What: Structure and Sequencing Part Two

So how do you create a sequence?

This is what I did:
Break it down on a spreadsheet with one line representing each minute.  Number each line until you get to ninety.  Now go in and bold the lines that are the beginning of your sequences.

In this early story version I was working with six 15 minute sequences. 

Those 15 min seqs got split in half and I began working with 8 min seqs with the intent of growing a few of them to as much as 12 mins.

Regardless of how long the sequences are for the moment, what is important is that you fill in what your main character is doing at the end of each sequence -- not thinking, saying, considering, or wishing for -- what is the character doing?  It should be a point the character is moving toward in the next sequence, brought into focus by what the character wants (not what they need).  The ending of each sequence should move the audience forward with a shift in the dramatic question.

If you don't fully understand dramatic question, the easy answer is: So what's going to happen because of that choice?  For details, check your McKee for the "story gap", as he calls it.  It is largely modulated by the differential between what the character knows and what the audience knows.  In essence, it is the old mantra of always keeping the audience asking the question: But what happens next?

In Holiday, here's what Graham wants, the dramatic question, and what he does at the end, for each sequence:
Seq 1) Wants someone to abduct -- Who will he abduct?/Makes contact with Anne
Seq 2) Wants to abduct Anne -- How will he abduct her?/Abducts Anne
Seq 3) Wants to escape the Russian -- Will he escape the Russians?/Takes Anne to Mexico
Seq 4) Wants to sell Anne -- Will he sell her?/Leaves Anne to set up sale
Seq 5) Wants a car -- Will he return before she escapes?/Returns in car
Seq 6) Wants deal over and done -- Will he catch Anne?/Loses Anne
Seq 7) Wants to find Anne -- Will he sell Anne?/Drives Anne to sale
Seq 8) Wants his money -- Will he survive?/Slithers away into the brush

Some of these are weaker than others so don't use this as anything more than a good attempt -- I want to document what I did, not what I wish I did, so this is what I used.  If you cannot begin with defining six to eight points your character is moving toward, your story will wander and lose your audience.  Begin by considering what might be the important moments to the character in the story you want to tell.  I ended up using only three of my original six sequence endings, adding five new ones as the project developed and it became clear what was going to being interesting as we explored and shot each sequence.

So once you have those anchor points, you know where every scene needs to lead.  Begin to fill in various moments that might lead up to your first anchor point.  Remember one line is one minute and most scenes last at least one minute, but rarely more than 5.  An easy way to start is break the sequences into thirds just like a three act script -- 1/3 for a beginning, 1/3 for the tension to build, and 1/3 for your resolution and wind up to the next scene.