Hey everyone! So in this Back to Basics episode, I wanted to get you thinking about story by tackling my take on a story writing exercise based on the improv structure created by Ken Adams. Story is everything in this industry and, as anyone who has tried to come up with their own story would know, it is the most difficult thing to get right. Add to the fact that a film is only ever as good as its story, and you can see that there’s a lot of pressure to get this part of the pre-production process right.
I’m challenging you to think of story in a fun and engaging way with this simple story writing exercise that I like to do with my students. It works for any story because it gives us the bare bones structure for us to develop a story from. We typically start with 3 characters, 3 settings and 3 themes. A good brainstorm session can lead to more for each category, but write everything down as you come up with ideas. Once you have your ideas down, it’s time to find your story. You can mix and match from each category and you may start to see a story emerging and find it necessary to include a new theme or a new character.
At this stage, we break down the exercise into the story spine:
- Once upon a time…
- Every day…
- Because of that…
- Because of that…
- Because of that…
- Until finally…
- And ever since then…
And we try to write our stories according to these parameters with our chosen characters, settings and themes.
I hope you guys have fun doing this with me and please feel free to comment below and give any recommendations on what you would like to see in this series.
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