Genre
Comedy / Fantasy
Written By
Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick
Logline
A grumpy guy who hates Christmas becomes the new Santa Claus after he accidentally kills the previous one on Christmas Eve.
Why break it down?
My roommates recently dusted off the old Nintendo 64 for a round of "Goldeneye: 007," arguably the greatest video game ever made. I'd be hard pressed to think of a thing I spent more time trying to conquer as a kid (save briefly for my Pog collection and the occasional yo-yo trick, but that's a conversation for another day). Back then, you could have asked me to play "Goldeneye" right in the middle of the
'Boy Meets World' series finale and I'd still have peed my zipper-knee'd cargo pants with excitement. Flash forward to 2012: The roommates invite me to the couch for a friendly game, and I halfheartedly respond with, "Meh...I'll pass."
Is it that I don't love "Goldeneye" anymore? Absolutely not. Is it that I'm afraid of returning to "Goldeneye" after a decade of "Call of Duty" only to discover it's nowhere near as great as my adolescent brain would have me remember? You betcha. See, I love "Goldeneye" exactly as it exists in my memory, and hell if a Saturday afternoon round of License To Kill is going to come in and mess that up. Strangely enough, I felt much the same way approaching
'The Santa Clause.' At seven years old, this was my favorite film in the world; at 23, I was bound to feel different, right? Well, having now watched it, I'd say the answer is definitely yes. As a kid, I loved
'The Santa Clause' because it was colorful and funny. As an adult, I love it because it's
TOTALLY F*CKING BRILLIANT.
'THE SANTA CLAUSE' IS THREE-ACT STRUCTURE IN ITS PUREST FORM. Beat for beat, it's filled with familiar screenwriting tropes that every good writer should be able to recognize, even after he's taught himself to break from them. First and above all, the film can teach us about
USING STRUCTURE TO BUILD CHARACTER ARCS for both the protagonist
and the villain, which is perhaps one of the most important and oft-overlooked staples of good storytelling. Also, it can teach us about
HEIGHTENING OBSTACLES FOR THE PROTAGONIST IN ACTS II AND III, which will keep that sense of urgency running strong in the latter pages of our scripts. And finally,
'The Santa Clause' can show us how to
PUNCH UP INDIVIDUAL SCENES FOR CONFLICT AND HUMOR, so that no one moment ever feels too expositional or contrived. Oh, and I almost forgot...be on the lookout for
plants and payoffs, because this movie is crawling with them!
So read up, keep an eye out for the beats, and we'll look at the film's structure after the jump. (Click the
[+] button for a summary of each scene.)
ACT I
00:00 - 02:00 (2.00 pages) [+]INT. B&R TOYS OFFICE - NIGHT
We open on a big, extravagant Christmas Eve party, where the managers and employees of toy company B&R Toys are celebrating a record-breaking year in profits.
SCOTT CALVIN
(Tim Allen) grabs the microphone and makes a pseudo-inappropriate speech, embarrassing some of the employees yet still commanding everyone's respect.
02:00 - 03:45 (1.75 pages) [+]EXT. / INT. SCOTT'S CAR - NIGHT
Scott drives on an empty freeway, leaving a message for his ex-wife on the phone:
The opening credits roll as he drives through the town, glaring angrily at all the people making snowmen, hanging up Christmas lights, etc. One thing's for sure…
Scott Calvin hates Christmas.
03:45 - 08:15 (4.50 pages) [+]EXT. / INT. SCOTT'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Scott pulls up to his house, where his ex-wife
LAURA
is waiting to drop off their young son,
CHARLIE
. She's pissed that he's late, but he doesn't care…assholes like
Scott Calvin don't care about anything but themselves. He invites them inside, and
Laura reluctantly agrees, leaving her boyfriend
NEIL
to keep the car warm outside.
Scott,
Charlie, and
Laura step inside the house, where
Scott makes it abundantly clear that he hates the fuck out of
Neil:
Scott and
Laura bicker about
Neil, and it upsets
Charlie (he doesn't like to see them fight).
Laura leaves, and
Scott gets ready to make Christmas Eve dinner. Unfortunately, he didn't realize it would take such a long time to cook, and we CUT TO…
…four hours later.
Charlie is hungry and bored, watching as
Scott finishes cooking dinner. The turkey sets on fire, and
Scott has to spray it with a fire extinguisher.
Think of it as frosting...
