The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Jurassic Park

written by Michael Crichton and David Koepp


The structure below is an analysis of the movie itself. It is instructive to compare this (as noted below) to the version of the script available on the Internet, which is a first rewrite.

What I suggest you do with each of the movies that are analyzed by me is to rent them, print out this sheet, and follow along, watching for the major structural moments.

Structural analysis (with script excerpts)

  1. The Hook (1 min.)
    • Jurassic Park worker eaten alive by a mysterious caged animal.
  2. Complication (3 min.)
    • Lawyer arrives to investigate JP - is it safe to open to public?
  3. Hero's call to action (10 min.)
    • Head of JP hires hero and girlfriend to visit JP - and endorse it.
  4. Plot point: Act I (20 min.)
    • Hero and girlfriend visit JP - and find live dinosaurs roaming freely.
  5. Plot point: midpoint (62 min.)
    • Predators at JP escape during a storm.
  6. Plot point: Act II (92 min.)
    • All power at JP shut down in order to reboot computer system - no security.
  7. Climax & Resolution (117 min.)
    • Everyone escapes by helicopter: JP is not endorsed.

Big Sequences

Another way to look at screenplay structure is to look at a movie as several big moments linked together by narrative. These sequences build in intensity. The big moments in Jurassic Park are:

Notes

Before we leave Jurassic Park, here are some other things worth noting:

[BACK TO TEXT]


MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

8/97