Inciting Incident

How to Begin Your Screenplay and Engage Audiences Right AwayKindle First Edition

H.R. DCosta, Copyright 2013

Special thanks to Zoutedrop for the flame image; to Ryoichi Tsunekawa for the Bebas font; and toCaroline Hadilaksono and Micah Rich for the League Gothic font. You all are awesome!

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IntroductionAre you struggling to get your story started? Do you want to know how to capture a readers interestwithin the first ten pages of your script?

In JERRY MAGUIRE, Rene Zellweger famously said, You had me at hello. Great scripts (andnovels) do the same. They grip audiences from the very beginning. With the help of the incitingincident, your story can too.

But, much like THE USUAL SUSPECTs Keyser Soze, the inciting incident can be an elusive fellowto identify. When asked to isolate the inciting incident of a favorite film, a group of ten fans wouldlikely come up with at least three different answers. Truth be told, all of them could be correct! Nowonder the inciting incident, as humble as it is, generates so much confusion for writers. Its certainlythe plot point I receive the most questions about through my screenwriting website Scribe MeetsWorld.

As the saying goes, you fear what you dont understand. Well, fellow scribe, fear no longer. Afteryou read this clear, comprehensive, fluff-free guide, the inciting incident wont be able to intimidateyou anymore. It cant, not when youll know all of its secrets, including:

the four key characteristics of the inciting incidentthe secret ingredient which made Liam Neeson so appealing in TAKEN and Ryan Reynolds soattractive in THE PROPOSAL (its not what you think)tips for presenting your heros everyday worldthe connection between the inciting incident and the end of Act Onewhen the inciting incident occurs and when its a wise strategy to keep it off-screenhow MINORITY REPORT got away with such a delayed inciting incidentwhat conducive conditions are and how to distinguish them from the inciting incidentthe pitfalls of beginning your screenplay with extended prologuestrategies for writing your first ten pagesfour methods to handle the screenplay sequence after the inciting incidenthow the inciting incident can help you edit your scriptthe relationship between the inciting incident and genrethree alternative approaches to the standard action movie inciting incidenthow to choose the best inciting incident if youve come up with multiple options

Im a big fan of learning by example. So I use plenty of them throughout this book to illustrate mypoints. But sometimes examples just arent enough. Thats why Ive also included ten detailed casestudies which should help you put together all the screenwriting tips Im about to share.

Each movie in the case studies section was carefully chosen based on its educational value andcommercial success. I cover a variety of genres too. If youve wondered how films as diverse as AFEW GOOD MEN, SHERLOCK HOLMES, BRAVEHEART, ITS COMPLICATED, LEGALLY

BLONDE, and THE HUNGER GAMES engaged audiences from the very beginning, youre about tofind out.

But before we get to the juicy stuff, I need to address

Caveats and Other EphemeraScreenwriting Knowledge

This guide assumes that you have at least basic knowledge of screenwriting principles and concepts.It doesnt address screenplay formatting at all. The focus here is on structure, primarily the incitingincidentyour secret weapon against audience boredom. While theres usually an inciting incidentfor your main plot (A story) and for each of your subplots (B story, C story, etc), for the most part, Ifocus on the big kahuna. If you understand how the inciting incident for your A story works, it shouldbe easy to apply that knowledge to subplots.

Also keep in mind, this is just one way to approach screenplay structure. There are certainly othersuccessful perspectives. You need to pick the method which helps YOU tell the best story. Speakingof storytelling

Can This Screenwriting Guide Help Novelists?

Sure! If the success of mega-author James Patterson is any indication, readers enjoy novels whoseplotting, pacing, and twists mirror those found in a Hollywood blockbuster. The principles andexamples contained in this guide can help you craft a movie-style beginning for your book whichkeeps your readers turning the pages.

However, my references are made from the point of view of writing a screenplay. Translation?Youll have to decide how to apply these principles and examples to the process of writing a novel.Since screenwriting and novel writing are both forms of storytelling, it should be fairly simple!

Spoiler Alert

For the most part, this guide focuses on the beginning of movies, so there are very few spoilers (evenin the extensive case studies). Still be forewarned. There are some. But since all of my examples arepulled from commercial and/or critical hits (like TAKEN, GLADIATOR, INCEPTION, BATMANBEGINS, MISS CONGENIALITY, MRS DOUBTFIRE, THE PROPOSAL, and HARRY POTTERAND THE SORCERERS STONE), the odds are very high youve seen them already. And if youhaventwhat are you waiting for?

Notes on Style

I usually refer to the main character of a story as the hero. As a female, Im very much aware thatmovies also star kick-butt heroines too. But alternating between hero and heroine sounded awkwardand confusing, at least to me. So for the sake of clarity, Ive stuck to hero.

Finally, formatting an ebook can get complicated. To keep things simple, Ive put the titles of moviesin all caps but used italics for book titles. If the creative work Im referring to happens to be both abook and a movie, (like THE HUNGER GAMES), I usually use all caps.

I think that covers everything. Lets roll!

Part I: The Four Key Characteristics of the Inciting IncidentChoosing THE event which gets a story started can be a tricky businessespecially if you dontknow what youre looking for.

After analyzing hundreds of movies, Ive concluded that inciting incidents share four keycharacteristics. Once you know what those characteristics are, isolating the inciting incident in amovie should be a piece of cake! So lets get started with characteristic #1: passivity.

#1: Its PassiveThe inciting incident is something which happens to your hero. He certainly doesnt orchestrate it.Not directly. Frequently, this passivity is the key to forging an emotional connection between the heroand your audience. Only the cold-hearted would remain unaffected after seeing someone dumped(CRAZY STUPID LOVE), attacked (RED), losing a loved one (CATCH AND RELEASE), or falselyaccused of murder (THE FUGITIVE).

Sometimes, your heros actions inadvertently lead to the inciting incident, but that was never hisintention. The award-winning drama THELMA AND LOUISE is an excellent example of this. At ahonky-tonk bar, bullied housewife Thelma lets loose, drinking and dancing with a handsome strangernamed Harlan. In her mind, its all innocent fun.

During the inciting incident, things take a darker turn. Believing shes easy prey, Harlan sexuallyassaults Thelma. Everyone else at the bar might have seen it coming (maybe even thought she wasaskin for it), but to nave, childlike Thelma, the assault was completely unexpected.

For a more comedic example, lets take a look at the beginning of KUNG FU PANDA. Po is a chubbypanda bear with a gargantuan obsession with kung fu. He does everything he possibly can to secure aspectator seat at a kung fu tournament which will determine the next dragon warrior: shooingcustomers out of his dads noodle restaurant, hustling under the noon-day heat up the hundreds ofstairs leading to the Jade Palace, devising catapults to vault him over the palaces walls, and finally,tying himself to a chair loaded with booster rockets made from fireworks.

After the fireworks propel him over the walls and into the Jade Palace, at the movies incitingincident, much to everyone elses dismay, hes the one who is chosen as dragon warrior. AlthoughPos comedic actions directly led to the inciting incident, it certainly never was his intention to beselected as the next dragon warrior. In fact, when he is chosen, Po is as incredulous as the othercompetitors, their mentor, and his adoptive father.

Your hero may remain passive throughout your first act, not just during the inciting incident. Amemorable example of this can be found in BATMAN BEGINS. After Bruce Waynes parents aremurdered, he plans to avenge them by killing the criminal who killed them. But the choice is taken outof his hands when someone else does the dirty deed instead. At the end of the first act, Wayne willdemonstrate more agency, point-blank refusing to kill a man whose greed turned him into a murderer.

For the rest of the movie, Waynes much more in controleven when defending Gotham City fromattack.

An overly passive hero is a common problem which plagues amateur scripts, so beginningscreenwriters take note. Once Act One ends, your hero needs to kiss passivity good-bye. To use a caranalogy, your hero should always be in the drivers seat during Acts Two and Three. If he isnt,audiences will quickly tire of him. Who can blame them? Passive heroes buffeted about by the windsof change are boring (the heroes of THE GRADUATE and NOTTING HILL being two notableexceptions).

Andrew Paxton, the male lead in the hit romantic comedy THE PROPOSAL, plays a fairly passivecharacter. Hell do anything to please the heroine, his overly demanding boss, even going so far as topretend to be her fianc so she wont get deported. But he doesnt remain passive for long, using herpredicament to garner himself a promotion. In the audio commentary of the movie, director AnneFletcher comments that this turning of the tables was sexy.

Remember that. Personal agency is sexyand in Hollywood, sexy sells.

True, its usually the primary antagonist who establishes the overall dynamic of your screenplay. Hemakes the first move. Everything the hero does thereafter is a consequence of the villains bold play.Nevertheless, even though the hero is initially reacting to the villain, he does so by making activechoices. He gains agencyeventually forcing the villain to react to him. The sooner this happens, thebetter.

In several thrillers and action movies, Act Two will have a balance of offensive and defensivemaneuvers. For example, during the first half of MINORITY REPORTs second act, the protagonist ison the run (defensive); during the second half he infiltrates the organization accusing him of murder(offensive). In BATMAN BEGINS, Bruce Wayne volunteers himself as Gotham Citys protector, acourse of action which not only threatens the villains success but also causes him to accelerate hisoffensive. In the villains own words, None of these people have long to live. Your [Waynes]antics at the asylum have forced my hand.