⇡ ⇣ OPENING EXPOSITION
08:15 - 09:15 (1.00 pages) [+]INT. SCOTT'S CAR - NIGHT
Scott and
Charlie drive to a restaurant, talking about
Neil:
Then, to make matters worse,
Scott finds a restaurant and parks:
Merry Christmas, son.
09:15 - 10:30 (1.25 pages) [+]INT. DENNY'S - NIGHT
Scott and
Charlie sit down at their table.
Charlie is pissed. They order egg nog from the waitress, but the restaurant is all out. They order chocolate milk from the waitress, but again…all out. They order apple pie from the waitress, and guess what? All out. Somehow,
Scott doesn't realize he's giving
Charlie the worst Christmas in history:
"Fun night, eh?"
10:30 - 12:45 (2.25 pages) [+]INT. SCOTT'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Scott reads
Charlie a bedtime story.
Charlie asks him a bunch of
questions
about how Christmas works:
Scott shuts off the lights and leaves the room.
Charlie sighs, disappointed, and closes his eyes.
12:45 - 26:45 (14.0 pages) [+]The following short scenes are part of one larger scene, which is why they're grouped together.
INT. / EXT. SCOTT'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Charlie lies awake in bed, trying to sleep, when suddenly he hears a loud clatter on the roof of the house. He wakes
Scott, who hears it too. Panicking,
Scott runs outside to see what's going on, only to find…
…Santa Claus, trying to climb down the chimney of his house! He yells threateningly and Santa gets scared, slipping off the roof and falling to his death in
Scott's driveway. Dumbfounded,
Scott and
Charlie search Santa's pockets for identification, finding a business card:
Looking up, they see Santa's reindeer standing on the roof. They climb up and sit in Santa's sleigh, when suddenly
the reindeer TAKE OFF, flying over the town and landing on the roof of another house.
Scott wants to go home, but
Charlie makes this face…
…convincing
Scott to put on Santa's suit and deliver the presents in the back of the sleigh. He puts on the suit begrudgingly, but freaks out when the bag of presents floats magically into the air, shrinking him into a skinny cylinder and sucking him down the chimney of the house (answering the first of
Charlie's
questions).
INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Scott puts the presents under a Christmas tree, when suddenly a dog appears. It barks furiously at him and he tries to jump out a window, but the house alarm goes off, sending him into a panic. He grabs the toy bag, and it magically floats back over to the chimney, sucking him out of the house and back up to the sleigh. The reindeer take off, flying all the way to…
EXT. / INT. NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
…the house next door. There's no chimney, but it doesn't matter; the magical bag of toys shrinks
Scott down even smaller, sucking him through a drainage pipe into a brand new living room (answering another one of
Charlie's
questions). Inside, a
little girl
wakes up, and
Scott is a total dick to her (it's funny). He hops back in the sleigh, and the reindeer fly to…
INT. RANDOM HOUSE - LATER
…another house, where
Scott delivers a kayak and rowing paddles.
EXT. SKY - LATER
Scott and
Charlie fly through the sky, amazed at the night they've had.
Scott tells the reindeer to go home, and they soar into the distance.
INCITING INCIDENT
26:45 - 36:00 (9.25 pages) [+]EXT. NORTH POLE - NIGHT
The reindeer land in the North Pole and scurry off, leaving
Scott and
Charlie to wonder what's going on. Naturally,
Scott is pissed. A young elf appears and presses a few buttons on the actual North Pole, opening up a garage and sending the sleigh down into…
INT. SANTA'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
…Santa's workshop, where hundreds of elves are eagerly awaiting their arrival. Confused,
Scott walks around, asking the elves where he is. He's approached by
BERNARD
, a tall elf who informs
Scott that he is, in fact, the new Santa Claus. He also gives
Charlie a gift: A
snowglobe
, which possesses magical powers of some mysterious kind.
"Wow..."
Of course,
Scott isn't impressed.
Charlie runs off to get some food, and
Bernard takes
Scott to see how Santa's workshop works. He explains that by putting on the suit,
Scott accepted the responsibilities of Santa Claus:
After a bit more exposition,
Bernard explains to
Scott that if he doesn't take the job, Christmas will be destroyed forever. A cute little elf named
Judy
shows up to take
Scott and
Charlie to their sleeping quarters.
36:00 - 39:45 (3.75 pages) [+]INT. SANTA'S SLEEPING QUARTERS - NIGHT
Scott and
Charlie follow
Judy into the bedroom, which is filled with awesome toys. Somehow,
Scott is still skeptical about everything he's seeing.
