Act Four Screenplays

Story Maps

“I love how Dan emphasizes the fundamentals of story telling.
A great script starts with a solid structure and that’s what
one learns when you work with Dan.”
-Ryu Miyaki, four-time Act Four client and winner of Amazon Studios Script of the Month $20,000 Prize

95% of great movies follow the Story Map

A Story Map is my own method for structuring a screenplay by creating a simple yet powerful outline that contains the building blocks of your concept, characters and plot; the main dramatic elements and dramatic beats of the narrative and the order and desired page range of those beats, no matter the genre.

I define it to the page. Because that’s how the pros do it and that’s exactly what I was looking for as a Senior Story Analyst working for major studios and production companies. If major films are cut in this way, then your script should be paced in this way. Believe it or not, it actually mattered to me if a script’s Inciting Incident fell on page 8-10 rather than 12-13.  It made a big difference in the pacing of the first act and it showed me if this was a writer with the discipline to cut down on “setup” and suck me in or if this was a writer who failed to recognize the urgency of a movie narrative and the intense competition of the script marketplace. Which writer would you rather be?

…Rocky is an older film so the act breaks occur a bit later than in a modern movie, but all the other signpost beats occur in the exact Story Map page ranges as defined in detail in Story Maps: How to Write the GREAT Screenplay…

• View a free sample Story Map for “Rocky:” Here

  

  Click on Image for Sample Story Map Excerpt

  “There is a lot of great advice here…
  as I read Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay,
  I was inspired to rethink my current project.
  And that’s what it’s all about, right?”
  -Script Magazine review of Story Maps by Daniel Calvisi [Full Review]
  

  STORY MAPS SCREENWRITING

  I find it tremendously helpful to look at produced films and note their elements in a Story Map, creating a quick-reference “library” of maps to compare and contrast. It is a tremendous help to study how professional screenwriters take their characters along their journey from point A to Z.

  If you work with me, I will provide you with a primer on my Story Map method and several sample Story Maps from successful Hollywood movies. These materials will give you a clear, powerful road to success on both a craft and commercial level with your writing.

  
  

  FORM, NOT FORMULA

  Remember, the Story Map is not a formula, it is a story structure that is followed by almost every popular Hollywood film. It does not dictate your choices, it only provides a framework to hold your choices. This is not “cookie-cutter” filmmaking, unless you consider Sideways, Up, Transformers, The Hangover and Pretty Woman to be cut from the same mold, because they all utilize the Story Map!

  When you use the Story Map, the screenplay is still undeniably yours, but it now comes wrapped in the shiny coating that covers pretty much all major studio movies and is recognized by every Agent, Manager and Producer in the business.

  If you follow the Story Map and execute an active story in the proper page ranges, your script will FEEL like a modern hit movie.

  BASED ON INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE

  The best thing about Story Maps is that I not only go into more detail in defining these narrative steps than any other template you can buy, including the order in which they should fall in your script, but I also built this paradigm from working in the industry as a Senior Story Analyst for years where it was my job to read and evaluate hundreds of pieces of material.  I took it further by spending years studying produced movies and comparing them to their screenplays and I compiled what is indisputably the building blocks of a GREAT SCREENPLAY which will someday make a GREAT MOVIE (if the planets align in Hollywood and your hard work, tenacity and a little luck all converge to get that coveted green light).

“There is a lot of great advice here…
Most important, as I read Calvisi’s Story Maps,
I was inspired to rethink my current project.
And that’s what it’s all about, right?”
-Script Magazine

I hope we can work together so I can help you to achieve your writing goals!

-Dan
Senior Story Analyst

Daniel Calvisi

Now available: Story Maps Booster Pack #1 provides Full Story Maps for 12 hit movies, including Black Swan, X-Men, Hustle & Flow, Rocky, The Social Network, Up and more.