Why Linear Story Structure Is A Bad Thing - Andy Guerdat

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In this Film Courage video interview, we ask Andy Guerdat about story structure, character backstory and central conflicts in a screenplay. The film's The Fugitive and Jaws are used as examples for acts one and two in the screenplay.

Andy Guerdat has been a working writer/producer in film and television for the past 45 years, with hundreds of credits in movies, half-hour comedies, hour-long dramas, theater, and animation. He is currently a consultant at Disney TV Animation.

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Andy Guerdat has been a working writer/producer in film and television for the past 45 years, with hundreds of credits in movies, half-hour comedies, hour-long dramas, theater, and animation. He is currently a consultant at Disney TV Animation.

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#writing #screenwriting #writer

[ronaldevans]

If the opening scene & story is a kicker I prefer a linear telling. When a movie opens with an innocuous event about characters I neither know nor care about & then immediately jumps back in time, I switch it off.

[filmcourage]

Thank you to Samara Wales in Los Angeles for supporting Film Courage and for sponsoring this video!

[yapdog]

Your Richter Scale analogy is spot on. While tremors may seem like noise, if you zoom out you can see that there's an overall structure of the quake. Perfect.

[dudhman]

There seems to be some confusion in the comments about linear being the same as being in chronological order. He doesn’t seem to be saying don’t tell the story in chronological order. More like, keep the viewer engaged by taking the story in interesting, unexpected directions - hence ‘pivot’ points.

[markothwriter]

the idea of zig-zagging is worth watching this be a step ahead. And then later he talks about Jaws. I felt Jaws was one step ahead of what you would think at every step.

[WillPower]

You all have such a great channel I really appreciate it

[filmcourage]

What is the mental image you have in your head when thinking about story structure?

[Kormac]

I like a spiral image moving forward. To circle back to tropes but the character is in a different place so how the respond/behave is different.

[Mostirrelevant]

Thank you, it makes sense. So, eventhough it looks like linear path, and it is simplified this way, it actually is a lot easier to imagine it this way.

[johnclay]

'beginning middle and ending but not in that order' (jean Luc Goddard) informative interview

[eugenetswong]

I'm amazed that you keep getting big authors to show up. Congratulations on your success.

[bananian]

And yet, most successful movies are predictable. In fact, I would go as far as to say people seek the comfort of the familiar.

[cazfairy]

Shakespeare, Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Paterson, Sanderson, King - none of them had trouble writing compelling linear stories, all have been adapted to film repeatedly, and rather successfully.

[yapdog]

This video points out one of the major differences in storytelling between movies and novels. Generally, movie audiences need the "Z" as Andy Guerdat says. However, I've been made painfully aware that, *generally, * readers want to read what they've already read, just with tweaks.

[wilsky]

The Matrix is 100% linear and it works just fine. Follow your characters and you won't have to think about it.

[amanofmeans]

Why don't you teach your students how to get a manager and make a sale 😅 So much emphasis on the 'craft' and nothing about the business side... Also, this guy just wants to sound cool by saying a linear story is bad, lol. He's all over the place on purpose.

[marcofsw]

Love these clips. However there seems to be one episode missing: how to expand a story or plot embryo to something fitting all these advice. Sure, “be creative” is a solution but there should be some kind of route to follow.

[subramanianramamoorthy]

Film courage is futuristic
Andy is trendy

[QualityVideoService]

For example, let’s use Toy Story, a Linear movie.

[aryanchaudhary]

Isn't john wick series follows A linear story structure? Yes, and it's successful franchise.