Judy brings him some
pajamas
and explains that it's all very real…
Judy leaves and
Scott crawls into bed. He smiles at his son, thrilled at the wonderful night they've had. They both close their eyes and fall asleep as we FADE TO BLACK.
PLOT POINT #1
ACT II
39:45 - 44:15 (4.50 pages) [+]INT. SCOTT'S HOUSE - DAY
Scott wakes up in his house to find
Charlie running around, excited. Strangely, he's still in his Santa Claus
pajamas, which the elves gave him last night. Panicked, he runs to the living room, trying to figure out if what happened last night was real.
Charlie opens his presents (there are hundreds of them under the tree), and
Laura arrives to pick him up.
Charlie sprints around the house, excitedly telling
Laura about the great night they had.
Laura and
Neil laugh, not believing a word
Charlie says.
Scott tries to convince
Charlie the whole thing was a dream, but even he's not totally convinced.
Charlie hops in the car and drives off with
Laura and
Neil, leaving
Scott to wonder what the hell happened last night...
44:15 - 46:15 (2.00 pages) [+]INT. Charlie'S SCHOOL - DAY
It's "bring your parents to school" day in
Charlie's class.
Charlie brings
Scott up to the front of the room and tells everyone about his dad's new job:
46:15 - 47:30 (1.25 pages) [+]INT. PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAY
Scott,
Laura, and
Neil sit down with the school principal. Everyone demands to know why
Scott told
Charlie he's Santa Claus.
Scott is pissed (as always), and a funny argument ensues, during which the school principal orders him to tell
Charlie he's not really Santa Claus.
⇡ ⇣ FUN AND GAMES
47:30 - 48:45 (1.25 pages) [+]INT. ZOO / EXT. STREET - DAY
Scott tries to convince
Charlie he's not Santa Claus, but
Charlie isn't having it. He pulls out the
snowglobe, demanding to know how he got it if they didn't really go to the North Pole.
48:45 - 49:15 (0.50 pages) [+]INT. LAURA'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Laura opens the door to
Charlie's room to find…
…
Charlie, pretending to be Santa Claus. It concerns her, but it's undeniably cute.
49:15 - 51:30 (2.25 pages) [+]INT. LAURA'S HOUSE - DAY
Scott arrives at
Laura's house to pick up
Charlie. Inside,
Neil tries to convince
Charlie that Santa Claus doesn't exist:
Scott walks into the room and
Charlie leaves to get his bag.
Laura and
Neil confront him about the Santa thing, threatening that he may not get to see his son anymore if this behavior continues.
51:30 - 53:00 (1.50 pages) [+]EXT. PARK - DAY
Scott and
Charlie walk through the park, talking.
Scott almost breaks down and tells
Charlie there's no Santa Claus, but he decides against it at the last second.
Midpoint
53:00 - 53:45 (0.75 pages) [+]INT. SCOTT'S HOUSE - DAY
Scott wakes up and walks to the bathroom, groggy as all hell. But when he looks in the mirror, he jolts wide awake…
…because he's suddenly a fat, bearded guy! He runs to the scale and weighs himself, discovering that he magically gained thirty pounds overnight. Panicking, he runs around the house, convinced this is all a mistake.
53:45 - 58:00 (4.25 pages) [+]INT. B&R TOYS OFFICE - DAY
Scott shows up at the office, where his co-workers are shocked by the amount of weight he's gained. They all order lunch, and
Scott requests a comically huge amount of junk food from the waiter. CUT TO…
…an hour later.
Scott has finished his meal, and everyone is gawking at him like he's a pig. The presentation starts, and
Scott goes CRAZY with anger because a new toy is being pitched for the holidays that is completely inaccurate in its representation of elves.
"Shouldn't they be a bit…younger?"
Scott's boss pulls him outside, demanding to know what's going on.
Scott assures him everything will be fine...
58:00 - 60:00 (2.00 pages) [+]INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE - DAY
Scott, now fatter than ever, lets the doctor run a series of tests on him. The doctor is confused, because despite
Scott's appearance, he's actually healthy as a mule.
60:00 - 62:15 (2.25 pages) [+]EXT. PARK - DAY
Scott watches
Charlie play soccer in the park. A little girl approaches and sits on his lap, telling him what she wants for Christmas. Pretty soon, a whole line of kids waits in front of
Scott, eager to tell him their holiday wishes.
