The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Wonder Boys
written by Steve Kloves
Wonder Boys is an academic comedy about the relationship between a "blocked" writer and professor and his favorite student. 3-act structure is messy in places, as it sometimes is in movies based on novels.
Structural Analysis
- Hook (1 min.)
- An English professor's wife leaves him.
- Complication (4, 7 min.)
- The professor's editor is coming to campus for a literary event -- and to get the second novel that is 7 years late. The professor is having an affair with the chancellor, who is the wife of the head of the English Department, and she is pregnant.
- Call to Action (17-20 min.)
- The prof. takes his favorite student into his confidence, sharing secrets. The student kills the Eng. Dept. head's dog, and together the prof. and student enter a conspiracy of deception.
- Act One Plot Point (39 min.)
- The professor takes the student's novel out of his backpack to read it. His deception is becoming solitary.
- Midpoint Plot Point (62 min.)
- The professor realizes what a major influence he's had on the life of the student. His career hasn't been such a waste after all.
- Act Two Plot Point (79, 90 min.)
- The professor acts: he tells the chair he's in love with his wife. Later he loses the pages of his novel.
- Climax and Resolution (103 min.)
- The professor is fired but lives happily ever after with his new wife (former lover) and child, writing away.
MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting
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