TAKEN takes the concept of personal agency to a whole new level. After the villains make their boldplay and abduct Bryan Millss daughter (not the inciting incident BTW, more on that later), Millsmakes a vow to thwart them. I dont know who you are. I dont know what you want. If you arelooking for ransom, I can tell you I dont have money. But what I do have are a very particular set ofskillsskills I have acquired over a long careerskills that make me a nightmare for people likeyou. If you let my daughter go now, thatll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursueyou. But if you dont, I will look for you. I will find you, and I will kill you.

Proceeding to make good on that vow, Mills is constantly on the offensive, employing his special setof skills to rescue his daughter. In fact, I cant recall a single instance of him being passive duringthe entirety of Acts Two and Three. Thats one major reason for the movies unexpected success.Despite the tragedy which afflicted him, Mills (played by actor Liam Neeson) exuded personal

agency and control, an extremely attractive trait. Course, Neesons height, blue eyes, and Irish accentdidnt hurt either.

#2: It Jolts the Hero out of His Everyday WorldUnlike the first act break, which frequently brings the hero to a new location, the inciting incidenttakes place within the heros natural habitat. I like to think of him in a three-piece pinstripe suit,walking home after work, whistling a jolly tune, whenSHAZAM!something happens.

That something is the inciting incident. If it didnt occur, it would just be business as usual for thehero. Because of the inciting incident, the heros entire existence is thrown into disarray. Hell spendthe rest of your screenplay trying to restore balance to his lifebalance which the inciting incidentthrew out of whack. At the end of your heros journey, he will typically regain order over his life, butbusiness as usual wont continue exactly the way it did before. It cant, not after the changes yourhero underwent in pursuit of equilibrium.

As youll see in Part II: When Does the Inciting Incident Occur?, this business as usual sectionusually doesnt take up a lot of screentime. Still, make it interesting. If the inciting incident didnthappen, there should be something going on during the heros ordinary existence which wouldwarrant audience interest. As Alex Epstein comments in Crafty Screenwriting, maybe its notsomething youd pay money to see at your local multiplex, but it still piques curiosity, if only slightly.Naturally, the more curiosity you can generate, the better.

Going back to THE PROPOSAL, even if Andrews boss hadnt been threatened with deportation,shed still have to deal with the fallout of firing one of her employees (a delicious cameo by AasifMandvi), while poor Andrew would still have to deal with her. Observe that the introduction to theeveryday world of both hero and heroine reveals just as much about their individual characters as itdoes about their setting.

In SAFE HOUSE (hmmm, another movie starring Ryan Reynolds), Matt Weston is a green CIA agentwhos tasked with maintaining a safe house in South Africa. Even though hes a CIA agent, Westonssafe house is underutilized, and his everyday existence is pretty vanilla. A new arrivalSHAZAM!will change all that.

But before that arrival makes his appearance, theres still stuff going on in Westons life. Hes clearlylying about his job to his French girlfriend. At any minute, his lies can blow up in his face. Hes alsoa talented guy with barely anything to do. If the inciting incident hadnt have happened, who knowswhat risky action Weston mightve taken to prove himself to his superiors and snag an excitingassignment away from his boring old safe house?

As the beginnings of MINORITY REPORT and INCEPTION prove, if youre writing a science-fiction movie, you probably wont have to go out of your way to make the everyday world of yourhero intriguing. Apprehending criminals before they commit a crime? Infiltrating someone elsesdreams? Who wouldnt be curious about those situations?

Its mostly movies set in contemporary times which require more effort on your part. If you dont haveanything interesting happening during your depiction of a day in the life of your hero, then you needto rewrite your beginning. Taking the time to explore your heros backstory even more than you havealready should get you started in the right direction.

#3: Its PersonalThe inciting incident entangles the hero into the main storyline, or A story, of your screenplay.Therefore, a crime perpetuated by a villain isnt automatically an inciting incident. After all, solvingthe crime is a case which potentially could be assigned to any detective or spynot necessarily toyour hero. Its the assignment of the case, not the case itself, which is the inciting incidentunlessthe crime is perpetuated against the hero or against something or someone whom he values. When avillain makes a direct attack like that, the hero becomes instantly involved through necessity.

For a few screenplay concepts, you have to stretch the definition of personal in order to figure outthe inciting incident. For example, during the inciting incident of AIR FORCE ONE, an accomplice ofthe villain first attacks Secret Service agents aboard Air Force Onenot the president or his family.However, both Secret Service agents and the iconic plane are synonymous with the United Statespresidency. An attack on them is like attacking the president himself.

For another example, lets examine HOME ALONE. In this blockbuster comedy, eight-year-oldKevin McCallister is accidentally left home during Christmas vacation when his entire family flies toParis without him. This wouldnt have happened if a freak storm hadnt short circuited the electricityin the McCallisters neighborhood, resetting the parental alarm clock. This inciting incident directlyaffects the power grid outside the McCallister residencenot an event most people would categorizeas personal. Its effect on the McCallister household? That, on the other hand, is a completelydifferent story.

To be clear, most of the time, this distinction wont matter. In the majority of scripts, the incitingincident touches the hero directly or someone he loves. Its very clear-cut. This criterion usuallycomes in handy when youre analyzing movies and are having trouble distinguishing backgroundinformation or conducive conditions (more on those in a bit) from the inciting incident.

#4: Its Causally Linked to the First Act BreakGoing back to car analogies, think of the inciting incident as an ignition. Without it, the engine of theparticular story youre trying to tell can never get started. For that reason, the inciting incidenttypically is an event which specifically triggers the action which occurs at the first act break, whenyou hero pursues his goal in earnest. In other words, the inciting incident is the cause; the end of ActOne is the effect.

If youre a fan of car analogies, you can think of it like this: if your inciting incident is like the key to aJaguar, then it must ignite a story engine belonging to a Jaguar, not a Volvo station wagonor atricked-out Aston Martin, eerily silent Prius, or trusty Ford pick-up truck.

Because of the direct connection between these two plot points, its often helpful to work backwardsto figure out what the inciting incident of your screenplay should be. When youre trying to identifythe inciting incident in movies, ask yourself if the first act break could occur without the event youthink is the inciting incident. If it could, then theres probably a stronger candidate for the incitingincident than the one youve chosen.

This cause and effect relationship can be very confusing for two reasons. One, the effect of theinciting incident can become the cause of a later event, which in turn looks like it caused the first actbreak. At this point its usually helpful to analyze all the causes which contribute to the first act break,and see which one meets the other inciting incident criteria. If you have more than one candidate,choose onemaybe even bothand move on. Dont torture yourself with over-analysis.

Secondly, the inciting incident itself can follow the conundrum of the chicken or the egg. If certainconditions didnt occur, then the inciting incident never wouldve happened. Couldnt thesefacilitative conditions then be the inciting incident?

Perhaps.

With some movies, you could definitely make that argument, but if you start down this path, youll endup tracing the inciting incident all the way back to the ancestors of the hero (or villain). In this case, itoften helps to focus on how you define the everyday world of the hero. Most of the time, thatdefinition will encompass a certain set of conducive conditions, but not the inciting incident.

All this is a little theoretical without examples, so lets take a look at the sci-fi thriller MINORITYREPORT to see this point in action. John Anderton is the chief of a Precrime unit which enablespolice to catch a criminal before a crime is actually committed. This special police force learns ofcrimes in advance through three precogs, humans whose genetic mutations resulted in a miraculousability to see the future.

The system depends upon the infallibility of the precogs; if they are ever wrong, then theres a stronglikelihood that the Precrime police are punishing innocent men who would never be guilty of a crime.

At the inciting incident of MINORITY REPORT, one of the precogs, Agatha, touches Anderton. (Thisis highly unusual. To avoid tampering with the system, theyre not supposed to have physical contact.)As she latches onto him, she asks him if he can see as images of a past murder are projected fromher mind onto a screen above. Shaken by the encounter, Anderton re-examines the evidence from thatmurder.

In the process, he discovers that the precog system has serious vulnerabilities. Its this discoverywhich directly results in Anderton being set up for a crime he didnt commit. Anderton had become aliability, and so he had to be eliminated in order to preserveand expandthe Precrime system.

Cause and effect, baby.

The most analytical (or perhaps argumentative) of you might be wondering why Andertons

interaction with Agatha is the inciting incident, since his discovery of precog fallibility is the reasonhes framed for murder. The answer has to do with other key characteristics of the inciting incident,primarily passivity and disruption. Andertons encounter with Agatha is the first event which joltshim out of his everyday world.

The Beautiful Lockdown

In some screenplays, the hero would like nothing more than to dismiss the ramifications of the incitingincident. But at the first act break, he cant. Hes locked into a path he had formerly dismissed.Mysteries use this structure a lot: patting himself on the back, the detective solves a case with littledifficulty, seemingly wrapping up all loose ends. By the end of the first act, he discovers that he waswrong. The mystery initially brought to his attention is part of something far more complex andsinister than he had originally imagined.