Laura and
Neil arrive, bewildered by the scene. Appalled at
Scott's devotion to the whole "Santa" charade, they grab
Charlie and leave the park.
⇡ ⇣ ROLL DOWNHILL
62:15 - 63:30 (1.25 pages) [+]EXT. / INT. SCOTT'S HOUSE - DAY
Scott opens the door to find a mailman, waiting for him to sign on a delivery. He signs, and we CUT TO…
…a few minutes later.
Scott walks down the stairs to find a whole fuckload of boxes crowding the halls of his house, accompanied by a note from his old pal
Bernard:
"Here's the list. Check it twice!"
Freaking out,
Scott runs outside to stop the delivery trucks, but he's too late. They drive off, leaving him to face the gigantic "Naughty/Nice" list on his own.
63:30 - 64:00 (0.50 pages) [+]EXT. LAURA'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Laura and
Neil sit on the porch at night, trying to figure out what to do about
Scott.
64:00 - 65:00 (1.00 pages) [+]The following scenes are part of one larger scene, which is why they're grouped together.
EXT. CITY STREET - DAY
Scott walks down the street, saying "hello" to everyone he sees (because now he's jolly and fat). He greets an attractive woman, who looks at him in total disgust:
INT. SCOTT'S HOUSE - DAY
Scott shaves his face and colors his hair back to normal. But when he looks in the mirror, it all suddenly grows back…
"I'm in big trouble."
65:00 - 67:45 (2.75 pages) [+]INT. COURTHOUSE - DAY
Neil and
Laura bring
Charlie to a judge (to discuss taking custody away from
Scott). While
Charlie is inside talking to the judge, they discuss whether or not they were wrong to bring him here. Welling up with tears,
Laura remembers back to when she first stopped believing in Santa Claus.
Scott arrives, and to his dismay, the judge suspends his visitation rights (in other words, he doesn't get to see
Charlie anymore). Scott listens to the ruling, helpless, as
Laura and
Neil take his crying son away.
67:45 - 71:30 (3.75 pages) [+]EXT. / INT. LAURA'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Scott walks along the snowy street, stopping at
Laura's house. Through the window, he sees
Charlie eating dinner, staring sadly at the
snowglobe Bernard gave him all those months ago.
Scott rings the doorbell and pushes into the house, where
Neil and
Laura try to force him to leave. But
Charlie screams for them to leave him alone, tossing
Scott the
snowglobe:
And when
Scott looks into the snowglobe, it all comes back - the trip to the North Pole, the toys, the elves, everything. It turns out, their trip
was real, and Scott finally believes in Santa. He hugs
Charlie one last time, knowing he has to leave, when suddenly…
…
Bernard shows up!
Charlie begs to go with him and
Scott, and
Bernard says it's fine.
Laura runs back into the room, worried out of her mind when she realizes
Charlie and
Scott have run away.
PLOT POINT #2
ACT III
71:30 - 71:45 (0.25 pages) [+]INT. POLICE STATION - DAY
"This...is our perpetrator."
The police discuss their newest assignment: Catch
Scott Calvin and throw him in prison.
71:45 - 76:00 (4.25 pages) [+]The following scenes are part of one larger scene, which is why they're grouped together.
INT. SANTA'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Scott and
Bernard hurry through the workshop, discussing the latest developments in Christmas technology. This year, it's all about keeping Santa Claus safe.
INT. LAURA'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Laura and
Neil sit with the police, going over pictures of
Charlie. Suddenly,
Charlie calls, and from a parent's perspective it's one of the creepiest conversations that could possibly be had:
INT. SANTA'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Back at the North Pole,
Bernard and the elves show
Scott his new flame-resistant suit. It's totally badass.
INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT
At the police station, the cops discuss their finalized plan to capture
Scott Calvin. Cue ZZ Top music, and we CUT TO…
MONTAGE
Scott,
Charlie,
Bernard, and the rest of the elves suit up for Christmas. Meanwhile, the police arrest every person in a Santa suit they can find. It's all quite hilarious. Finally,
Scott and
Charlie hop in the sleigh and take off to deliver presents all over the globe.
76:00 - 77:00 (1.00 pages) [+]INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Scott creeps around the house, putting presents under the tree. The
little girl (from 12:45 - 26:45) wakes up, and this time,
Scott is really nice to her (because he's changed!). He bids her goodnight and she goes back to sleep.
