The Film Lab: A Screenwriter's Card Trick

[@KEP1983]

This is pretty much genius. Glad this popped up despite being 12 years old. It's basically how many painters build paintings: start with big broad statements that capture the overall composition, break down the composition and forms into smaller parts while always keeping mind of the whole, until in the end you have a fully fleshed out painting.

[@elizabethkirkeide2458]

This seems really useful if you basically know all the things you want in your story but they are not in a cohesive order. Thank you.

[@thegoatgirlcr]

Mike, positively genius. Thank you for sharing!

[@barneyallen5377]

"Sorry for the sound quality" Where's the apologiy for the music FFS?

[@BlackMagic553]

This is a very interesting and creative way to explore your story and get detailed. i never heard of this method before. I really like it thank you

[@heavyshark]

Its hard to trust a guy's advice who has chosen this music for his video.

[@Azaz011]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🙏

[@susisusanne2876]

I am sure he is good at writing screenplays for kids between 2 and 6 years.

[@tresiwalker]

It's always good to play it nuetral....

[@dragonchr15]

With all the streaming services hungry for new material, there has never been a better time to try to sell a screenplay than the 20s...

[@TheNewsDepot]

Same method for writing a computer program. You eventually get down to where you stop writing sentences and are actually writing code to further sub divide your work.

[@pikiwiki]

well that's interesting

[@einsteindarwin8756]

I have index cards I've been holding onto for years. Thanks for the tip. It Looks like fun. I have an upcoming shoot that this tip should help me organize. Thanks!

[@michaelsix9684]

after 4 yrs. of not outlining, don't do that -- outline then write, also read lots of scripts before you write, you have 120 pages or less to tell your story, every page must count

[@funnivids]

Gosh this would have been so much better without the music. Damn. Cant hear the guy.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Even lower volume level on the music would have helped.

[@amw99]

This is a great idea for people who have a favorite movie from 1983 and want to rewrite the movie on to index cards.

[@Anomaly.Filmworks]

Raiders is from 1981

[@beyondcleon]

Exactly...lol

[@ddland45]

Thanks for the tip. I just finished reading 'Save the Cat' and started doing the index card thing with Power Point on my computer, but I'm still getting bogged down trying to flesh out the 2nd Act. I'll try this method to see if I can get my thoughts better organized.

[@AC-gw4qu]

Consider breaking Act 2 into two. The first half details the growth and development of the hero, towards achieving their objective (sometimes in small cycles of trying, failing a little, and progressing a bit) and the second half details the increasing challenges from the antagonistic force(s), and the seemingly inescapable moment of failure for the hero--which leads you into Act 3.

[@boredgrass]

An apology for bad narration audio in conjunction with the decision to overlay this bad audio with a music that strongly masks the spoken word. What an “accomplishment”...It will be difficult to top that....very difficult....

[@pacedelacruz4913]

Thank you for this brilliant idea. I'll put it to good use.

[@cmamet.m6526]

by the time i turned the sound of the background down, i couldn't hear what the guy was saying..

[@ricardomiranda7737]

One potentially useful tool. But will tend to impose plot on the character and still need to weave character motivations and arc into this structure.

[@charlessmyth]

I didn't mind the music :-)

[@AndyGersh]

This is awesome. So happy I found this.

[@iamexploding]

Thank You! This is fantastic.

[@anantambisht4895]

The problem I am facing withthis method is everytike I write the gebre changes completely and in about 12 index cards it has changed quite a bit , what do I do in situation such as this

[@7heVin3]

Are you cramming too many of your ideas into one movie? You could get a guillotine and cut the script in half (at the point where the genre changes) and then use this card technique to flesh out each half as a separate movie. You would have two screen plays each with a focused genre.

[@anantambisht4895]

@@7heVin3 what do you mean by cutting the script in half?)

[@7heVin3]

Anantam Bisht - Everything you have that belongs to the first genre, put it in one folder and everything you have that belongs to the second genre, keep it in another folder. Then develop what you have in each folder as if they were two completely different movies.

[@anantambisht4895]

@@7heVin3 okayy

[@ashwix]

Loved this vid. Thank you!

