The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: E.T.

written by Melissa Mathison


E.T. is an excellent movie to study for its rising conflict with increased jeopardy to the protagonist, for its magical moments, for its gentle humor and for its integration of subplot and main plot.

Structural Analysis

Note: times refer to edited TV version

  1. The Hook (1 min.)
    • We begin with a bang, a flying saucer in a forest, its alien creatures collecting plant samples.
  2. The Complication (3-5 min.)
    • Then a truckload of humans arrive, and the aliens race to escape. But one gets stranded. E.T.
  3. Call to Action (13 min.)
    • Our protagonist, a boy named elliot, hears a noise outside (8 min.), and when he goes to investigate, something returns a ball he throws (9 min.). But his older brother and his friends don't believe him that something is out there. Investigating again, the boy finds E.T. - and, what is essential, tries to befriend him, despite his strange looks.
  4. Act One Plot Point (25-30 min.)
    • elliot brings ET into his bedroom, keeping him as a kind of playmate and pet, beginning a relationship with the alien. Finally he shows ET to his brother and sister, a secret between them all.
  5. Midpoint Plot Point (53 min.)
    • ET manages to communicate that he is from outer space - and that he wants to go home. Despite elliot's wanting him to stay, the kids help ET concoct a machine that can call his people to fetch him (60 min.).
  6. Act Two Plot Point (73 min.)
    • But human investigators have traced ET, and here - with ET very sick - is where they find and capture him. All seems lost, with ET getting sicker by the moment and being treated like a frog in a lab class.
  7. Resolution (90-107 min.)
    • But when elliot says to ET, on what is presumably the alien's death bed, "I love you," this proves to be a power that revives ET (the boy's and the alien's feelings are connected), and later (94 min.) elliot with his brother's help steals the truck in which ET is held - and the chase begins to get to the forest where ET's people are coming to pick him up. ET goes home.
Step outline

Notes

E.T. weaves plot and subplot into a narrative of rising tension and increased danger to "the good guys." Throughout the film, to the end of Act Two, the "humans" after ET are shown progressively on the trail and getting closer, in short visual scenes. For example, at 23, 34, 54, 65 and 71 minutes we are reminded that ET is being pursued - and then, of course, the humans arrive to study him and take him away. This reminder of danger, and our knowledge that the humans are getting closer and closer, increases jeopardy to the plan to get ET home.

Visual storytelling is also very strong here. Both the sequence in the forest that is the story's hook and the chase at the end that leads to its climax are virtually without dialogue. Here a picture is worth a thousand words - and it is instructive to see how these "silent actions" are treated rhetorically in the screenplay.

ET also is filled with moments of gentle humor, most of it a result of this alien's total charm (unlike all the monsters that came before and after).

But at root, this is a very human story, about a lonely boy who finally gets his playmate - and then must learn to say goodbye (after saving ET with the power of love). The original title of this script was A Boy's Life, which gets to the heart of the story, though admittedly very less a commercial title.

E.T. is well worth studying over and over again.


MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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