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Expanding 8 sequences into scenes

When you’re using the eight-sequence method to plan what happens in your screenplay, you may find it’s not too difficult to figure out those initial eight broad strokes of story.

But once you have those eight, high-level descriptions, where do you go from there?

The eight sequences tell the whole story, one step at a time. And each of those sequences tells a story of its own. You can use all the same storytelling principles you’re familiar with to plan out how to tell that story.

This gives you a framework to make that big task of “plotting your story” a bit more manageable.

Find the sequence story. Build the sequence story.

The story of the sequence

A sequence tells its own story, so it has all the elements you’ve learned a story needs.

• There’s a beginning middle and end, aka the setup, escalation, resolution.
• There’s a throughline of action created by someone pursuing something.
• There's opposition and obstacles.

And ideally you want your audience to get and stay invested so they don’t check out partway through. You want your audience to care. That means you have to let them know what they’re rooting for and give them enough information so they want to root for it.

Unlike a complete story (like a whole screenplay), a sequence benefits from the context created by other sequences that have come before. You’re building on what’s you’ve already established rather than starting from scratch. So in each new sequence you don’t have to re-establish what’s at stake. But you may need to remind the audience of the overall story stakes so that stays top of mind and maintains a certain degree of urgency.

So that’s what a sequence does – it tells its own story. Great theory. What does this look like in practice? Let’s separate one sequence out from the others to see how it’s built.

A sequence structure example

Let's look at a sequence from the Toy Story example we used last week. We'll look at Sequence 4, and you can see on this graphic where that lands in the timeline of the movie:

In Toy Story, this is the sequence where Woody and Buzz make their way to Pizza Planet to catch a ride back to Andy’s, but instead land in bratty neighbor kid Sid’s lethal hands.

And here’s what happens in sequence 4, scene by scene:

1. At the gas station, Buzz confronts Woody. They tumble out of the van, fighting. Meanwhile, the van leaves. Now Woody’s furious at Buzz. They part ways.
2. Woody sees a Pizza Planet delivery car — a new plan to get home. But he realizes he can’t return without Buzz, and goes after him. Woody must speak Buzz’s “language” to convince him to come.
3. Buzz rides up front while Woody is tossed around the back of the truck.
4. When they arrive at Pizza Planet, Buzz is inspired by Woody’s Big Gulp cup “disguise” and they sneak inside dressed as garbage.
5. In the arcade, Woody spots Andy. He tries to guide Buzz to him, but Buzz sees a “spaceship” crane game and takes off. Woody has to follow.
6. Buzz and Woody find themselves inside the game. Sid arrives, plays the game. Woody tries to escape, but both he and Buzz are delivered to sinister Sid. (This is the movie’s Midpoint.)

How does this sequence accomplish telling its story?

First, when we come into the sequence we know Woody and Buzz aren’t friends. So there’s a layer of friction there, even when they’re working toward the same big-picture goal.

We can think of Woody as the protagonist of the sequence (the movie is his story), and his goal is to get himself and Buzz home to Andy’s. And instead (what goes wrong), they end up in Sid’s hands, which promises to be deadly.

So the scenes included in the sequence are there to tell that story:

• The first scene creates the new situation (they're stranded), and gives us some context that informs the characters and relationship dynamics.
• In the next scene, Woody’s sequence goal is formed (get home with Buzz).
• The protagonist deals with conflict and overcomes obstacles in pursuit of his goal.
• But he “loses” this sequence, and ends up in an even worse situation (an escalation).

Now we’re teed up for the next sequence, where the effects of this big Midpoint escalation will play out.

Tell the story

This is one more tool to add to your toolkit that I hope makes the process more approachable.

Thinking through the eight sequences is a good “next step” on your way to a full outline and then a draft of your screenplay. Because the eight steps are more granular than the 3-acts you might’ve figured out first, but not so detailed that you’ll get lost in the weeds.

Each step in your process can be made manageable. If you're feeling overwhelmed or stuck, think about what you're attempting to do (or think you have to do), and then ask: what's a smaller step I can take first?

Until next time,

Naomi