77:00 - 79:00 (2.00 pages) [+]EXT. / INT. LAURA'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Charlie asks
Scott if they can stop at
Laura's house -- he made them a present and wants to deliver it to them.
Scott agrees, and they swoop down.
Inside the house, though, it's crawling with cops.
Scott delivers his presents, oblivious to the threat, until the police jump out and arrest him. The whole neighborhood watches as Santa Claus is thrown in the back of a cop car, including
Charlie, who's still up on the roof of the house...
⇡ ⇣ THE FINAL MISSION
79:00 - 79:45 (0.75 pages) [+]INT. SANTA'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Bernard discovers that
Scott has been arrested. Knowing what he has to do, he rings a giant bell, deploying…
…E.L.F.S. (Effective Liberating Flight Squad)! The soldiers put on their jetpacks and fly out of the North Pole, on a mission to save Santa Claus.
79:45 - 80:15 (0.50 pages) [+]INT. POLICE STATION - DAY
The chief of police interrogates
Scott, demanding to know his real name. (Side note: It's hilarious.)
80:15 - 81:45 (1.50 pages) [+]EXT. LAURA'S HOUSE - NIGHT
The E.L.F.S. fly to the roof of
Laura's house, where
Charlie is waiting in the sleigh. After explaining the plan, they grab
Charlie's hand and fly off to save
Scott.
81:45 - 83:15 (1.50 pages) [+]INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT
Charlie and the E.L.F.S. show up at the police station, asking to see Santa Claus. The guard refuses, and the E.L.F.S. tie him up in wrapping paper, rushing into the holding room to bust out
Scott. They break open the door and the whole gang rushes out of the building.
83:15 - 88:15 (5.00 pages) [+]CLIMAX
88:15 - 91:00 (2.75 pages) [+]EXT. LAURA'S HOUSE - NIGHT
The police surround
Laura's house, looking for Santa Claus. Suddenly, Santa's sleigh rises into the air, and the whole neighborhood watches as
Scott flies into the sky. Finally accepting that Santa exists,
Neil apologizes to
Charlie, and
Scott drops a few last presents on their driveway -- a
Mystery Date Game
, and an
Oscar Meyer Weenie Whistle.
91:00 - 93:00 (2.00 pages) [+]EXT. LAURA'S HOUSE - LATER
Charlie shakes the
snowglobe, hoping to see his dad. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and he goes back inside the house to cry. But before he can…
…
Scott appears! They hug, and
Laura agrees to let
Charlie go with
Scott for a quick sleigh ride. They float into the air and wave goodbye, flying off into the night.
THE END
⇡ RESOLUTION
Analysis
They say the first step to writing a great script is having a great logline. This idea couldn't be more important, especially if you're in the spec game; nobody wants to spend six months writing a screenplay they can't get anyone to read. Luckily,
'The Santa Clause' is an example of a logline that's clear and sellable, so before we get into the plot points, let's do a little exercise to help us write loglines of our own.
Click here to get started ➔ [+]
WRITING A GREAT LOGLINE: CLASS ACT EDITION
Take a look at the logline for
'The Santa Clause, stripped down to bare bones:
A guy becomes Santa Claus.
Simple, right? I'd watch it. But let's play the punch-up game and figure out how to juice the idea a bit more. We'll start with our main character -- the "guy." By now, we should know how a character arc works - the protagonist starts the film believing one thing, and ends the film having learned something else (he starts out a bad person, ends a good person…starts out a girly-man, ends a badass…etc). So how might the "guy" in our story start out this particular film? Naturally, since it's a Christmas tale, he could start out by
hating Christmas. Then, through becoming Santa Claus, he could learn to love the holiday by the end. So let's amend the logline to reflect that:
A guy who hates Christmas becomes Santa Claus.
It's a little better. But you know what? We could go even further. Learning to love Christmas isn't enough. This guy has to be selfish. He has to hate everything. Obviously, we'll explore
why he's a crotchety asshole later (he's divorced, he hates his ex-wife's new boyfriend, etc), but for the time being, let's keep things simple and add a snappy adjective to describe him:
A grumpy guy who hates Christmas becomes Santa Claus.
