Making A Roadmap For Your Script
“We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and 'X' never, ever marks the spot."
- Indiana Jones
Before you write your first draft, you outline. You make yourself a roadmap.
After you write your first draft, you make yourself a new one.
Maps are important (Indy uses ‘em!) and they help give a project direction and focus. Do we find amazing treasures off of our expected path as we go? Of course we do, which is one of the reasons why I bet your first draft doesn’t exactly match the outline you made for yourself ahead of time. Things change, we get ideas, our characters lead us to new places. And that’s great!
However, that means, we should UPDATE OUR MAP. This allows us to take in these new directions and discoveries and process them through a wider lens. Carry them through the entirety of the story, have them payoff in the end. This is what helps create the sense of being on a journey for your reader as opposed to just following a series of events. As our ideas change, so must our vision. It’s a dance back and forth.
So, one of the most important things you can do at the beginning of the rewrite process, is take stock of where you actually are. What is this draft of yours? Let’s map it out and see where things land.
Doing this helps to give you perspective of the bigger picture and make the necessary additions, subtractions, rearrangements that the story might need that is hard to see when you’re all the way zoomed in.
I always like to say you go macro to micro - start wide and then dive in to the details once you’ve got the big stuff sorted.
For me, what I find really helpful is plugging my draft back into the 8 sequences model and see where things ended up versus what I had planned.
You would do this as you would analyzing any movie. We’ll use Raiders of the Lost Arkas an example because the sequences are pretty clear.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Skeleton Outline
ACT 1
Sequence 1 - Status Quo: The Golden Idol: The jungle intro where Indy infiltrates the Peruvian temple. It establishes his skills, his rivalry with Belloq, and his fear of snakes.
Inciting Incident: Back at the university, Army Intelligence tasks Indy with finding the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis.
Sequence 2 - Making a Choice: He visits Marion Ravenwood in Nepal to get the headpiece of the Staff of Ra, ending in a barroom brawl.
The Lock in: He partners with Marion to see where the headpiece might lead.
Here’s a handy dandy little worksheet I made for you to fill out for your own act 1:
ACT 2
Sequence 3 - New World / First Obstacle: Indy arrives in Cairo and meets Sallah. This sequence culminates in the marketplace ambush and the “death” of Marion in the exploding truck.
Sequence 4 - Rising Action and Stakes: Despite his grief, Indy finds the secret Map Room. Using the medallion, he discovers the true location of the Well of Souls,
Midpoint - First Big Low Point / Failure: Indy and Sallah dig up the Ark. They find the snake pit, but the Nazis—led by Belloq—immediately seize the Ark and seal Indy and a very-much-alive Marion inside.
Sequence 5 - Taking the Reins: Indy and Marion escape the tomb and sabotage the Nazi airfield. Indy fights the giant German mechanic in a desperate attempt to stop the Ark from being flown away.
Sequence 6 -New Plan: Indy realizes the Ark is on a truck headed for Cairo. In the film’s most famous action sequence, he chases the convoy on horseback, overpowers the Nazis, and recaptures the Ark.
Dark Night of the Soul: After a Nazi U-boat intercepts Indy’s ship, the Ark and Marian are taken.
ACT 3
Sequence 7 - Climax: The Ark is taken to a secret island. During the final ritual, the Ark is opened, divine power consumes the Nazis, and Indy and Marion survive by “closing their eyes”.
Sequence 8 - Resolution: Indy and Marian are back in America, together. The Ark has been taken by the U.S. government and put into a warehouse for safe-keeping.