The structure of CHINATOWN follows this model. In its inciting incident, private detective JakeGittes is hired by a woman named Mrs Mulwray who wants Gittes to investigate her husband, whomshe suspects is having an affair. Gittes does, accruing photographic evidence of her husbandsinfidelity, which somehow winds up in the paper. To Gittes, the case seems open and shutbut thatsnot the end of it. Later, the REAL Mrs Mulwray arrives at Gittess office and threatens him with legalaction and negative publicity. Now, he has to figure out who set him up and why. Hes locked intothis particular investigation.

When the Past Is Prologue

Several movies like JJ Abramss 2009 reboot of STAR TREK begin with a dramatic, disruptive, andhighly personal event which happens to the hero, usually in his past. In Writing Screenplays that Sell ,Michael Hauge refers to this as prologue. Its such an apt term, Im going to borrow it. Becauseprologues share so many similarities with inciting incidents, it can be easy to confuse the two. Oneway to distinguish them is by using the criterion of cause and effect. Can the first act break just haveeasily occurred without the prologue? In other words, is the prologue a direct cause of the storyunfolding now? Or is it perhaps merely a conducive condition?

An example of this can be found in HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERERS STONE. The moviebegins with the delivery of baby Harry onto the doorstep of his aunt and uncles home on PrivetDrive. They are the only family he has left. (Later we learn hes an orphan because his parents werekilled by an evil wizard). But while the murder of Harrys parentsand Harrys subsequent arrivalonto Privet Driveare critical parts of the plot, they dont directly cause the plot itself.

At the first act break, Harry leaves for the grand school of wizardry, Hogwarts. The struggles (andadventures) he faces there are what the story is all about. They couldnt have happened if Harryhadnt been invited to attend Hogwarts . The advent of the first invitation (borne by Owl Post noless) is the true inciting incident of the movie. Dont get me wrong. The death of Harrys parents andhis adoption by his aunt and uncle definitely color the story, even playing a crucial role at the climax.BUT these events dont directly contribute to his arrival at Hogwarts. Thats only made possible

through the owl-borne invitation.

Another way to analyze the inciting incident is also by examining Harrys present, everyday world.Its not much of one, thats for sure. Unloved and unwanted, Harry lives in the room the size of acupboard, is bullied by his cousin, and is treated more like a servant than a cherished relative. Theinvitation to Hogwarts, the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry, changes all of that too. For thefirst time in a long time, Harrys wanted, welcomedby a place that will nurture his magical talentinstead of suppressing it.

BATMAN BEGINS takes prologue one step further, intercutting Bruce Waynes tragic backstorythroughout the first act of the blockbuster film. Like Harry Potter, Waynes parents were killed whiletrying to protect him. Like Harry, this event defines Waynes characterarguably even more so.Wayne even adopts the lifestyle of a thief in order to understand the criminal mindset.

While in prison, a mysterious stranger named Ducard visits Wayne, extending him an invitation totrain in the path of a manwho wishes to serve true justice. Upon his release, Wayne accepts,training in the ways and means of the League of Shadows, eventually forsaking them and adopting awinged alter ego to protect his city from destruction.

Sure, all of this is a response to his parents death, but Waynes response could have taken otherforms. Waynes transformation into Batmanthe entire plot of this moviearose directly from hisexperience with the League of Shadows. And that experience wouldnt have happened without theappearance of Ducard at Waynes prison doorstep. Since its unlikely Wayne wouldve beenreceptive to Ducards offer if Waynes parents hadnt have died, a strong argument could be madethat this series of flashbacks comprise conducive conditions which facilitated the inciting incident.

Part II: When Does the Inciting Incident Occur?Now that weve established what the inciting incident isa personal event which disrupts the heroseveryday world, paving the way for the first act breakwhen does it happen? Thats a very goodquestion, and the answer explains partly why identifying inciting incidents can be so tricky.

Most inciting incidents occur within the first ten pages of a script. However, some are never shown atall, while others are delayed until the very end of Act One. Lets take a closer look:

Rule of TenAs a general rule, you need to complete all of your setup or groundwork by page 25 of yourscreenplay, which roughly corresponds to twenty-five minutes of screentime. Thats when your firstact should end. (Theres leeway here, especially if your script is long to begin with, but not much.)However, if you dont captivate studio readers by page 10 of your script, they may never make it asfar as page 25.

The same holds true for ticket buyers. If the first ten minutes of your movie dont captivate theirinterest, theyll have little desire to watch it through till the end. Even if they do stick around, theirinitial impatience and boredom will color their experience, typically resulting in negative word ofmouth.

This means that the first ten pages of your screenplay should:

portray a genre-pertinent eventwhich hooks audience interest andinspires confidence in you as a writer (ie a reader will think to himself, Im in good hands.)

Because of their disruptive nature, inciting incidents usually meet all of these requirements. Thatsalso why a majority of them take place within the first ten pages of a screenplay. When they occur soearly, its unlikely that the writer has spent too much time laying down groundwork and portraying theheros everyday life. In other words, the inciting incident is a trusty safeguard against boringaudiences by presenting too much setup at your scripts outset.

Off-ScreenInciting incidents usually meet all of these requirements. Sometimes, they dont. For example, asmentioned earlier, the inciting incident in a spy movie is often the assignment of the mission to thehero. This isnt very interesting. Nor is it cinematic. Typically, its a bunch of instructions issued inan office by a superior.

Audiences didnt spend $10 (or more) to see bureaucracy in action. They came to see real action:chases, thrills, hand-to-hand combat.

Your first ten pages must deliver on that expectation. Thats why spy movies frequently begin with thehero already on the case, in pursuit of the villain or engaged in another adrenaline-pumping activity.The inciting incidentthe assignment of the caseis conveniently shunted off-screen.

An alternate approach which produces the same effect is to show the villain making his bold play,and then follow that with the obligatory office scene. Either way works as long as the first ten pagesdeliver on the promise of action and/or suspense.

INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK follows this model to a certain extentonly its the main character, Indiana Jones, who makes a bold play. In South America, 1936, Indyattempts to acquire a golden idol. Overcoming several obstacles, he succeeds, only to have it stolenfrom him by one of the villainous characters. To survive, he must evade a horde of natives wieldingpoison-tipped arrows.

Later, we see Indy return to his staid everyday world, as an archeology professor whos the object offemale adoration. Two men from US Army Intelligence disrupt that world when they pay him aspecial visit. They want him to track down the Lost Ark, the chest the Hebrews used to cart aroundthe Ten Commandments.

While we dont see them assign Indy the mission, their visitheavily laden with expositionamounts to the same thing. (On the DVD, the sequence is even labeled Special Assignment.)Audiences were more than willing to listen to this heavy dose of exposition (including details aboutthe lost Egyptian city of Tanis; the Well of Souls, the Arks current resting place; and the secret mapcontained within the Staff of Ra which leads to the Well) because their thirst for action and thrillshad already been sated.

Imagine if the movie had begun with the visit from Army Intelligence and not with Indys quest for thegolden idol. Audiences would have resented having to sit through so much arcane historicalinformation, even though this knowledge is essential for them to understand what happens later on.

OCEANS 11 takes the off-screen hat trick to another levelvery much in keeping with its wink-wink tone. In this clever caper, Danny Ocean wants to steal millions from three casinos owned byruthless mogul Terry Benedict. To assemble a crack-whip team, Ocean approaches various skilledcon menand his invitation to join in on the con is the inciting incident for each of them. But whatabout Ocean? Whats the event which caused him to eye Benedict as a target in the first place? Wenever see it occur on-screen, and in fact, dont even learn about it till halfway through the movie.Then, we discover that Benedict is dating Oceans ex-wife. Thats the impetus for Ocean to createOceans 11; thats his inciting incident.

DelayedLike I said earlier, for the reasons outlined above, most movies portray the inciting incident withinthe first ten minutes of a screenplay. Mostbut not all.

In some scripts, the inciting incident is significantly delayed. This usually happens if you have toestablish a lot of setup in order for your audience to understand your story. In order for the incitingincident of MINORITY REPORT to make sense, audiences first have to understand how precogs andthe Precrime police unit operate. Indeed, thats what much of the first act is devoted to. Its the primereason the inciting incident doesnt occur until twenty-eight and a half minutes into the movie.

Employing the prologue technique discussed in Part I can also delay the inciting incident because youhave to show the prologue and the heros everyday world before you even get to the inciting incident.To what extent the inciting incident gets delayed depends on how much you need to accomplish.Sometimes you can still hit the inciting incident by page 10, at other times the inciting incident isgoing to get pushed back. Way back.

To get a feel for this timing issue, take a look at the list below. It contains movies which begin usingthe prologue technique, followed by the time (indicated via brackets) when the inciting incident takesplace. Notice theres a wide variance. Some movies still hit the inciting incident before page 10,while othersdont.

