Writing the Setpiece

A setpiece is an exciting, emblematic, action-filled, breath-taking, very funny or otherwise extremely memorable moment in a movie. Setpieces are the trailer moments, the money moments, the scenes that execs look for when reading your script. When you pitch your script to an exec or producer, you will most definitely describe some setpieces. Setpieces contain the essence of your story; they are, in layman’s terms – the good parts.

Here are a few examples.

The Matrix: The battle on the roof, in bullet time
Austin Powers: when Austin is thawed out and pees at length
Jerry McGuire: Show me the money!
The Great Santini: You gonna cry?
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: I can’t swim!
40 Year Old Virgin: When Carrell gets his chest waxed
Apocalypse Now: I love the smell of Napalm in the morning!
The Departed: When Di Caprio gets his hand re-broken
Bowfinger: Gotcha, suckers!
The Graduate: Hoffman underwater in his parent’s swimming pool
The Shining: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
The Breakfast Club: the rocking out in the library moment
Ordinary People: It’s not your fault.
Little Miss Sunshine: running to get in the car each time
Zoolander: the “walk off”
City of Men: the backward-driving car chase scene
Notes on a Scandal: Blanchette headed to her son’s play while Dench has other plans
The Host: the creature charges up the beach overturning everything in its path.
Rear Window: the flashbulb defense

Really great movies are literally full of setpieces. Try to name just one good setpiece of THE SIXTH SENSE – you can’t – there are too many. How about THE GODFATHER? Too many. BLADES OF GLORY – paved with them. BIG FISH – nothing but wonderful setpieces.

Setpieces are the scenes that people talk about on their way out of the theater. Wasn’t it cool when…Remember how he…..I couldn’t believe that scene where…. Some movies have far more setpieces than others. Broad comedies like AUSTIN POWERS, BORAT, BLADES OF GLORY, etc. are almost exclusively made up of setpieces; which is appropriate for the genre. Make ‘em laugh. And laugh. And laugh. Keep asses in seats.

Dramatic movies have great setpieces too but the audience is also experiencing higher highs and lower lows than they might with a comedy so their behinds aren’t going anywhere. Suspense, action, supernatural and thriller movies have tension built into the story so there's little chance of an audience member checking the parking meter in the middle of your movie. At least - they better not. Or Houston - we have a problem.

Setpieces establish a rhythm. Check out your average horror movie: set up, HORROR SETPIECE, narrative narrative HORROR SETPIECE, narrative HORROR SET PIECE …and so on.

I’m sure we’ve all seen movies in which the trailer was the best part. Movies, in other words that were so setpiece dependent that the actual meat-and-potatoes of the script was obscured; movies like this feel as if they have no substance. So make sure, when you think about these highly entertaining setpieces in your story, that they are high points which underscore the story rather than blot out or subvert it.

Make no mistake: you need setpieces. Executives will flip through scripts looking for setpieces.

Setpieces are little golden nuggets for the audience to enjoy, they are the marshmallows in the Lucky Charms, they are the bits you go home and talk about. They can be chase scenes, they can be confrontations, they can be climactic moments and they can be throw-away comedy without which the story would be unaffected. Yet taken all together, setpieces define a movie. So what is the point today, Wave-inatrix? The point is, my dear readers, that you should make sure your script is loaded setpieces which are emblematic for your story; funny, outrageous, moving, sad, nail-biting and most of all, memorable.

Setpieces make your script…wait for it…EFFING ENTERTAINING.

For today’s RW time killer, I invite Rouge Wavers to leave comments describing their favorite setpieces.

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