Recently, a writer friend of mine turned to analyze the adaptation of John Grisham's novel the Firm to study legal crime thrillers. After a few exhausting days, he wrote me that he couldn't figure out the structure of the beginning. What was the inciting incident in this flick!
Well, for those of you who don't know, an inciting incident is a writing term that represents the beginning incident that throws the story into motion, launching the protagonist into conflict. But since this movie was a book adaptation, it seemed that a lot of time went on before Tom Cruise finally found himself at odds with his new Firm. It was a challenge. So I turned to Robert Mckee. This guru explains the inciting incident radically upsets the balance of forces in the hero's life and it must push the character's life into a value of either positive or negative circumstances. And the protagonist must react to the inciting incident, usually by setting out after some goal or some object of desire. However, there is something important to consider about these incidents. They can come in two parts!
What? Two parts. Says who! Well, says me. The inciting incident has several different names, from the point of attack, the 17 minute point, and the setup. But two different parts? Well, let's look at one of the most well known films: Star Wars (a New Hope). The quest clearly comes to Luke when he views Leia's cryptic message and he realizes the princess is in trouble. Obi Wan says "You must come with me. She needs your help." Even though Luke is a reluctant hero, this is his inciting incident. The call to arms. This event radically upsets his life. And yet, this is a payoff of events that began at the beginning of the movie, when Leia first loaded that message into R2D2. Wasn't that the event that truly radically upset his life? Without that moment, he never gets the message.
Or let's look at the classic murder mystery. We see the victim murdered. And yet, often times, we haven't met the detective yet. Our hero arrives to the mansion the next day and only then does he discover the body. So which is the inciting incident? I like to think of the first part as the inciting incident, or the spark of a bomb, which usually occurs within the first 5 pages. And that bomb is set to go off in the character's face and launch him into a conflict that will take off through the rest of the story. This payoff is our point of attack, which usually occurs between page 12 and 17 in a screenplay.
The Firm is confusing. Following Tom Cruise’ recruitment, he’s overworked, he sees some fishy things, two lawyers are killed, there’s a funeral, but our bomb hasn't gone off, that is until The FBI visits Tom Cruise, forcing him to confront the reality: He's working for a criminal Firm. But it happens over 30 pages in! Now he must investigate for himself and ask the larger question: Will he sacrifice his ambition to do the right thing and take the Firm down? But what's the spark? Is it the lawyer's death? It's not. Because the larger, global criminal venture that Tom Cruise is investigating is the Firm's relationship with the mafia. And the lawyer's death is just part of that larger conspiracy. And the spark to Tom's confrontation with that conspiracy is...his recruitment, twenty five pages prior! That's right, this book adaptation spends 25 pages/minutes showing Tom get comfortable in the Firm before he finally faces the real issue that this place is dirty!
So next time you are thinking about the beginning of a story and perhaps the analysis of an inciting incident, keep in mind, it can be helpful to sometimes think of these events in two parts, as a setup and a payoff. After all, everything in a story is about action and reaction.
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