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERERS STONE [8:50]STAR TREK (which actually has two prologues for Kirk) [23:47]CLASH OF THE TITANS [8:53]LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGSpecial Extended DVD Edition[31:28]WHAT WOMEN WANT (the beginning is a combo of prologue, everyday world, and credits)[12:12]KUNG FU PANDA (Pos dream sequence is similar to a prologue) [15:17]THE MUMMY (which has a prologue for both the hero and the villain) [17:03]

In rare cases, the inciting incident and the first act break can be one and the same. This is highlyunusual however because unlike the inciting incident, the first act break is usually not a passive event.Furthermore, the inciting incident typically causes the first act break, and cause and effect are rarely,if ever, the same. This circumstance is so rare that I couldnt come up with an example on my own.Thanks to Alex Epsteins Crafty Screenwriting, I do have one: THE WIZARD OF OZ.

The tornado which sweeps Dorothy out of Kansas is both the inciting incident and the first act breakof the movie. This point of view makes sense, doesnt it? The tornado certainly meets all of our fourinciting incident requirements: its a disruptive event over which Dorothy has no control, whichaffects her life dramatically, and without which, the story couldnt get started.

However others (notably story analyst Chris Vogler, animation artist Dan Bessie, andscreenwriter/author Alexandra Sokoloff) make different arguments. In her blog, Sokoloff writes thatthe inciting incident of THE WIZARD OF OZ is when Miss Gulch arrives with a sheriffs summonsto destroy Dorothys beloved dog Toto. In a comment on my website, Bessie contends that the incitingincident is when Toto escapes Miss Gulchs evil clutches. In The Writers Journey , Chris Vogler

seems to view the inciting incident as an amalgam of both.

The one point everyone seems to agree upon? The tornado marks the end of the first act. The more Istudy inciting incidents, the more I think its virtually impossible to equate the inciting incident withthe first act break and to produce a coherent story which engages audiences throughout. But since itssuch a theoretical point, its not worth worrying about.

The really important thing to understand is why inciting incidents trend towards the sooner rather thanthe later. This point cant be stressed enough because so many amateur scripts delay the incitingincident for far too longand for no good reason. Usually, if you delay your inciting incident pastpage 15 or so (and youre planning to keep it on-screen), its because youve spent too much timeworld-building and/or showing your heros everyday existence. But, you need to realize, most heroeseven those as glamorous as the president in AIR FORCE ONE (or as idiotic as THEHANGOVERs wolf pack)arent interesting to follow for twenty straight minutes without adisruptive event happening in their lives.

Remember, audiences are waiting for something to happen, preferably something which delivers onthe expectations generated by your movies genre. Even though MINORITY REPORT had to laydown a lot of groundwork, it delivered on both sci-fi elements and thrills from the very beginning.The red balls of wood inscribed with the name of a future murderer were visually and viscerallyintriguing, while John Andertons pursuit of that murderer was filled with suspense.

The same holds true for other movies with delayed inciting incidents like INCEPTION andGLADIATOR. If the beginning of your screenplay captivates audiences by providing them with thegenre elements they came to see, the more you can delay your inciting incident without incurring anegative reaction.

Still, you should think twice about delaying your inciting incident too much because then you wonthave as much time to play around with the sequence which comes after it. As well see in the nextsection, theres a lot you might be missing out on!

Part III: What Happens after the Inciting Incident?If your inciting incident has to occur by page 10 (assuming its on-screen), and if your first act mustend approximately by page 25, then how do you fill those remaining fifteen pages? For me, thisalong with the end of Act Twohas been one of the trickiest screenplay sections to tackle.

When I first started studying screenwriting, I discovered, much to my frustration, that most how-toguides dont address the issue at all. And even with the ones that did, I found myself wanting them toelaborate more. In Anatomy of a Story, John Truby advises you to introduce a subplot. BlakeSnyders Save the Cat labels this section as the great debatewhich asks a question of some kind.In Chris Voglers Writers Journey , this is where the hero, standing on the threshold of fear,refuses the call of adventure.

Out of the three, Ive found Voglers suggestions the most helpful, and I strongly recommend that youread the chapter Refusal of the Call of The Writers Journey in full. Sometimes though, itsdifficult to visualize the refusal of the call when your hero isnt going on an exciting action-adventureor thrill-filled quest.

At those times, you might find it easier to conceptualize the section of your script after the incitingincident like the moment in a courtroom when an overzealous lawyer in an Ermenegildo Zegna suit,punches his fist in the air and yells, Objection, your Honor! (I once harbored illusions of becominga lawyer, maybe thats why this works for me.)

Basically, someonecould be the hero, could be someone he loves, even someone he despisesobjects to whatever action the inciting incident necessitates. Thats the most important response toinclude after the inciting incident. But its not the only one. You have other options. You can use thesepages to:

fulfill genre expectationsset up gags, action set pieces, or critical informationarticulate theme

Lets examine each one of these in turn, starting with the most important: the objection.

ObjectionsAs a result of the inciting incident, the heros everyday world is thrown into disorder. Its a problemfor which someone will propose a solution, course of action, or plan of attack. This could be thehero, it could be somebody else, it could be the very person responsible for the inciting incident. Ifyour hero is the type to put out a welcome mat just for the occasion when adventure comes a-knocking, odds are, hell propose the plan while other characters will make the objections.

For example, the heros family or well-meaning friends could object out of concern for his physical

safety or potential harm to his reputation. A workplace rival could dismiss your heros abilitiesbecause the rival wants your heros alpha-dog position. In action movies, the objection couldmanifest as a small-scale combat scene between the villains emissaries and the hero.

In the modern dance sensation STEP UP, after wreaking havoc at the Maryland School of the Arts,hoodlum Tyler Gage is assigned to perform community service at the school as part of hispunishment. Thats his inciting incident. His first response is to begrudgingly complete the janitorialduties hes tasked with. But when he realizes that a female student needs a dance partner, he tries anew plan, and eagerly volunteers for the position.

She, on the other hand, vehemently refuses, going so far as to audition several under-qualifiedcandidates. Who can blame her? Those sculpted biceps destroyed her performing arts center! Ofcourse, their pairing is inevitableotherwise there would be no storybut her objection makes thecontrivance more credible.

If somebody besides the hero proposes a plan to follow (either directly or tacitly), then its likely thatthe hero will be the one objecting. The hero could object on the grounds that the conventionalapproach advocated by his friend or superior wont work. Frequently, hell object to his selection asthe hero in the first place!

For example, in GLADIATOR, the emperor Marcus Aurelius asks General Maximus to become theprotector of Rome after I die. Thats the movies inciting incident. Aurelius goes on to elaborate onhis proposed course of action: I will empower you to one end alone. To give power back to thepeople of Rome and end the corruption that has crippled itwill you accept this great honor I haveoffered you? Maximus replies, With all my heart, no. Ironically, Maximuss reluctance to be thushonored is the very reason hes the best candidate to protect Rome. (In contrast, the objections tothe selection of Maximus as steward of Rome expressed by Marcus Aureliuss power-hungry sonresult in patricide, the murder of Maximuss wife and son, and the transformation of Maximus fromgeneral to slave.)

The heros objections can be a way for him to express oh-so-crucial personal agency, but its in amuted form, nowhere in comparison to the agency hell demonstrate during Acts Two and Three. TheR-rated comedy HORRIBLE BOSSES is a great example of this. While there are inciting incidentsand ensuing objections for all three heroes, Nick, Kurt, and Dale, Im going to focus on Kurts.

He works for a chemical engineering company and loves both his job and his boss. Everythingchanges, however, when his boss dies and the company is taken over by Bobby, the bosss cokeaddict son. Bobby orders Kurt to fire overweight employees like Large Marge because theyrelazy, and slow, and they make me sad to look at.

Kurt refuses: Margies not fat, shes pregnant. Im not gonna fire her. This doesnt deter Bobby whoselects another candidate for dismissala wheelchair-bound employee. Again, Kurt refuses, boldlydeclaring, I wont fire anyone. But Kurts attempts to assert agency are squelched when Bobbythreatens to fire all three of them if Kurt doesnt cooperate. This turn of events drives Kurt to take

extraordinary measures and attempt to have his boss killed, a decision which fuels the plot of thesecond act while making Kurt feel like hes in the drivers seat.

Taking a cue from your hero or another character, audiences might object to the heros selection rightalong with them! In A FEW GOOD MEN, Jo Galloway doubts that Daniel Kaffee is capable ofarguing on behalf of his defendants. Since weve witnessed his Persian food bazaar style oflawyering firsthand, we object right along with her. Fortunately, Kaffee proves both Gallowayandaudienceswrong.

Analyzing whos making the objections after the inciting incident (and why) can help you improveother aspects of your scriptespecially in your revision stages. For this to work, you first have to askyourself what the objection tells you about the characters in your screenplay. Then seek ways to usethis information to make your script more realistic, vivid, and engaging.

If your hero objects to the call of adventure because hes filled with self-doubt, youll definitelywant to a) reflect on the past events which made him question his abilities and b) figure out howyoure going to present that backstory.

This should also guide your decisions when youre plotting Act Three. Your climax should bedesigned to show that your hero has overcome his particular set of demons. If other charactersbesides the hero object to his involvement, your climax can show that their concerns were unjustified.As long as youre not too heavy-handed with them, these kinds of callbacks are usually very satisfyingto audiences.

