Overview of 52 Week Challenge

Thanks to twitter, we stumbled upon Brad Johnson's website - readwatchwrite.com - and found his 52 week script challenge. Read one script a week, for an entire year. Watch the film. Write about it.

Isaiah suggested that we accept the challenge, as it would improve our screenwriting. (Plus, Isaiah is big on goals and lists.)

At first, we were diligent to read and write, focusing our break downs of the scripts on the following: Opening Image, Statement of Theme, Inciting Incident, Act Breaks, Protagonist, Antagonist, Point of No Return, Darkest Hour, Climax, and Denouement. That exercise, alone, proved its worth. How can you write a great script if you're not reading and dissecting them, too? As the weeks wore on, and we wore down - with work and all other responsibilities - we backed off the script analysis. Still, we managed to read them all.

One major take-away, from this year-long challenge: seeing how deftly the screenwriters established the world, the hero, the villain, the dramatic problem, the theme, and resolved everything presented in the first act; all while having the protagonist's outer need be tied to some inner need. McKee and others have terms for this, but the idea is that a layered need breathes life into the characters and raises the story to superior status, not just formulaic contrivance. 

I don't think we'll enter another 52 week challenge, this year, but we will continue to read scripts. We will continue to write scripts.