MULTIPLE PLOTS IN RECENT CINEMA
A new style of film emerged in the 90's which violate the usual constructions of screenplay formula.
These are films with multiple plots in which there is no central lead character in the traditional sense.
The best recent examples are Secrets and Lies, The English Patient, Pulp Fiction and Kansas City.
They are radically different from the formula film. The traditional Hollywood formula film focuses on the central lead throughout the film.
At certain plot points something will happen to the lead and develop the plot.
All other characters are subordinate to the lead and they exist only to develop the lead and the lead's relationship to the plot:
Hence the term supporting actress and actor. The finest recent example of the formula film is Jerry Maguire.
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A NEW ANGLE TO HISTORICAL SCREENPLAYS
Every film is a period piece. Whether they know it or not, all filmmakers record history because there is no reality except the present moment.
Everything else is an idea. If you write screenplays and have a vision of what you think the past was like, and that includes events that happened today,
you're ready to write a period piece. The problem is, since historical films were popular from the earliest days of cinema,
it's become increasingly difficult to write a period piece that's not a remake. So what we need is a new angle.
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