Of course, your hero can exhibit reluctance for reasons other than self-doubt. In THE PROPOSAL,Andrew is not keen on faking an engagement to his boss, Margaret, because shes an uptight controlfreak. Andrew couldve just as easily exhibited reluctance because he was secretly engaged tosomeone else. But that wouldve been an entirely different story (and a less interesting one methinks).

Lets pretend you had written THE PROPOSAL. If you identified the exact reason Andrew is loath topretend to be Margarets fianc, that knowledge could help you make critical decisions when it cametime to edit. For example, it could inspire you to accentuate Margarets meanness, and make her evenbitchier than you originally intended. It could also inspire you to give Andrew opportunities to getback at her for all the abuse shes subjected him to (without alienating the audience of course).

Analyzing the nature of the objection and the objectors rationale can also give you insight on how toend Act Two. In an action movie or thriller, that person could be capturedeven killedby thevillain. To create another kind of emotional devastation for your hero, the person making theobjection could reveal himself to be a foe in disguise. His objection was artificial, designed to makehim appear like an ally to both the hero and the audience.

THE BODYGUARD gives us a fantastic example to study. Superstar Rachel Marron is the victim ofhate letters and death threats, but shes reluctant to hire a bodyguard to protect her. That would crampher popstar lifestyle. Objecting to Rachels objections, her sister, Nicki, urges her to reconsider, Its

time you took more precautions. It seems that Nicki is the picture of sisterly devotion. But, it turnsout Nicki resents living in her sisters shadow. Shes the one who hired a contract killer to eliminateRachel for good.

For another example, lets pretend that you had come up with a script concept similar to the R-ratedcomedy WEDDING CRASHERS: two best friends crash weddings in order to pick up women.Complications arise when one of the dudes (John) falls in love with a high-profile wedding guest.Getting struck by Cupids arrow is one inciting incident for the movie (and the primary one if youview WEDDING CRASHERS as a raunchy romantic comedy). But theres another candidate forinciting incident which takes place earlier on. Thats when Johns best friend, Jeremy, invites John tocrash the wedding for the daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury.

John strenuously objects. I dont know, I thought the season was over. I was looking forward tokinda taking a break for a little bitIm tired, okay? My feet hurt. My voice is hoarse. Jeremycounters, finally concluding, Now, if you sit there and expect me to go out on a limb and try to pulloff the greatest crash of all time, I gotta know that your heads right. There is no room for error.Secret Service. Consequences.

In the movie, evading the Secret Service wasnt a major scene, and Johns objections were used toembed setup regarding the infamous Chaz Reinhold, who passed on the rules of wedding crashing toJohn and Jeremy, and will make a hilarious cameo appearance towards the films end.

Lets pretend for a moment that evading the Secret Service is a major scene in your version ofCRASHERS. Johns objections and Jeremys responses to them would then give you an opportunityto embed information necessary to understand how they sneak past the sentries. Lets say thats howyour first draft played out. But during your revision stage, you felt that something was off. At the endof Act Two, you had managed to split apart John and his love interest, but that didnt feel weightyenough.

Then you took a second look at Johns objections, and it helped you discover a story thread youhadnt explored before: two best friends drifting apart. Johns not just physically tired. Hes tired ofthe whole meaningless crasher lifestyle which Jeremy shows no signs of leaving behind. After thatmoment of eureka, you decide that Johns quest for love would also jeopardize his friendship withJeremy.

Voila! You now have several ideas to flesh out your script which not only increase your conflictquota but do so in a way which feels organic to your story. (I dont know if thats how screenwritersSteve Faber & Bob Fisher came up with their plot, but they certainly couldve gotten there that way!)

One final note: dont take the concept of objecting too literally. You just need to show some form ofresistance. It doesnt necessarily have to be verbal. The hit comedy MRS DOUBTFIRE is a greatexample. To spend more time with his children, Daniel Hillard decides to impersonate a femalenanny. No one verbally objects to this plan. His brother, a talented make-up artist, is in fact keen tohelp.

Still, transforming a mana large, hairy one at thatinto a woman is no easy task. The make-up,wigs, and prosthetics refuse to cooperateat least at first. Its a hilarious sequence, and illustratesanother crucial point. While every script includes some form of objection after the inciting incident, ifyou can convey that objection while accomplishing another story goal, your first act will be that muchstronger. Well explore this more in detail in the following sections.

Fulfillment of Genre ExpectationsFrom the Rule of Ten, you already know that you have to fulfill the promise implied by your genreright away. For that reason, some films (typically thrillers and action movies) front-load their first actwith a heart-pounding sequence or prologue. Other films dont indulge in such a full-scale sequence,but only give the audience a whiff of whats to come. Usually (but not always) the inciting incident ofthose movies occurs right on scheduleby page 10. These films then devote a good portion of theremaining time in Act One to delivering the genre goods.

A cute example of this comes from 13 GOING ON 30. In this comedy, heroine Jenna Rink magicallytransforms from a thirteen-year-old into an adult. Although thats exactly what she wished for on herthirteenth birthday, she doesnt take kindly to her metamorphosis. Her befuddled reaction results aseries of great physical comedy gags as she inspects her new Miss America body, evades theamorous attentions of the shirtless man in her apartment, and treats the jolly ring tone of her cellphone as if it were an emission from an alien spaceship.

On a more dramatic note, extensive swordplay scenes follow the inciting incidents of bothBRAVEHEART and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL. Theinciting incident of KNIGHT AND DAY precedes an extensive high-octane combat sequenceone ofthe few which can claim membership in the Mile High Action Club. As always, you should strive forbalance. If you end your first act with an intense action sequence, give the audience some breathingroom before your next adrenaline-filled scenes.

SetupAct One is prime real estate to lay down groundwork which will become important later. Given thechoice, lean towards presenting critical setup after your inciting incident rather than before. If youbegin with too much setup before your inciting incident, you run the risk of boring your audience withthis background information.

Plus, if you wait till after your inciting incident, you can combine setup with the obligatory objectiondiscussed earlier. That way, the setup will emerge as a byproduct of conflict, which is a hundredtimes more interesting than if you had spoon-fed the audience the same information before. Of course,this isnt a set-in-stone rule. Some storieslike MINORITY REPORTwill require extensive setupto occur prior to the inciting incident in order for audiences to fully grasp the heros futurepredicament.

As for the setup itself, it comes in various forms and leads to all sorts of payoffs. You can setup a

comedy gag, an action set piece, exposition, a future plot point, or critical information which canenhance the credibility of later events. Just remember, the end of your first act should wrap up bypage 25 of your screenplay. Make sure that you dont incorporate so much setup that your first actbecomes as bloated as Jabba the Hutt.

The first act of MISS CONGENIALITY is a great example to study to see how this all workstogether. In the inciting incident of this movie, FBI agent Gracie Hart is offered the chance to goundercover as a beauty pageant contestant. But she doesnt relish the opportunity, dismissing thecontestants as women who cater to a misogynistic Neanderthal mentality.

After protesting, she agrees (reluctantly) to have lunch with pageant consultant Victor Melling.Eventually, Victor transforms Gracie into a knockout. Is that credible? Definitely. Natural beautylurks behind Gracies frizzy hair and aggressive attitude. Plus, Victor has FBI funds at his disposal(lucky him).

The real issue of credibility has to do with the talent portion of the beauty pageant. Gracies fellowcontestants have been practicing triple back-flips, concertinas, and arias since they were toddlers. Ifshe suddenly exhibited significant artistic talent during Act Two, it would seem highly coincidental.Borderline unbelievable.

The screenwriters took care of this credibility hurdle by having Gracie work with what shes alreadygot and by showing that skill in Act One. When Gracie had lunch with Victor, to annoy him, sheconstantly ran her finger over the edge of her water glass, producing a highly irritating sound. Thisminor beat of action is funny (fulfilling genre requirements), expresses Gracies resistance to Victor(one of many objections), and most importantly, establishes Gracies talent for producing musicwith water glasses (the crucial setup). Voila! Credibility hurdle overcome.

Lets do another round of make-believe and say that you had come up with the idea of MISSCONGENIALITY. But Gracies skill involved juggling fruit instead of musical water glasses. If youdont set up her juggling talent beforehand, it will come across as coincidental when it finally makesits appearance. Knowing this, youd look for a way to plant her talent earlier on, hopefully in ascene you had already written. Maybe not at her lunch with Victor, but perhaps during one of theoffice scenes at the FBI. When youre in the middle of writing, opportunities to embed setup might notbe that obvious to you, but you definitely should look for them when youre revising your screenplay.

Post-inciting incident setup doesnt have to be elaborate. During the inciting incident of INCEPTION,Saito, a Japanese businessman, asks dream architect Dom Cobb to plant an idea within the head ofone of Saitos competitors, ie inception. At first Cobb resists, but eventually agrees to the mission.Then his colleague objects, I know how much you want to go home, but this cant be done. Cobbsresponse is brief, Yes it can, Ive done it before, and we transition into Act Two.

This exchange is no mere throwaway, no token piece of resistance. The entire screenplayActs One,Two, and Threeis constructed around it. Cobb only agrees to Saitos dangerous propositionbecause success will reunite Cobb with his children. But Cobb wouldnt have been blamed for his

wifes murder and subsequently lost his children if he hadnt engaged in inception before.