This is looking good. We have a character who's an asshole, and we have an experience (becoming Santa) that causes him to change. But here comes the fun part:
How does our "guy" become Santa? Obviously, this would require some thinking in the outlining stage, but when it's all said and done, here's the answer our writers came up with:
A grumpy guy who hates Christmas becomes Santa Claus after he accidentally kills the old one.
Technically, we could stop here. But one of the things we talked about in the
Why break it down? section was
URGENCY -- at every moment in your script, there should be a
reason for characters to do what they do, something that compels them to take action. Sure, our "guy" kills Santa Claus…but why does he have to take over the job? Well, what if he kills Santa the night before Christmas, when toys HAVE to be delivered to kids all over the world? With this, we have our finished logline:
A grumpy guy who hates Christmas becomes the new Santa Claus after he accidentally kills the old one on Christmas Eve.
Brilliant. How much money do you need? I'll give you that, plus fifty million. You, sir, are a goddamn genius.
Regarding the film's plot, we talked in the
Why break it down? section about
USING THREE-ACT STRUCTURE TO BUILD CHARACTER ARCS, and
'The Santa Clause' is one of the better examples of this I've ever seen. Specifically, take a look at how Scott transitions from beginning-to-middle-to-end; he starts out a jerk in the Opening Exposition, does something
kind of nice at the Midpoint, and proves he's a brand new man at Plot Point #2. The same goes for the villains, Laura and Neil -- they start out hating everything Scott does in the Opening Exposition, then feel
kind of guilty about it at the Midpoint, then finally learn to love him at the Climax. Like I said before...if you can do little things like this your own scripts, you'll automatically find yourself two steps ahead of most other amateur writers in the game.
But this isn't a blog about loglines or character development...it's a blog about story structure! So without further ado, let's take a look at where the important plot points show up, and briefly talk about why they are where they are:
Flash-Bang Open [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: Never
(Gasp...) No Flash-Bang Open? But what are we to do? Relax, young padawan…there are no rules, remember?
Opening Exposition [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 00:00 - 12:45
What's interesting about the Opening Exposition in
'The Santa Clause' is that it all takes place in one night. Scott picks up Charlie, ruins Christmas dinner for him, then puts him to bed. Notice, though, how each scene is carefully crafted to deliver a specific piece of information about Scott's
selfishness, which will obviously be redeemed toward the end of the film. Overall, we go through six important beats:
• Scott gives a speech at the company Christmas party (he's always working).
• Running late, Scott lies to Laura about the traffic (he's a liar).
• Scott talks shit about Neil (he's jealous of his ex-wife).
• Scott burns the turkey and ruins dinner (he's unreliable).
• Scott takes Charlie to Denny's (he doesn't care about Christmas).
• Scott hurries to make Charlie go to sleep (he's a bad father).
See how much information we've gotten across in just a few simple scenes? In addition to what we know about Scott, we've also become familiar with the three other important characters in the film: Charlie (Scott's son), Laura (Scott's ex-wife / villain #1), and Neil (Laura's boyfriend / villain #2). All this within the first 13 minutes. If you can pull this off, you're well on your way to being a damn good writer.
Inciting Incident [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 12:45 - 26:45
The Inciting Incident in 'The Santa Clause' happens when Scott kills Santa and puts on his suit. He doesn't know it yet, but with this action, he's signing a contract to take over Santa's job.
Prepare for Adventure [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 21:00 - 39:45
Remember: The Prepare for Adventure section is a
series of events that leads our protagonist (Scott) from the Inciting Incident (putting on Santa's suit) to Plot Point #1 (falling asleep in the North Pole).
The Prepare for Adventure in
'The Santa Clause,' then, starts when Scott delivers his first present. From there, we go through
four beats, leading all the way through the end of his visit to the North Pole:
• Scott and Charlie deliver presents (Plant: The little girl).
• Scott and Charlie arrive at the North Pole.
• The boys meet Bernard and learn Scott's new job (Plant: The snowglobe).
• Scott and Charlie go to sleep (Plot Point #1).
Plot Point #1 [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 36:00 - 39:45
Act I of 'The Santa Clause' comes to an end when Scott and Charlie go to sleep in the North Pole, ending their journey to Santa's workshop. After this, they'll wake up back in the real world, and the Fun and Games will begin.
