Into the Woods A Five-Act Journey into Story

265 Pages·2016·1.94 MB·English

by  John Yorke

Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
About the Author
Introduction
Into the Woods
Act I: HOME
1: What is a Story?
The Essential Building Blocks
Dark Inversions
2: Three-Act Structure
What is Structure?
The Three-Act Form
3: FiveAct Structure
Three-Act and FiveAct Structure
Freytag’s Pyramid
The Midpoint
Five Acts versus Three Acts
4: The Importance of Change
The Change Paradigm
Christopher Vogler and the Hero’s Journey
The Importance of the Midpoint
5: How We Tell Stories
The ‘Midpoint’ in Two Dimensions
Multiple Protagonists
The Story Shape
Act II: WOODLAND, DAY
6: Fractals
7: Acts
Questions and Answers
8: The Inciting Incident
The Deferred Call
9: Scenes
Turning Points
Come in Late, Get out Early
10: Putting It All Together
First Acts
Second Acts
Third Acts and Midpoints
Fourth Acts
Fifth Acts
Fractal Structure and Change
Act III: THE FOREST
11: Showing and Telling
The Kuleshov Effect
Act IV: THE ROAD BACK, NIGHT
12: Character and Characterization
The Basic Principles
Characterization
The Psychological Basis of Characterization
The Importance of Paradox
13: Character and Structural Design
14: Character Individuation
Ego Defence Mechanisms
The Origin of Neurotic Conflict and the Rubber Duck
15: Dialogue and Characterization
Characterization through Dialogue
16: Exposition
Conveying information other characters don’t know
Conveying information all other characters do know
17: Subtext
Act V: HOME AGAIN, CHANGED
18: Television and the Triumph of Structure
Single Films
Serials (in America ‘Mini-Series’)
Series
19: Series and Serial Structure
Serial Structure
Series Structure
20: Change in Drama Series
21: Home Again
The Importance of Theme
‘All Television is Storytelling’
Subverting the Norm
22: Why?
The Societal Reason
The Rehearsal Reason
The Healing Reason
The Information Retrieval Reason
The Panacea Reason
The Procreation Reason
The Psychological Reason
Why Do We Tell Stories?
Appendices
Appendix I. Act Structure of Raiders of the Lost Ark
Appendix II. Hamlet – The Structural Form
Hamlet – A Brief Synopsis
Appendix III. Being John Malkovich – The Structural Form
Appendix IV. My Zinc Bed – The Structural Form
My Zinc Bed – A Brief Synopsis
Appendix V. The Godfather – The Structural Form
The Godfather – A Brief Synopsis
Appendix VI. First and Last Act Parallels: Some Further Examples
Appendix VII. A Lightning Guide to Screenwriting Gurus
Notes
Bibliography
Credits
Acknowledgements
Follow Penguin
Copyright Page
Footnotes
Act I: HOME
2: Three-Act Structure
Page 27
4: The Importance of Change
Page 50
Page 52
Act II: WOODLAND, DAY
7: Acts
Page 79
10: Putting It All Together
Page 104

John Yorke

INTO THE WOODS
A FiveAct Journey into Story
Contents
Introduction
ACT I HOME
1. What is a Story?
2. Three-Act Structure
3. FiveAct Structure
4. The Importance of Change
5. How We Tell Stories
ACT II WOODLAND, DAY
6. Fractals
7. Acts
8. The Inciting Incident
9. Scenes
10. Putting It All Together
ACT III THE FOREST
11. Showing and Telling
ACT IV THE ROAD BACK, NIGHT
12. Character and Characterization
13. Character and Structural Design
14. Character Individuation
15. Dialogue and Characterization
16. Exposition
17. Subtext
ACT V HOME AGAIN, CHANGED
18. Television and the Triumph of Structure
19. Series and Serial Structure
20. Change in Drama Series
21. Home Again
22. Why?
APPENDICES
I. Act Structure of Raiders of the Lost Ark
II. Hamlet – The Structural Form
III. Being John Malkovich – The Structural Form
IV. My Zinc Bed – The Structural Form
V. The Godfather – The Structural Form
VI. First and Last Act Parallels: Some Further Examples
VII. A Lightning Guide to Screenwriting Gurus
Notes
Bibliography
Credits
Acknowledgements
PENGUIN BOOKS
INTO THE WOODS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Yorke is the Managing Director of Company Pictures, the UK drama
independent producing amongst others Shameless, Skins, The White Queen and
Wolf Hall. As both Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama
Production he’s worked on big popular works such as Hustle, Spooks, Casualty
and Holby City alongside award-winners such as Bodies, Omagh, Sex Traffic,
Not Only But Always and The Curse of Steptoe.
As a Commissioning Editor and Executive Producer he championed some of the
defining works of British television including Life on Mars, The Street,
Shameless and Waterloo Road. His television career began by storylining
EastEnders in its very first BAFTA-winning year – a show he went on to run
and then oversee in an association of sixteen years. He’s also worked as Editor
of BBC Radio 4’s The Archers.
In 2005 he created the BBC Writers Academy, the first writing course in Britain
to guarantee broadcast work, and which has produced a generation of successful
television writers.
John has lectured extensively on narrative structure, is Visiting Professor of
English Language and Literature at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and
lives and works in London.
‘Brimmingly insightful ... fresh, enlightening and accessible ... a gripping read from beginning to end’
Robert Collins, Sunday Times
‘This is a marvellous analysis of screenwriting and, with any luck, should help a great many people achieve
their dreams’ Julian Fellowes, writer/creator of Downton Abbey
‘Terrifyingly clever ... Packed with intelligent argument’ Nick Curtis, Evening Standard
‘So detailed and engaging is his methodology that any consumer of books, plays, TV or films will find the
experience enhanced; and scriptwriters themselves will find useful guidance - because when you know the
why, the how is natural’ Robert Epstein, Independent on Sunday
‘Its strength is Yorke’s acute perception of the wellsprings of universal narrative structures relevant to all
artistic activities’ Iain Finlayson, The Times
‘Intelligent, well written, incisive and, most of all, exciting. It is the most important book about
scriptwriting since William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade’ Peter Bowker, screenwriter,
Blackpool, Occupation and Eric & Ernie
‘Even for a convinced sceptic, John Yorke's book, with its massive field of reference from Aristotle to Glee,
and from Shakespeare to Spooks, is a highly persuasive and hugely enjoyable read. It would be hard to beat
for information and wisdom about how and why stories are told’ Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director,
The Globe Theatre
‘All scriptwriters will want to read Into The Woods. All plots and archetypes BUSTED’ Caitlin Moran,
author of How To Be A Woman
‘Testing the adage that “in theory there’s no difference between theory and practice but in practice there is”,
this is a love story to story – erudite, witty and full of practical magic. It’s by far the best book of its kind
I’ve ever read. I struggle to think of the writer who wouldn't benefit from reading it – even if they don’t
notice because they’re too busy enjoying every page’ Neil Cross, creator of Luther and writer of Dr Who,
Spooks and NBC’s Crossbones
‘Part “How-to” manual, part “why-to” celebration, Into The Woods is a wide-reaching and infectiously
passionate exploration of storytelling in all its ... exciting and thought-provoking’ Emma Frost,
screenwriter, The White Queen and Shameless
‘Books on story structure are ten a penny but Mistah Yorke’s is the real deal’ Kathryn Flett
‘An amazing achievement. It has a real depth and understanding about story, a fantastically broad frame of
reference and it’s interesting and absorbing throughout. Full of incredibly useful insights, every TV writer
should read the first chapter alone’ Simon Ashdown, series consultant, EastEnders