Assembly of Team or Toolkit

In several stories, the hero wont be able to achieve his goal all by his lonesome. Hell need helpfrom a mentor (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA), a teammate (OCEANS 11), or a special tool(HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERERS STONE). In this specialized form of setup, your heromay gather these people and items after the inciting incident.

You dont have to show the hero accruing his team or toolkit during the first act. You can save themfor Act Two. The decision depends on the needs of your storyand especially how much time youhave until you have to hit your first act break.

Because the inciting incident of INCEPTION was delayed for so long, making its appearance twentyminutes into the movie, Cobb didnt have enough time to assemble a qualified inception team beforeAct One ended. That activity is saved for the first half of Act Two. (At least in my structuralbreakdown.)

LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING has one of the most creative approaches tothe formation of the heros team. Peaceful hobbit Frodo must leave his home, the Shire, in order todestroy a dangerous ring. He plans to leave with just his best friend Sam, but two other lively hobbitsinsist on joining them, transforming the duo into a quartet.

As Act Two progresses the group picks up a human protector, Aragorn. By the time the movie reachesthe midpoint, their ranks swell to include another human, a dwarf, an elf, and a wizard (who wassupposed to join them earlier but had been waylaid by the enemy).

Articulation of ThemeTheme is important, but its usually not a story component which hooks audience interest right away.For that reason, I suggest you delay introducing your theme until after you know youve got theaudience engagedeither through an extensive genre-pertinent sequence and/or the inciting incident.Both of these prime audiences to anticipate whats to come, so theyre more amenable to allowingyou to indulge in your thematic musings.

One of the themes running throughout GLADIATOR concerns Romes future and the best way togovern her. A significant portion of the movies beginning is dedicated towards pontificating uponthat theme. At a celebration of a battlefield victory, the hero, Maximus, is introduced to two Romansenators. Beware of Gaius, Maximus is told. Hell pour a honeyed potion in your ear. Youllwake up one day, and all youll say is republic, republic, republic. Later, the emperor, MarcusAurelius, summons Maximus to his chambers, asking him, How will the world speak my name inyears to come? Will I be the emperor who gave Rome back to her true self? Aurelius goes on:There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper,and it would vanishit was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter.

Maximuss interactions with the Roman senators and his discussion with Marcus Aurelius amount toold men arguing about the crumbling government of Rome and the benefits of instituting a republic.But audiences didnt come to see GLADIATOR because they wanted to listen to political mumbo-jumbo or to witness the birth of a new republicas meaningful and worthy as that goal might be.They came to see old-school warfare, whether on the battlefield or within the Coliseum. The twelve-minute battle against a Germania tribe with which the film begins delivered on that desireand thensomepaving the way for audiences to listen to speeches about Romes future with patience.

Sometimes, its impossible to delay presentation of your theme because it pervades your screenplayconcept. For example, in MINORITY REPORT, the idea that technology may usurp free will is partof the heros everyday world. This theme is inherent not only within the first scene, but within theway the Precrime police department operates, the way marketing intrudes into peoples very minds,and the way criminals are punished by having their conscious minds obliterated. Because that worldis so fascinating and because the theme was handled with a deft touch, no one in the audience voicedcomplaint.

Putting It All TogetherThe pages following the inciting incident are a prime opportunity to be creative and show off yourwriting skills. Dont squander it! That doesnt mean you should contort your story to incorporate allthe approaches discussed in this section. But, as you continue analyzing movies, youll notice that thebest screenwriters get a lot of mileage out of their objection scenes, using them to accomplish severalstory goals at once.

Speaking of objections, so far, I havent found one movie that hasnt included one, in one form oranother, after the inciting incident. This makes sense. After all, most peoplewhether they be heroes,villains, or sidekicksare resistant to change. Even though the tendency to resist change is fairlystandard, the way it manifests is not. Make sure that the characters in your story dont express tokenresistance. Their objections should evolve from their true being, their fundamental viewpoint aboutthe way the world operates. The case studies in Part V should give you some ideas on how toaccomplish exactly that.

Part IV: Inciting Incident and GenreAs long as theres a causal link between the inciting incident and your plot, you can choose any eventto get your story going. This holds especially true for comedies and dramas.

However, certain types of inciting incidents will pop up again and again within movies of the samegenre. Once you understand these genre-dependent patterns, youll be better equipped to decide if youwant to follow the trendor if you want to deviate from it.

Mysteries, Thrillers, and Action MoviesIn these genres, the inciting incident typically involves the assignment of the case or mission. In themost straightforward assignment of the case scenes, someone (the heros superior, a client, an outsideagency, etc) relates the details of the task to the hero.

As previously mentioned, in the spy thriller SAFE HOUSE, Matt Weston plays a green CIA agentwhos responsible for overseeing an apparently underutilized safe house. That all changes when hissuperior officer commands Weston to prepare his safe house for the arrival of Tobin Frost, a rogueagent whos an expert manipulator of human assets.

However, not all inciting incidents in mysteries, thrillers, and action movies are so straightforward.Below are three alternative approaches:

Assignment of the Case Alternative Approach #1

As discussed in Part II: When Does the Inciting Incident Occur?, the assignment of the case scenecan be pushed off-screen, simply because watching the hero receive instructions is not veryappealing. Its like the difference between driving a sporty new convertibleand reading thevehicles user manual.

To illustrate the point, it seems fitting to use THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, the first film in thestreet-racing series, as an example. The movie begins with an exciting theft sequence, followed by theintroduction of Brian OConner, who takes drastic measures to ingratiate himself with a gang of streetracers. Then the action movie cuts to a scene which reveals OConner is an undercover policeofficer.

What if the movie had kept the assignment of the case on-screen? Imagine if, after the theft sequence,the audience had been shown OConners superior officer assigning him to the undercover operationand followed that with showing OConner trying to worm his way into the good graces of the dragracers.

Boring! (At least to the target audience of adrenaline junkies.)

The movie waits thirty-five minutes before revealing that OConner is an undercover police officer.

Personally, I dont think the film waited this long to surprise audiences with OConners secretidentity, which would have easily been revealed in a review or movie trailer. The movie delayeddepicting an office-style scene for that long in order to maintain the kind of frenetic pacing whichcould hold the attention of even the most hardened of adrenaline junkies.

Assignment of the Case Alternative Approach #2

Sometimes, no one assigns the hero his mission; he takes it upon himself (a move which pushes thestory forward and reveals loads about the heros character). These movies usually involve a highlypersonal inciting incident in which the villain makes an attack against someone the hero cares about.In this situation, the assignment of the case isnt technically the inciting incidentits the herosreaction to it.

One of the best examples of this is from the 80s classic BEVERLY HILLS COP. In the incitingincident of this movie, Axel Foleys childhood friend is murdered. Over the strenuous objections ofhis boss, Foley tasks himself with solving the crime. Fun fact: the actor who played Foleys boss wasa Detroit police detective in real life!

Assignment of the Case Alternative Approach #3

While the assignment of the case is the inciting incident in most mysteries, thrillers, and actionmovies, theyre certainly not obligatory. It all depends on the story youre trying to tell. TakeTAKEN. Even though its an action-packed thriller, its inciting incident is quite subtle. Barelymemorable in fact.

Retired CIA agent Bryan Mills has moved closer to his daughter in order to repair their strainedrelationship. His plans, however, are disrupted when she asks him if she can travel to Paris duringher summer break. (She needs his consent because shes a minor.) Its this simple plea which sets theentire story in motion.

Assigning the case is a pretty conventional way to begin your mystery, thriller, or action movie. But ifyou go that route, it doesnt automatically mean your first act will be boring or stale. Examine yourheros character, his backstory, and the particular set of rules which govern the world in which heoperates. If they are unique, then even the humble assignment of the case scene will shine withoriginality.

Romantic ComediesAs a general rule, the inciting incident of romantic comedies revolves around the cute meet betweenthe hero and the heroine. (This is also known as the meet-cute, but that phrase annoys me for somereason, so I dont use it.) It seems fitting to define the cute meet by quoting THE HOLIDAY, aromantic comedy written and directed by reigning rom-com queen Nancy Meyers.

In the movie, an elderly screenwriter defines it thus: Say a man and a woman both need something to

sleep in. And they both go to the same mens pajama department. And the man says to the salesman, Ijust need bottoms. The woman says, I just need a top. They look at each other and thats the meet-cute. You can see the meet-cute (or cute meet) in action in such romantic comedies as HITCH,PRETTY WOMAN, 27 DRESSES, and MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING (currently the highestgrossing rom-com ever).

Similar to the assignment of the case style of inciting incident which characterizes mysteries,thrillers, and action movies, romantic comedy cute meets can be modified into something less thanconventional. As Billy Mernit points out in his indispensable guide, Writing the Romantic Comedy,NOTTING HILL tweaks the paradigm by using two cute meets. Demure bookshop owner WillThacker meets world famous actress Anna Scott not oncebut twice. SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLEtakes it one step further. In the inciting incident of this rom-com, Annie doesnt meet her romanticinterest, Sam, at all. Not really. She only hears his voice over the radio. He, meanwhile, doesnt evenlearn of her existence until half-way through the movie!

