Redesigning Treatments and Sparking an Intro

My treatment, as it seems, is headed in the right direction. There is a lot of work to be done and my close-minded thinking has been expanded a little more. I looked over my treatment many times and made it work the best I can. It was going well and it did work, but it was only enough for a first act. When writing, I've always been a fan of keeping things moving along fairly quickly. Many scenes that happen very fast to push the story along. It's what's required in this day and age. I apparently did just that but it only amounted to a third of the script. My story is even bigger than I could have imagined. My big resolution is just the starting point for the rest of the movie. Thinking now, it would make sense because In any mobster or gangster film, the timeline spans many years and many conflicts, passing through family generations even. Goodfellas did it, and so did Blow (which isn't really a mob story but you know what i mean) My story doesn't just stop with my character standing up to his uncle, that's just when it starts to get good. All my major plot points before are now minor ones, and my final climax is just the first turning point. Like a really long fuse, it burns quickly and moves closer and closer to that barrel of gun powder, or anything else explosive. Like a story, it's on a trajectory and the audience will know where it's headed. That explosion could possibly be literal, but whatever it is, I'm certain that in my script, we'll see even bigger and greater conflicts than previously imagined.

So I've finished my act one intro and while it is still very rough, I did proof read a couple times and make many changes. I'm proud of what I have done and with where this story is going. It is also moving very quickly as predicted. The tone as it seems is light-hearted and cute. The dynamic between newly weds I feel will be fun to watch but it is not overbearing or too dialog heavy. The feeling of a looming danger is real and drives the characters to make decisions and push the story along. I feel I've introduced all of the main characters except the Sister, and the Uncle. I feel it will be okay to reveal them later as they serve a large part of story that drives the rest of the film.

Separating Parties and Setting Destinations

So I've lined out the progression of my story with seven, story twisting scenes. The Main Character and his Wife are on their own path. This path follows the seven stepping stones that I've made up to progress through a 3 act structure. This may be a real technique or not, but I'm using it, and I like the way it looks. Act 1 has two main parts, Act 2 has three, and Act 3 has two main parts again. It's symmetric (2|3|2) and it seems like it'll make sense. Each of these parts will be the big scenes and everything in between is just stuff to get me from one major situation to another.

The Antagonist, a Sicilian Mafia boss, along with his gang follow their own story path. This runs parallel to the Husband and Wife and they too have seven major scenes. It's not actually parallel as these two lines intersect, and so we have conflict. These characters, while important, are not the main aspect of the story, they only help drive it. They will most definitely have less screen time and be used in many situations as comical inserts, rather than be viewed as scary, mafia-born foes which they appear to be.

When creating these seven major story blocks and their conflicting intersections, I started first with a title for each scene. Like a chapter in the book, I wanted that one phrase to be strong enough in my mind, that I am able to expand it. The first scene is very clear in my mind and that is good. It'll amount to about five pages or so and be the substance of my Act 1 intro. It's titled "Beautiful Day" It sounds soothing, but for my main characters, it certainly is not.