't approve it.

The simple fact is that because of this careful structure and apprehension of the readers, very few scripts actually become movies. Less than 10% of scripts that are submitted actually get made, and less than that actually turn out to be successful movies. Sometimes one can blame the writer for having a bad story, but sometimes it's everyone else's fault after the script has been written (the producer, the director, the editor, etc.). Sometimes the story is great, but the director has a different vision and literally makes a different movie. Many scripts go through numerous drafts, each one being printed on different color paper, which is why the final script (usually the shooting script) is called the "rainbow script": they take out parts of all the previous drafts to make the final copy. It's not unheard of for a script to have 30+ drafts in a year. Common unusual color choices for the draft pages include salmon (a pink), gold (a yellow-orange), and tan.

An example of a rainbow draft's scenes in a modern scriptwriting program.

The movie industry is a tough world, but when you say that you're going to release a movie that's "based on a true story", it probably isn't for the reasons that have been explained. When you see a movie with that tagline, it's best to do some research to find out what really happened. Check back in the next post where we look at some movies that have been "based on a true story" and some movies that didn't use the tagline, but were just as "based on actual events" as the ones that claimed to be so.