Currently, it seems trendy to stay clear of the cute meetat least as your primary rom-com incitingincident. Ironically, while a cute meet is defined in THE HOLIDAY, its inciting incidents (there aretwo of them, one for heroine Amanda and one for heroine Iris) dont involve a cute meet at all.

Amandas boyfriend cheats on her (off-screen); their ensuing confrontation results in a break-up.Meanwhile, Iris learns that her former boyfriend, a colleague shes still desperately in love with, isnow engaged to another co-worker. As a result of these life-altering incidents, the two ladies decideto swap homes during Christmas. That decision eventually leads to the cute meet scenes soquintessential to the romantic comedy.

What if your romantic comedy stars two people who already know each other? How can they have acute meet? One solution is to make one character see the other in a new light. If you classify ASGOOD AS IT GETS as a romantic comedy, it makes for a great example. (I categorize it as adramatic comedy, in case you were wondering, but thats neither here nor there.) Carole, anoverworked waitress, has dealt with her diners cranky patron, Melvin Udall, for ages. Thecurmudgeon only starts to see her as more than a mechanism for delivering food after she boldlyeviscerates him for making tactless remarks about her sick son.

If the hero and heroine already know each other, another option is to follow the trend of abandoningthe cute meet altogether and use an outside event as the inciting incident. That strategy worked forTHE PROPOSAL. Margaret Tate, editor-in-chief at a high-powered publishing house, has known herexecutive assistant secretary Andrew for three years. But then shes threatened with deportationand temporary suspension from her joban inciting incident which throws the world of thisworkaholic into major disarray. To restore her world to rights, Margaret proposes a highlyunorthodox solution: a fake engagement to Andrew. In this structural twist, Andrews inciting incidentevolves from Margarets reaction to hers. Whether youre writing a romantic comedy or not, this isan excellent technique to employ whenever your script is driven by two main protagonists.

Comedies and Dramas

In the sci-fi trilogy The Hunger Games, the organizers of the appalling spectacle carefullychoreograph obstacles like forest fires and genetically modified animals to threaten the contestants.Basically, anything they can think of that will get the contestants to behave the way the organizerswant, and in the process, give the audiences in the Capitol a good show.

Inciting incidents for comedies and dramas work in a similar way. You can pluck any disruptiveevent from the arena of life and hurl it at your hero. As already mentioned at the beginning of thissection, the trick is to make sure that your inciting incident relates to your first act break. As long as itdoes that, the skys pretty much the limit.

Your hero can get hired (9 TO 5), experience a change in regime (HORRIBLE BOSSES), or getpassed up for a promotion (WHAT WOMEN WANT). They can get dumped by a boyfriend(LEGALLY BLONDE) or a girlfriend (THE BREAK-UP), divorced by a spouse (MRSDOUBTFIRE)or forced into marriage (COMING TO AMERICA). Magic can be unleashedtransforming their bodies (13 GOING ON 30), transporting them to new realms (ENCHANTED), orgranting them unwanted powers (LIAR LIAR).

Dramas frequently lean towards darker life-altering events, at least more so than comedies. Forexample, in CLASH OF THE TITANS (2010), the heros entire mortal family is killed during theinciting incident. Marcus Aurelius offers General Maximus stewardship over the vast Roman Empirein GLADIATOR. Attempted rape is the inciting incident in both BRAVEHEART and THELMA ANDLOUISE.

Comedies and dramas can also steal inciting incidents from other genres. The plots of theblockbuster comedy MISS CONGENIALITY and the Oscar-nominated drama A FEW GOOD MENare both set into motion during classic assignment of the case scenes. (Note: the inciting incident ofthe latter will be explored further in Part V: In-Depth Case Studies.)

Choosing the Inciting IncidentIf youve come up with a range of possibilities and are having difficulty choosing the best inciting foryour screenplay, think about what other story objectives your inciting incident can accomplish. Youknow that it MUST be causally linked to your first act break, kicking your story into motion.

But what else can it do?

Lets pretend youre writing a screenplay about a mother who has to go back to college for onesemester to finish earning her bachelors degree. The complication? Her daughters going to be afreshman at the same school. Off the top of my head, I have three different inciting incidents whichwould force the heroine to go back to college. In one, her own mother dies, leaving our protagonistwith a hefty fortuneas long as she earns her degree within the next year. In option #2, our heroine isfired from her job after a rival for a big promotion revealed that she didnt technically graduate. In thethird, the heroines husband, the households only breadwinner, abandons her for a younger woman.Hes paying child supportbut those checks will stop once their daughter turns eighteen.

Depending on tone, this script could be a drama or comedy. It could go either way. (It could even be ahybrid, a dramedy!) For arguments sake, lets say its a straightforward comedy. If thats the case,then we should choose the most plot-relevant inciting incident which would best lend itself tocomedic gags. In my mind, both inciting incident options #2 and #3 would naturally segue into a jobapplication comedy sequence. That would be a logical form of objection for our heroine to takebefore she finally resigns herself to going back to school. Option #1 could work too, but it wouldprobably require more setup.

Another factor to consider is theme. What kind of story are you trying to tell? If you want to examinethe relationship between mothers and daughtersand the pressure of living up to expectations, bothreal and imaginedthen inciting incident #1 would be your best bet, even if it might require moresetup.

If you want to analyze the nature of male-female relationships, and how even the most independent-minded of women can become dependent on men, then option #3 is best. To drive the point home, youmight even tweak the heroines backstory so that she dropped out of college to support her then-boyfriend (and future ex-husband) through law school. Finally, if you want to tell a story about themerits of streets smarts over book knowledge, then option #2 would be the way to go.

A lot of times you may have a great script idea, but you dont really know what kind of theme youwant to explore. Listen to your gut. Is it advocating for a certain inciting incident? If so, take a closerlook at that disruptive event. Ask yourself what kind of themes would naturally lead from thatparticular inciting incident. You wont necessarily discover your theme this way, but at the very least,the examination should yield some insight into how to strengthen your script.

Part V: In-Depth Case StudiesIve used examples throughout this guide to illustrate the fundamentals of inciting incidents. However,oftentimes, to cement your understanding, it helps to apply all of these concepts to one movie. Thatswhat Ive tried to do with the ten case studies presented in this section.

Each of the blockbuster movies has been carefully selected because of how well it exemplifies theprinciples Ive discussed so far. Ive also chosen movies from a range of genres. If you know whatkind of story youre writing, you might want to skip ahead to the case study from the same genre asyours.

Heres the complete list of movies and their corresponding genres:

LEGALLY BLONDE (comedy)

MONSTERS, INC. (comedy, family)

THE HUNGER GAMES (sci-fi, action)

AIR FORCE ONE (action, thriller)

A FEW GOOD MEN (drama)

SHERLOCK HOLMES (mystery, action, comedy)

THE MUMMY (action-adventure, romance)

BRAVEHEART (drama, action)

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (fantasy, action-adventure)

ITS COMPLICATED (romantic comedy)

Reading these case studies should give you an idea of exactly how much a well-chosen incitingincident can accomplish. Hopefully, they will inspire you when youre plotting your ownmasterpiece!

LEGALLY BLONDELogline: In order to win back her ex-boyfriend, sorority girl Elle Woods attends Harvard LawSchool, boldly going where no blonde has gone before.

Inciting Incident: Elles boyfriend, Warner, breaks up with her, claiming that he needs to marry aJackie, not a Marilyn. [7:30]

Analysis: Clocking in early, this is a classic example of an inciting incident. It throws Elles perfectlymanicured world into chaosand what a world it is! Business as usual for Elle consists of beinghero-worshipped by everyone at her picture perfect sorority house. But lifes not all rosy (or should Isay pink?) for the cheerful blonde.

Because of her looks and sunshine demeanor, shes constantly underestimated. This is revealed at thebeginning of the movie when a boutique clerk tries to sell Elle old merchandise at full-price. Theresa sense that even if Warner hadnt dumped Elle, she would be driven to prove herself somehowthats one reason why Elles everyday world piques interest. (It also helps that the movie didnt gooverboard portraying this contemporary world.)

When Warner dumps Elle, shes completely blindsided by it. Audiences, in turn, are instinctivelysympathetic towards her. The connection between audience and heroine is further strengthenedbecause Warner dumps Elle so condescendingly. Although its a traumatic event, due to Ellesexaggerated response, this inciting incident not only forges a bond between Elle and the audience, italso elicits laughsfulfilling the genre requirements of a PG-13 comedy.

At first, Elle becomes a passive mess, eating eight grilled cheese sandwiches and forgetting tocondition her hair. But once shes inspired to follow Warner to Harvard Law School, she regainsher personal agency. Thats one of the most alluring things about Elle. Throughout the film, shesalways making plans and taking action: she seeks out her college guidance counselor to learn aboutgaining admission to Harvard, she tries to ingratiate herself with Warners study group at law schoolby providing freshly baked sustenance, she rescues her manicurists pooch from an abusive owner,she pursues an internship with one of her law professors, and after securing that internship, sheextracts an alibi from the reluctant defendant.

