Which type of parallel narrative structure suits my story?
The first question writers always ask about parallel narrative is whether it suits their material and if so, which sort of parallel narrative they should chose - flashback, ensemble cast, non-linearity - what? The answers here depend on the story you want to tell, and perhaps after all you don't need flashback or ensemble casts, or non-linearity or the like - perhaps conventional structure is the best way to go. Each parallel narrative form suits a different kind of story material, theme and way of unfolding your story. Once you know what you're after in terms of message and story content, then you can find the structure that will best transmit it. Alternatively, if you already know the kind of structure you want, you should be able to find it, and the structure you've instinctively chosen might tell you more about the kind of story you want to tell. There are currently six sorts of parallel narrative (although hybridisation is happening all the time) and they fall conveniently into two categories: film that have time jumps and films that don't. Films that don't have time jumps are often called 'ensemble cast films'.
Below, I have provided a checklist, explaining the sort of story material that suits each structure. Use it only as a starting point. Choice of structure is not something to be entered into without careful thought . You may well find that your material suits not just one form but a number of forms, and you need to choose. Another possibility is that no structural precedent exists, in which case, you will need to look at all of the models and see if you can mix and match elements to create your own hybrid. Always check that you really do need parallel narrative. It can be disastrous if used on the wrong material. The conventional one hero model might be what best suits your film. See Should I use conventional narrative instead?
You will notice that some of the names I've chosen for the forms sound a bit long-winded or clumsy. It's done for a good reason. I deliberately chose names that are precisely descriptive of how each form works. This is to help us choose and, when we've chosen, to remind us as we're working of what each form has to do and what the general shape and preoccupations of the whole film need to be (writing a script can rapidly give you tunnel vision about these bigger issues).
Films without time jumps (ensemble films)
Tandem narrative Form
Examples: Traffic, Lantana, Gomorrah, Caramel, City of Hope, Nashville, Break of Day
Subject matter
The Latin word 'tandem' has come to mean 'running side by side' If you are thinking: ‘I want to show how a socio-political problem and/or human foibles affect a broad cross-section of society’, this is probably the form for you. Tandem films contain equally important but separate stories (each with its own protagonist) running simultaneously on the same theme. However, if your material concerns a group of about six characters physically together as they undertake a joint adventure with a shared goal, that's a different form (because they're all together and the film's about the internal dynamics of a group, not about different versions of the same theme). It's multiple protagonist form (see below). Mottoes are useful here. Multiple protagonist form is: ‘same team, same adventure’, tandem is: ‘same theme, different adventures’.
Multiple protagonist Form
Examples: The Full Monty, Burn After Reading, American Beauty, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Magnificent Seven
Subject matter
Multiple protagonist is probably the form you need if you feel you want to write about a group of people or an individual affected by a group OR an individual affecting a group OR a ‘team’ on a group quest, siege or reunion ‘adventure’. The group’s views, responses and internal dynamics are always central to a multiple protagonist film. Not all films in which groups appear are multiple protagonist stories. Films like The Counterfeiters and Four Weddings and a Funeral that follow only one member of the group, with that one member present when the lives of other groups members change are one-hero stories, not multiple protagonist films. Story material in multiple protagonist form is typically a quest, reunion or siege, or a combination of these, with subject matter as follows (mottoes are useful here too):
Quests
Double journey form
Examples: The Lives of Others, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Brokeback Mountain,The Lemon Tree, The Queen, The Departed
Subject matter
Use this for films involving two central characters, who are journeying either towards, apart or in parallel with each other physically, emotionally or both. Because they are seen so often apart, interacting with other characters, both travellers need their own plotline and they often have a shared plotline too. Double Journey form is a kind of multiple protagonist form, but with specific plot content about the metaphorical double journey. Your motto here is 'two people on a journey'.
Common problems with ensemble films. For common script development problems involving ensemble films, go to Characters in search of a plot and redundant heroes
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Films that have time jumps
Double narrative flashback
Examples: Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Shine, Amadeus, Citizen Kane
Subject matter
Double narrative flashback films always have at least one complete story in the present and one in the past (these days often more than one). The film jumps between the various stories for its whole duration. Subject matter involves one or more of the following:
Note that there are several other flashback structures, some which are structures in themselves, but others that are not. These simpler forms of flashback do not use a complete story or stories in the past and a complete story in the present. One form just uses the occasional flashback to dramatize a little bit of backstory. Another adds gravitas by splitting an opening scene in the present and using it to bookend the past (as in, for example, The Green Mile, Fight Club, Titanic). Another adds energy, or transmits a warning of what's to come by taking a scene from the middle or end of the film and putting it at the start before running straight from beginning to end (as in, for example, The Hangover, Goodfellas, Michael Clayton) . Another uses non-chronological fragments from a failed past relationship to portray unfinished emotional business (as in, for example, Annie Hall, And When Did You Last See Your Father) . Yet another shows the end of a scene first and then, either immediately or later, shows the first part of that scene. Memento uses this type of flashback, in additions to other flashback structures ( Memento is actually a hybrid form, and I describe it at length in my book 21st Century Screenplay).