[@clonespeck]

There is a lot more to it than that. The first card you're talking about is a films' LOGLINE - and it can be two sentences long it's basically a brief but solid description of what the screenplay is about. -- LOL - the next three cards (you haven't stumbled upon anything new here) is called ACTS -- since all stories follow a three act structure, you basically just told the beginning, middle and end of your story -- It's nearly impossible to break it all the way down into exact pages, however, there are EXPECTED BEATS that you should be able to land on that normally happen around or on certain pages. There is a midpoint that happens around page 55 or so - there is the catalyst that usually happens around page 13 -- (watch any movie and you'll see these things happen) - You have an ALL IS LOST moment that happens right before or at the beginning of Act 3 (in romantic comedies this is the part where they break up and you think they'll never get back together again) -- then you have the protagonist's resolution which is what the third act is all about.-- I think that if you're going to lay your cards our on the table it should either be a complete outline or just something to allow you to follow the beats with. If you miss your beats you've lost your story. The most important advice I can think of is to think about it as there being four major points - How you start, the break into the 2nd act, the break into the 3rd act and then ho it's finished. Then if you learn to weave subplots and interesting conflicts (inner and outer challenges) that motivate the story - you're in business. The only real TRICK to learn is how to build great characters and tell a great story, You can write cards that say what you want a scene to accomplish or who's going to be in the scene etc etc - but to say that you're going to break it down where a card says what a page is going to be about is ridiculous. It's also so much extra time on prepping - people who try to use your "trick" could find themselves writing cards for 6 months and never actually writing on the page.

[@xiaojunmaggie]

clonespeck brilliant

[@Anomaly.Filmworks]

this isn't really a "trick". Indexing has been done for a long time. I started doing it back in the late 80s.

[@oneblindmicediy6757]

First, it's a snazzy title to hook an audience that is specifically trying to find tools to use for writing when they are inexperienced and trying to break into it. Second, sure there is more that goes into it but it is a great BASIC start for the same audience. Third, why do you have to be so critical. It's not wrong or right. It just is...

[@crisskywalker3809]

There’s literally hundreds thousands of ways to ‘outline’ or write a screenplay/script. This is in the top 10

[@joeygonzo]

Literally ? No need to use the word literally there . Just say there are hundreds of thousands of ways..

[@msft.mp3]

@@joeygonzo ur not grammarly bro

[@tmrmovies802]

You should be apologizing for the loud ass background music not the fan (which you can’t even hear)

[@ymest269daniel9]

Wow! Neat! Excellent. Thanks for sharing.

[@pennypocket5463]

Love it, Thankyou!!...and easy to juggle around + oh, yeah, fab!!!!!

[@zzzleepyhead9101]

As trivial as this seems, this has helped kickstart literally every story I've written. After this, I'm finally able to do a beat sheet and continue from there.

[@pikiwiki]

yay yay yay

[@anantambisht4895]

zZzleepyhead but my story and genre changes at the 12th card , it went from pure mystery to sci fi mystery some thing

[@zzzleepyhead9101]

Anantam Bisht I would say to not let genre restrict your writing. As long as the elements of mystery are apparent from the very beginning, the story’s feeling of genre doesn’t change

[@gphilipvirgil355]

Excellent. thank you

[@jobmartin9561]

I like the music. Mike is good. Video is very very timely and helpful to me. Mike is funny and easy to listen to. Big Weener Patrol is a great film. Thank you for helping me dial in this card trick.

[@Anomaly.Filmworks]

people have been doing this for a long long long time.

[@davetheman2615]

Great system, I'll try this

[@MohitKhatri]

Thanks for the video man

[@honeyluv32690]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[@ZombieSirenMusic]

This was great! Thank you

[@Antigone-yp6ht]

Each card should rep one page.

[@televszn]

This is good advice. Anyone who says otherwise is an f word

[@JohnSmith-ns4ip]

Sure, this works for outlining and analyzing other movies. But you're still creating a story and the plot from scratch. This would take just as long to do as starting with a blank page. The BEST method is starting with an overall idea, starting from the beginning, and letting the story progress organically. Cuts out so much rewriting and rearranging. I recommend the scene-sequel technique.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

If you can organically write a perfect script on the first draft, more power to you. That’s great that you have so much natural ability and/or experience. I’m not being sarcastic here. If that’s how you work and it works for you, you have my sincere admiration. That said, I think most of us are going to be doing rewrites anyway, rearranging, cutting, adding, etc. as we work on succeeding drafts. Creating easily rearrangeable outlines with index cards might actually mean less work when all is said and done. Secondly, creating an index card outline (or any kind of outline) means you don’t have to keep everything organized in your head-especially important if you’re exploring alternatives. Thirdly, an index card outline lends itself quite well to collaboration, whether you’re writing a screenplay with a partner or breaking down episodes in a writers’ room. Mind you, my work style is closer to organic writing, but I find this index card “trick” pretty useful once I got my initial story down.