The post-inciting incident sequence is quite extensive, achieving multiple story goals at once.Everyonefrom her guidance counselor (Harvard wont be impressed that you aced History ofPolka Dots); parents (Law school is for people who are boring and ugly and serious. And you,button, are none of those things.); and the Harvard Law admissions committee (A fashion major?She was in a Ricky Martin video!)expresses doubt about Elles intellectual mettle. While theirwisecracks make audiences laugh, this sequence also delves into the movies theme of believing inyourselfeven when no one else does.

It also overcomes a significant credibility hurdle. How does a California sorority girl get intoHarvard Law at the last minute? Well, shes a straight-A fashion major. Weve never had one of

those before, one admissions officer reasons. For the sake of diversity (which has the imprimatur oflogic, if not its full force), the noticeably all-male committee offers her a spot at the elite school.Every scene which follows makes sense, adhering to the way real-world rules would operate withinthe context of this particular, semi-outlandish story universe.

If you had come up with the concept for LEGALLY BLONDE (the movie), examining the incitingincidentparticularly Warners desire for a Jackiecould have helped you plot and revise bothActs Two and Three. Knowing that Elle will have to overcome obstacles at law school, why notprovide her with an adversary in the form of a Jackie? Thats what the movie did, giving Warner anew girlfriend (technically, fiance), a snarky brunette who wouldnt be caught dead without herheirloom pearlsa Jackie O trademark.

By the same token, Elle should also have a supporter at law school, who, unlike Warner, values Elleas she is, Marilyn-sized bust and all. Enter Emmett. The soft-spoken lawyer consistently plays Elleschampion, telling her, Being a blonde is actually a pretty powerful thingand I personally wouldlike to see you take that power and channel it towards the greater good, you know?

And thats exactly what Elle does at the movies climax. Clad in her signature pink, she saves asorority sister from death row through her familiarity with post-perm hair care. Notice that Elledoesnt win her court case through a legal trick. She won because she picked up on a detail that a girlwho aced the History of Polka Dots and campaigned for brand-name toilet paper for her sororityhouse would pay attention to. Its a detail that a less blonde heroine (like Warners Jackie Ogirlfriend) would summarily dismiss.

The ending is not only humorous and thematically relevant, its also satisfyingprecisely becauseElle proved that the objections lobbied against her after the inciting incident were unwarranted. Herdetractors must concede that underneath Elles Marilyn-like exterior, she does have the smarts of aFirst Lady! Of course, Emmett knew that all along

MONSTERS, INC.Logline: When a human child, Boo, enters their world, two monsters must return her home, eventhough theyre terrified of her.

Inciting Incident: When the human child enters the world of Monstropolis [23:06]

Analysis: As a cornerstone of the premise, the inciting incident of MONSTERS, INC. is relativelyeasy to identify. Whats notable about this particular inciting incident is when it occurs:approximately twenty-three minutes into the ninety-three-minute film. Reminiscent of the romanticcomedy cute meet, its an event which definitely throws the world of Sulley, a monster with ahighly successful scare record, into disarray because hes been led to believe that contact with ahuman child can kill him. And thats why MONSTERS, INC. can get away with such a delayedinciting incident: Sulleys everyday world is fascinating.

In this world, monsters are terrified of human childrena belief which delightfully plays againstexpectation. Nevertheless, certain monsters, including Sulley, must visit the human world every nightto capture screams from frightened children, screams which are eventually used to powerMonstropolis. Since kids are savvier than ever, theyre becoming increasingly more difficult to scare,a circumstance which could bring the entire monster world into darkness.

Each of the twenty-two minutes preceding the inciting incident lays down important groundwork, butits all presented in a highly compelling wayfrom the citys impending energy crisis, Sulleysrivalry with another monster to break the world scare record, the importance of closing doors leadingto the human world, and the scare floor, which is run as efficiently as any Ford assembly line. Eventhough the inciting incident is delayed, the movie makes good on its genre promises from the very firstscene (in which an inexperienced monster flubs a scare simulation) and keeps on delivering grins,giggles, and laughs till minute twenty-three.

Aspiring screenwriters, especially those of the sci-fi and fantasy genres, take note. You can delayyour inciting incident too, but only if, like MONSTERS, INC., your presentation of your heroseveryday world captivates the imagination, delivers information critical to plot events which willunfold later, and fulfills genre requirements.

Because the inciting incident is delayed for so long, the first act break occurs shortly thereafter.Sulleys rival sends Boos doorthe key to returning her homeback into the bowels of the factory,locking Sulley into his predicament.

Nevertheless, in the brief period between the inciting incident and the first act break, the movieportrays an objection sequence which tickles the funny bone. His mind filled with anti-humanpropaganda, Sulley doesnt want anything to do with Boo. He expresses his resistance in a variety ofmostly non-verbal ways, each one producing more laughs than the next. Like most of the movie, its abrilliantly written sequence, able to transcend barriers of both language and age.

THE HUNGER GAMESLogline: In a dystopian future, a teenage girl, Katniss Everdeen, must battle other teens in a televisedfight till the death, known as the Hunger Games.

Inciting Incident: When Katnisss sister, Prim, is randomly selected to be a contestant, or Tribute, inthe Hunger Games [14:47]

Analysis: Like LEGALLY BLONDE, the inciting incident of THE HUNGER GAMES is verystraightforward, clearly jolting Katniss out of her grim everyday world. Whats truly noteworthyabout this inciting incident is that while its extremely personal, it doesnt happen to the heroine, butinstead, to her beloved little sister. A less experienced writer couldve begun this story withKatnisss name being randomly chosen as Tribute. Either beginning would garner Katniss sympathyfrom the audience, and equally important, captivate their interest. Because Katniss volunteers to beTributean action which will most likely result in her deaththis sympathy is amplified and theaudience bond deepened.

It also enables Katniss to be portrayed in a more complex light. At times, especially when she rejectsand/or manipulates the earnest love of her fellow Tribute, Peeta, Katniss can be a frustrating, almostalienating character. However, audiences wont disengage from Katniss, even when she behavesunsympathetically. They cant, because she never had to participate in the Games in the first place.Having the inciting incident occur to someone else other than the protagonist yielded major dividendsin THE HUNGER GAMES; it could do the same for your script too.

Additionally, Katnisss reaction to the inciting incident helps her to immediately evince personalagency. In Katnisss case, this trait is particularly striking because of the tyrannical world in whichshe lives. Like every citizen of Panem, Katniss is a mere pawn in the schemes of the Capitol.Although she has little personal power, she exercises what she does have at every opportunity. Thatswhy, despite her brusqueness, shes endlessly appealing.

Katnisss personal agency is also illustrative of the cause and effect issue discussed in Part I: TheFour Key Characteristics of the Inciting Incident. Katniss would never have visited the Capitol as acontestant in the Games if she hadnt volunteered to take Prims place. Theres a clear cause andeffect relationship between the two. But Katniss would never have volunteered if Prim hadnt beenrandomly selected; this decidedly passive event is the true inciting incident of the story.

The movie doesnt begin with a prologue per se, but with a series of title cards which explain whatthe Hunger Games are and how they came into being. The movie could have started with a moredramatic sequence, elaborating on scenes from the propaganda video narrated by Panems presidentduring the Tribute selection ceremony. If done well, this sequence would not only have been vividand engaging, but also fulfilled sci-fi genre requirements. Instead, the movie opted to portray scenesfrom the propaganda video immediately preceding the inciting incident.

Structurally, this is advantageous because it prevents the inciting incident from being delayed even

further. It was also a smart screenwriting move because it creates a keen irony: the proclaimedbenevolence of the Capitol is at direct odds with the cruelty of offering young children as sacrificeskilled on the altar of entertainment. The juxtaposition of benevolence with cruelty produces the kindof dramatic tension and emotional impact that would pin audiences to their seats.

However, this choice does have one major drawback. The first act of THE HUNGER GAMESdoesnt really make good on promises implied by its genre. While elements of science fiction andactioneven romanceare all present, with the exception of the Tribute selection ceremony, theylean towards the subtle side. If you are writing a sci-fi screenplay on spec, such subtlety might not beso appreciated.

There are many themes to take away from THE HUNGER GAMES (both books and movie). The onewhich I find particularly resonant is the idea that you can express your independence even in themidst of great tyranny. Katnisss reaction to the inciting incident is more than a manifestation of herresistance; her reaction encapsulates this theme perfectly. Even though she has little personal controlin her life, she can at least prevent her sister from being sent to the Capitol as a Tribute. Its not muchof a choicebut it is a choice all the same, one which gets audiences emotionally aligned withKatniss straightaway. The theme is also expressed after the inciting incident in less dramatic ways.The three-fingered salute given by District 12 and the mockingjay pin Prim gives back to Katniss aretwo such examples.

One of the best screenwriting lessons to take away from the movie concerns objections made byKatnisss mentor (and District 12s lone victor), Haymitch. En route to the Capitol, Katniss asks him,How do you find shelter? His response is less than forthcoming. He finally replies, You reallywant to know how to stay alive? You get people to like youwhen youre in the middle of theGames, and youre starving or freezing, some water, a knife, or even some matches can mean thedifference between life and death. And those things only come from spo