See The six sorts of parallel narrative.
Time jumps also appear in consecutive-stories form and fractured tandem (see below). Your motto for Double narrative flashback is 'a detective story explaining human motives, bit by bit'.
Your biggest problem with double narrative flashback will be making sure you have a powerful story in the present. See Should I use conventional narrative instead?
Consecutive-stories Form
Examples: Run Lola Run, Groundhog Day, Atonement, Pulp Fiction
Subject matter
Use this for films that need complete or almost-complete stories (often on the notion of ‘truth’ and the slippery nature of truth) appearing one after the other (even if the opening is traditional, or if there is a bookend frame), often with their own titles.
Sub-categories are:
Fractured tandem form
Examples: 21 Grams, Babel, The Hours, Three Burials of Melchiades Estrada, Crash, Rendition, Winged Creatures
Subject matter
These films involve fractured versions of equally important stories. This is probably the form for you if your subject matter involves:
Below, I have provided a checklist, explaining the sort of story material that suits each structure. Use it only as a starting point. Choice of structure is not something to be entered into without careful thought . You may well find that your material suits not just one form but a number of forms, and you need to choose. Another possibility is that no structural precedent exists, in which case, you will need to look at all of the models and see if you can mix and match elements to create your own hybrid. Always check that you really do need parallel narrative. It can be disastrous if used on the wrong material. The conventional one hero model might be what best suits your film. See Should I use conventional narrative instead?
You will notice that some of the names I've chosen for the forms sound a bit long-winded or clumsy. It's done for a good reason. I deliberately chose names that are precisely descriptive of how each form works. This is to help us choose and, when we've chosen, to remind us as we're working of what each form has to do and what the general shape and preoccupations of the whole film need to be (writing a script can rapidly give you tunnel vision about these bigger issues).
Films without time jumps (ensemble films)
Tandem narrative Form
Examples: Traffic, Lantana, Gomorrah, Caramel, City of Hope, Nashville, Break of Day
Subject matter
The Latin word 'tandem' has come to mean 'running side by side' If you are thinking: ‘I want to show how a socio-political problem and/or human foibles affect a broad cross-section of society’, this is probably the form for you. Tandem films contain equally important but separate stories (each with its own protagonist) running simultaneously on the same theme. However, if your material concerns a group of about six characters physically together as they undertake a joint adventure with a shared goal, that's a different form (because they're all together and the film's about the internal dynamics of a group, not about different versions of the same theme). It's multiple protagonist form (see below). Mottoes are useful here. Multiple protagonist form is: ‘same team, same adventure’, tandem is: ‘same theme, different adventures’.
Multiple protagonist Form
Examples: The Full Monty, Burn After Reading, American Beauty, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Magnificent Seven
Subject matter
Multiple protagonist is probably the form you need if you feel you want to write about a group of people or an individual affected by a group OR an individual affecting a group OR a ‘team’ on a group quest, siege or reunion ‘adventure’. The group’s views, responses and internal dynamics are always central to a multiple protagonist film. Not all films in which groups appear are multiple protagonist stories. Films like The Counterfeiters and Four Weddings and a Funeral that follow only one member of the group, with that one member present when the lives of other groups members change are one-hero stories, not multiple protagonist films. Story material in multiple protagonist form is typically a quest, reunion or siege, or a combination of these, with subject matter as follows (mottoes are useful here too):
Quests
- ‘One last job’: for example, Ocean’s Eleven, Space Cowboys, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Sleepers
- ‘Soldiers on a mission’: for example, Saving Private Ryan, The Magnificent Seven, Stand by Me, Galaxy Quest, The Band’s Visit
- ‘The Cinderella sports team’: for example, The Mighty Ducks, Brassed Off, A League of Their Own
- ‘Let’s put on a show’: for example, The Full Monty, The Commitments, Cosi, Little Miss Sunshine, Calendar Girls
- ‘Group journeys’: (group prison break, holiday etc.) for example, The Great Escape, National Lampoon Vacation, City Slickers
- Weddings and funerals: for example, Monsoon Wedding, Death at a Funeral, The Big Chill, Radiance
- Regular club/class: for example, The Jane Austen Book Club, Italian for Beginners, Love! Valor! Compassion!, The Dinner Guest
- Seeking out the family/prodigal returns: for example, You Can Count on Me,All About My Mother
- Troubled families: for example, To Live, Ordinary People, Little Miss Sunshine
- Prisons, actual or metaphorical: for example, The Great Escape, Chicken Run, Paradise Grove, Deliverance, Cocoon
- Coming of age: for example, Tea with Mussolini, The Magnificent Seven,Stand by Me
- Save our town!: for example, Waking Ned Devine, Local Hero,The Swamp Dwellers, Italian for Beginners, Mystic River, As It Is In Heaven
- Comic heist:for example, Burn After Reading, Ruthless People
- Social siege: for example, American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Ordinary People
Double journey form
Examples: The Lives of Others, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Brokeback Mountain,The Lemon Tree, The Queen, The Departed
Subject matter
Use this for films involving two central characters, who are journeying either towards, apart or in parallel with each other physically, emotionally or both. Because they are seen so often apart, interacting with other characters, both travellers need their own plotline and they often have a shared plotline too. Double Journey form is a kind of multiple protagonist form, but with specific plot content about the metaphorical double journey. Your motto here is 'two people on a journey'.