Fun and Games [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 39:45 - 51:30
NOTE: The beautiful thing about Act II of 'The Santa Clause'
is that it's completely linear. In a nutshell, it's divided into two halves: Part 1 (the Fun and Games) focuses on CHARLIE, and Part 2 (the Roll Downhill) focuses on SCOTT. This being the first of the two halves, let's spell it out nice and simple:
The Fun and Games in 'The Santa Clause' is all about Charlie. For about thirteen pages, he runs around telling anyone willing to lend him an ear about his journey to the North Pole, and the whole world basically tells him he's insane. Pepper in a scene where Scott gets in trouble for his son's crazy antics, and you've got
5 important beats:
• Scott and Charlie wake up at home / Charlie is super excited about the Santa thing.
• Charlie brags about his dad at "Bring Your Parents to School" day.
• Scott talks to Charlie, insisting it was all a dream.
• Laura and Neil threaten to take Charlie away if Scott doesn't do something.
• Scott asks Charlie to keep the whole Santa thing a secret (the Midpoint).
Midpoint [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 51:30 - 53:00
The Midpoint in 'The Santa Clause' is great because it represents a transition on the part of our main character. Knowing he'll be in trouble if Charlie doesn't shut up about the Santa thing, Scott takes him to a park with every intention of shaking the crazy out of him. But when he sees how happy Charlie is - how much he truly wants to believe his dad is Santa Claus - he decides to play along, knowing it could get him in trouble later.
Notice how the Scott Calvin of Page 1 would never have done a thing like this. That guy didn't give two shits about his son. So even though Scott isn't father of the year quite yet, the Midpoint of the film is a huge indicator that he's starting to change.
Roll Downhill [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 53:00 - 67:45
NOTE: The beautiful thing about Act II of 'The Santa Clause'
is that it's completely linear. In a nutshell, it's divided into two halves: Part 1 (the Fun and Games) focuses on CHARLIE, and Part 2 (the Roll Downhill) focuses on SCOTT. This being the second of the two halves, let's spell it out nice and simple:
The Roll Downhill in 'The Santa Clause' is all about Scott. For about eighteen pages, he starts slowly turning into Santa Claus (growing a beard, gaining lots of weight, etc). Really, the section consists of a bunch of "Wouldn't it be funny if…?" scenes, capped by one serious beat where Laura and Neil take Scott's son away from him. In all, the section consists of
6 important beats: • Scott wakes up and realizes he's now bearded and fat. He freaks out.
• Scott goes to work. His co-workers are freaked out by his strange behavior.
• Scott sits in the park. A bunch of kids start sitting in his lap and asking for gifts.
• A mailman delivers "The List" to Scott. It takes up his whole house.
• Scott shaves, but the hair grows back. He now looks exactly like Santa Claus.
• Laura and Neil take Charlie away from Scott (Low Point).
Plot Point #2 [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 67:45 - 71:30
Plot Point #2 in
'The Santa Clause' happens when Scott kidnaps Charlie and takes him to the North Pole.
This is perhaps the most important scene in the entire film, because it represents the
turning point for our protagonist (i.e., this is the moment where he becomes a good person). Charlie shows Scott the
snowglobe, and Scott finally accepts his job as Santa Claus. And just like Neo in
'The Matrix', Scott
decides to take Charlie and go save Christmas, bringing Act II to a definitive end and setting the stage for his final mission.
The Final Mission [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 71:30 - 83:15
What's cool about Act III of
'The Santa Clause' is that it functions almost like its own three-act story; Scott sets out on a mission, hits an obstacle, and overcomes that obstacle. Specifically, here are the
three important beats: • At the North Pole, Scott and Charlie prepare for their mission and set off.
• Scott gets arrested, putting the whole mission in danger.
• Charlie and the elves save Scott from the police, putting him back on track.
Climax [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 83:15 - 88:15
The Climax of 'The Santa Clause' happens when Scott brings Charlie back home to Laura and Neil, convincing them once and for all that Santa exists.
This scene is a lot like the final "boss battle" in a video game. Scott has defeated every other bad guy - i.e., he's escaped from the police - and now, he must face the two people who have been fighting against him the whole film: Laura and Neil. Naturally, he does this by showing them he's not selfish anymore (I think he even says, "I can't be selfish anymore…"), and they finally let go and believe in him. He gives them both Christmas presents and rides off into the night.
Resolution [+]WHERE IT HAPPENS: 91:00 - 93:00
Charlie shakes the snowglobe and Scott comes back. They hug. Everyone high-fives. Charlie and Scott fly off into the night, waving "goodbye" to Laura and Neil. Cute music plays. End of movie.
0 comments:
Post a Comment