Extraordinary Structure

Analyzing Hidden Story Patterns in the Great Films

Re-inspire your own screenwriting through in-depth study of masterworks:
Sunset Boulevard, Network, Parasite, The Farewell, Jojo Rabbit and Joker

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Develop your narrative instincts for character and theme-based stories:

See how these five films utilize conventional structure and then go way beyond to make their unique mark on the world. Here’s your opportunity to:

  • Embed their story mastery in your creative unconscious to inform your own narrative instincts.

  • See yourself applying what you learned from the masters without having to think about it.

  • Learn to use story structure to enhance your artistic freedom rather than hamper it.

  • Discover how to articulate why the instinctive choice you made was the best one in objective terms when you have to advocate for your story to others.

This method of analysis is for writers, directors and producers interested in doing deep character exploration and/or making an impactful statement about the state of our world. It’s for creatives who want to hone their craft while expanding their artistic freedom.

Get ready to be blown away by a screenwriting course you’ll wish you’d taken years ago! Jennine teaches you how to expand your creative thinking in ways you’ve never imagined with her visually engaging, easy to absorb insight into the complicated story structures of great films. Her eye-opening analysis will give you the tools and the confidence you’ll need to go beyond conventional writing in your own work. You’ll have a front row seat to learning from a master of story structure analysis!

Stephen Leon, screenwriter

Expand your knowledge through deep study of a diversity of films:

  • Sunset Boulevard, a radical film in its day for its biting critique of Hollywood that in structural terms is basically an updated medieval morality play.

  • Network, a bad-guys-win-in-the-end social satire that has resonated through the decades beyond what anyone could have imagined.

  • Parasite, a Korean social problem film that uses a classical Asian story structure to tell us economic inequity is a global phenomenon.

  • The Farewell, a personal story about a Chinese-American woman coming to terms with her Chinese family that speaks of cultural differences between east and west.

  • Jojo Rabbit, a coming-of-age comedy challenging the sanctity of Holocaust stories as young Jojo defies his imaginary friend Hitler.

  • Joker, a character-driven origin story that starts with aspiring comedy and ends in irredeemable tragedy.

This method of analysis is for writers, directors and producers interested in doing deep character exploration and/or making an impactful statement about the state of our world. It’s for creatives who want to hone their craft while expanding their artistic freedom.

Jennine Lanouette’s “Extraordinary Structure” is truly an extraordinary course. She has created something unique and extremely helpful. As a Screenwriter and Professor of Screenwriting, I consider myself an authority on structure. Yet, I found that taking this course changed my approach to film analysis and screenwriting. Her A to B formula for Action, Character and Theme allows the writer to see story through a more inclusive lens. She shares her knowledge generously and is an excellent teacher. Discussions are informative, challenging, and exciting. Her warmth and kindness permeate each exploration. If you can take this class, don’t hesitate. It will transform the way you view films and the way you write screenplays.

Roz Sohnen, screenwriting professor

Each film analysis will include:

  • Two to three hours of lecture videos with film clips, stills and graphics giving analysis of that film’s overall structure.

  • Printable PDFs of charts and outlines to accompany the analysis. 

  • Asynchronous comment forums for discussion on each film. 

  • Unlimited access to the course content for as long as the course platform is active.

You will come away with:

  • An in-depth understanding of five masterful films.

  • A practical method with which to analyze your own favorite films.

  • An understanding of the malleability of three-act structure.

  • The ability to recognize the difference between action, character and theme stories.

  • More highly-developed narrative instincts.

  • Greater ability to advocate for your story.

What others have to say about the course:

COURSE PREVIEW

FAQs:

Here are Jennine’s answers to some questions you may be wondering about: 

Why analyze films?

When I work with students and clients helping them develop their screenplays, I do my best to explain why this or that choice will better serve a particular scene or the overall structure. Then I hope they will carry that story principle forward into the rest of their work. But I often see them struggling to do so. Overtime I have come to understand the reason why: They have not yet developed their narrative instincts.

What are narrative instincts?

If I explain a story principle to you, you will have an intellectual knowledge of it. But when you go to apply it, you have to think about it. If, on the other hand, I can help you have an instinctual knowledge of that story principle, you don’t have to think about it. You do it automatically. You make a good choice because it feels right. Then you might think about why it feels right and how it could be made better. This is the conscious/unconscious dance that is the creative process. We have all been taught to value our intellectual capacities. But, in the creative process, what is more important is your ability to make a good choice because it feels right. That capacity is determined by your narrative instincts.

How will narrative instincts help my writing?

It’s a long and complicated road to writing a good screenplay. It takes many drafts, a lot of trial and error and much putting it in front of people to see how they respond. But you can help yourself on that journey by cultivating your own inner compass to help guide you. With well-developed narrative instincts, you will know on a gut level whether a new idea bubbling up from your unconscious is worthy of pursuit. You will know your story needs to speed up here, slow down there, take a new turn or cut to the chase. You will still need to put it in front of people for feedback, but when you hear their responses, you are more likely to have an instinctive idea how to solve the problems.

How do I develop narrative instincts?

It is widely held that by watching many, many movies or reading stacks and stacks of scripts, the art and craft of those works will seep into your unconscious and inform your work. To some degree, that’s true. But passively watching and reading will only get you so far. The more effective way to inform your work with art and craft is to engage in active study of the masterful films. In an odd twist, it takes conscious effort to enrich your unconscious knowledge so your effort need no longer be entirely conscious.

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About Jennine Lanouette

I am a screenwriting instructor of over 20 years with a specialty in script analysis. I have lectured at The New School and School of Visual Arts in New York and Pixar and Lucasfilm in the San Francisco Bay Area, and with the Sundance Institute online. I studied at Columbia University under Frank Daniel with additional coursework in the history of drama at NYU. Previously, I was a journalist reporting on American independent film for Filmmaker, Premiere, The Village Voice, Screen International, Sight and Sound and Ms. Magazine. You can learn more about my approach to teaching screenwriting at screentakes.com.