The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Wag the Dog
written by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet
Wag the Dog is a dark, political satire that
became so close in its action to the Clinton White House that a
new political phrase was coined after after its title.
Structural Analysis
- Hook (3 min.)
- The U.S. President did a no-no with a Firefly girl - and in the White
House at that. The aides are scurrying to cover damages and call in a
spin doctor, Conrad Breen.
- Complication (5 min.)
- The election is only 11 days away - and the opponents have gotten
wind of the Presidential scandal.
- Call to Action (7-9 min.)
- Conrad decides to orchestrate a phony war with Albania in order to
divert attention from the scandal.
- Act One Plot Point (18-22 min.)
- The spin doctor hires a Hollywood producer, and the war with Albania
is produced for TV, complete with a patriotic song.
- Midpoint Plot Point (47 min.)
- The CIA announces that the war with Albania is over. They know it's
phony and apparently cut a deal with the President's opponents. But the
spin doctor now invents a soldier who was left behind (49 min.) in order to
keep the press focused off the scandal.
- Act Two Plot Point (71-3, 83 min.)
- The soldier more or less randomly chosen to portray this "hero" ends
up being a prisoner who raped a nun. When he tries to seduce a girl while in
transit for a hero's welcome, the girl's father shoots him.
- Climax and Resolution (84, 91 min.)
- Now the prisoner gets a hero's funeral. When the Hollywood producer,
thinking the war is his best "movie", wants credit, he is eliminated.
Notes
Wag the Dog is a great movie to study for scene design, especially
for the moment at which its scenes start. Most students begins scenes much
too early, and this movie is a model of starting a scene in the middle of
an action. Look at the transitions closely -- you'll learn much!
MODULE 4:
SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting
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