Common problems with ensemble films. For common script development problems involving ensemble films, go to Characters in search of a plot and redundant heroes
________________________________________________________________________________
Films that have time jumps
Double narrative flashback
Examples: Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Shine, Amadeus, Citizen Kane
Subject matter
Double narrative flashback films always have at least one complete story in the present and one in the past (these days often more than one). The film jumps between the various stories for its whole duration. Subject matter involves one or more of the following:
- the life of a charismatic, enigmatic larger-than-life individual OR someone having to find out about the past of such a person who is dead, traumatized or unwilling to speak (for example, Citizen Kane, The Bridges of Madison County, The Life of David Gale, Amadeus)
- someone returning to scenes from their past but also having an adventure in the present (for example, Remains of the Day, The End of the Affair)
Note that there are several other flashback structures, some which are structures in themselves, but others that are not. These simpler forms of flashback do not use a complete story or stories in the past and a complete story in the present. One form just uses the occasional flashback to dramatize a little bit of backstory. Another adds gravitas by splitting an opening scene in the present and using it to bookend the past (as in, for example, The Green Mile, Fight Club, Titanic). Another adds energy, or transmits a warning of what's to come by taking a scene from the middle or end of the film and putting it at the start before running straight from beginning to end (as in, for example, The Hangover, Goodfellas, Michael Clayton) . Another uses non-chronological fragments from a failed past relationship to portray unfinished emotional business (as in, for example, Annie Hall, And When Did You Last See Your Father) . Yet another shows the end of a scene first and then, either immediately or later, shows the first part of that scene. Memento uses this type of flashback, in additions to other flashback structures ( Memento is actually a hybrid form, and I describe it at length in my book 21st Century Screenplay).
See The six sorts of parallel narrative.
Time jumps also appear in consecutive-stories form and fractured tandem (see below). Your motto for Double narrative flashback is 'a detective story explaining human motives, bit by bit'.
Your biggest problem with double narrative flashback will be making sure you have a powerful story in the present. See Should I use conventional narrative instead?
Consecutive-stories Form
Examples: Run Lola Run, Groundhog Day, Atonement, Pulp Fiction
Subject matter
Use this for films that need complete or almost-complete stories (often on the notion of ‘truth’ and the slippery nature of truth) appearing one after the other (even if the opening is traditional, or if there is a bookend frame), often with their own titles.
Sub-categories are:
- Stories walking into the picture: that is, stories simply happening one after the other, linking at the end (as in The Circle and Paris, je t’aime) Your motto is 'a fly-on-the-wall study of life'
- Different perspectives: that is, different versions or points of view of the same events (as in Run Lola Run, Groundhog Day and Rashomon) . Your motto is 'different versions of the same events
- Different consequences: that is, different outcomes from the same events (as in Go and Atonement). Your motto is ''different outcomes from one event'
- Fractured frame/portmanteau: that is, fractured versions of one of the three above, using one split-up story to act like a bookend or a portmanteau (as in, for example Pulp Fiction, City of God and The Joy Luck Club - but there are many more ). A portmanteau is my term for one story split into two parts, with other complete stories inserted in between. It acts like a bag, containing the other stories. But there are a number of different sorts and it's complicated - you need to check out my book The 21st Century Screenplay.
Fractured tandem form
Examples: 21 Grams, Babel, The Hours, Three Burials of Melchiades Estrada, Crash, Rendition, Winged Creatures
Subject matter
These films involve fractured versions of equally important stories. This is probably the form for you if your subject matter involves:
- unexpected, often tragic, connections between apparently or initially very disparate people, triggered by an accident or random event
- several equally important stories, some or all fractured, running simultaneously sometimes in the same time frame, but often in several
- consequences, chain reactions