[@brandonschinzel]

I think this index card method would be useful after using Dan Harminds story circle. I like starting with the characters arc, then building plot. I can see how building a smaller pyramid with say 3 or 6 or so cards on the bottom before writing a scene sequal first draft could be helpful. Then on second draft making a much larger index card pyramid on the bottom could be useful. A sort of balance between minimal outlining yet room for organic growth as you let your characters choose their path Tarentino style. There are definately cons to too much outlining where actions from chsracters can feel unmotivated and seem to only happen for the sake of the story. We have seen these films a very save the cat feel. Or on the reverse side, all turns feel organic but the film seems to amount to a dead end and the ending feels tacked on. We have all seen these films too. My take away is this method is most helpful on a second draft.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Super useful tip. Thanks for passing it along! I found it super useful, despite the issues with music track volume and poor resolution/focus. I was already doing something similar, but this is a much clearer way to start.

[@alineruiz8405]

The music sucks! FOCUS impossible.

[@judichristopher4604]

Oh My God... The music is sooooo iterating and annoying...

[@johnta17]

you can always watch it without the sound.

[@Mikeztarp]

Indy doesn't outwit shit. He loses. Had he not interfered, the nazis would have found the ark and gotten their faces melted off. If anything, he helped them find it.

[@pikiwiki]

harry, yara genius

[@danbee998]

Hogwash! 3:59 --- Based on his pattern (doubling new cards per row, to reach 120 script pages), you'll need 6 rows of index cards as such: row 1 (1); row 2 (3); row 3 (7); row 4 (15); row 5 (31); and row 6 (63). Combined, this is 120 cards (for a 120 page screenplay; maximum suggested for a spec script). You try writing this screenplay without necessary elements (e.g. following 3-Act structure), and you wasted time, money on cards, and your reputation trying to sell another script.

[@rvs8465]

sorry missed the part where he said "FINISH 120 CARDS NOW YOU CAN DEFINITELY SELL YOUR SCRIPT"

[@lukeipsum1179]

HE WROTE THE BIG WEINER CONTROL?? woah..

[@diogoalves658]

info is nice, music is too loud... :/

[@FayisFunny]

"The Big Weiner Patrol"

[@kuunami]

Rogue archaeologist teaches man how to focus camera.

[@indyfilm]

Lol!!!

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Good god, yes. And the resolution. Granted it was posted 9 years ago, so I don’t expect 4K, but I’m pretty sure 480 and 720 were available back then. Still, a very useful video despite this and the damn loud music that competed with his voice.

[@paulcoy9060]

Nope. Can't make it through this music.

[@sribecardh7475]

Brilliant👏👏👍

[@jeremyhacek8355]

I can hear the damn fans lol

[@antropatico]

ATTENTION ALL KZbinRS: THE MUSIC IS TO LOUD. I REPEAT, TOO LOUD.

[@alexmanrique2280]

the music is loder than your voice, coundn´t understand what you where saying,

[@moh.syafrianabie8899]

1:38 1:59 2:27 3:43

[@cmamet.m6526]

that's so irrelevant... I mean the music.

[@judichristopher4604]

Mike... Great Advice Great Video... Bad Music... way too loud... and tooo fast... and annoying...

[@doctorxombie]

I like the idea, but YES that'll be A LOT of index cards. :P

[@JoseAndradejayrock]

Dude, shut down the pseudo calypso salsa music and I guarantee the temp will go down. So distracting

[@pankajmaurya6040]

Stop that music 🎧

[@elheimlutz5500]

Horrible choice of music!

[@celebrationofmom114]

Your music is terrible and distracting.

[@ricardomiranda7737]

One potentially useful tool. But will tend to impose plot on the character and still need to weave character motivations and arc into this structure.

[@ricardomiranda7737]

One potentially useful tool. But will tend to impose plot on the character and still need to weave character motivations and arc into this structure.

[@ricardomiranda7737]

One potentially useful tool. But will tend to impose plot on the character and still need to weave character motivations and arc into this structure.