Looking for a specific opening to a movie

#1

Someone approached me the other day to talk about a movie they are writing, and the beginning they want to use looks like [see below]. I can’t think of a movie or story that starts this way, though I am certain there are many of them. If anything comes to mind, let me know.

The movie opens on a character, we get their backstory and how that has brought them to their current situation.
For instance, a series of bad events has left them feeling lost about the meaning of life, so they spend their time running away from their real problems.

However, something is nagging them, so they decide to change course and go dig into this issue
For instance problem with their mother’s will and what happened to her house makes our character go talk to the lawyer who handled probate.

This action they took leads to a deeper story
For instance, the character finds out that the lawyer is mobbed up and took the house for some nefarious purpose.

I have several hypothetical follow-up questions about what this would look like moving past this opening, but I’ll leave it there for now.

Here is the major detail I don’t want accidentally overlooked–the character does not receive any outside impetus that triggers their decision.

Thanks, hivemind.

#2

Does the opening sequence of “Adaptation” do this?

#3

I don’t know. I can’t recall a single beat of it. But I’m assuming his agent comes to him and asks him to adapt the book, which would mean no. Does he already know the book and decide to write it?

#4

I think that you can find the opening sequence on YouTube. In the beginning, he is on set, because they are filming one of his scripts. He has a mini-panic attack. He feels completely ignored.

Then the entire opening credits sequence is a time-lapse of LA from prehistoric times to modern day. A visual montage from the arrival of humans until he exists? I think.

Right now I am in an online class (my student hasn’t shown up, but I can’t switch on my VPN so I can’t access YouTube to give you the link). I’ll try later if you haven’t found it by then.

Adaptation is kind of a weird film as he worked hard on breaking all the “rules” of what you could or couldn’t do (at the time).

*And you’re right, part of the story is about adaptation of a novel to a screenplay. I just think that the OST concern is about loving yourself? And that would preclude outside impetus right? Maybe the MC concern is about writing the book. It has been forever since I saw it. Since Kaufman doesn’t have a twin brother in life, then maybe the whole twin thing is about loving yourself. I’m not sure which is the MCT and which is the OST.

#5

I found the opening V.O.–I forgot how good that was. That alone doesn’t tell me enough to know if you are right. Do you know how to find more?

#6

Sticking with the Kaufman thing, Being John Malkovich might be another candidate? John Kusak starts out as a defiant poverty stricken puppeteer, resisting selling out to get a job I think… According to an online summary, his wife Cameron Diaz “suggests that he get a job in order to get out of his depression”… which is what leads him to the job in a building where he becomes obsessed with Catherine Keener AND finds a magic doorway.

I don’t remember it precisely, but if his wife really just “suggests” getting a job - which he has obviously been avoiding for a long time - does that fit your requirement of “no outside impetus that triggers their decision?” I don’t think it was a “the mortgage is due, we’re going to lose our house” kind of Action Driver or “if you don’t get a job I’m leaving you.”

#7

Christmas with the Kranks?

-The movie opens on a character, we get their backstory and how that has brought them to their current situation

(From Wikipedia) Luther and Nora see daughter Blair depart for a Peace Corps assignment and empty nest syndrome sets in.

-However, something is nagging them, so they decide to change course and go dig into this issue

Luther calculates the money they spent the previous Christmas and decides they could spend that on a cruise instead of Christmas this year

-This action they took leads to a deeper story

All the neighbors become mad at Luther and Nora

-Here is the major detail I don’t want accidentally overlooked–the character does not receive any outside impetus that triggers their decision

Blair’s leaving becomes an excuse to take a cruise, but I wouldn’t say was the impetus to take a cruise

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#8

I’d have to see it to be sure, but “Being John Malkovich” seems pretty good based on that.

From this it seems pretty strong too.

#9

Can you be more specific? “The movie opens on a character, we get their backstory and how that has brought them to their current situation.” is super vague, and “However, something is nagging them, so they decide to change course and go dig into this issue.” is basically saying, “and then there was a plot point/ inciting incident/ act turn.”

If that first description is intended to mean that the movie begins with an introduction to a character, but before anything happens we get a bunch of backstory, then it’s gong to be difficult to find a good example because this isn’t usually considered a strong way to open a story.

You’re more likely to find an example of a story that doesn’t open with the first chronological scene, then backs up and shows how the story to got to that point. But that’s not the same as backstory.

It’s also confusing to say that “the character doesn’t receive any outside impetus that triggers the decision.” If this is true, why is there even a story? Something has to set the story in motion. Even if there’s just this nagging feeling, for the character to finally decide to act, that feeling had to have crossed a threshold.

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#10

Hi @Etherbeard, my own simplification (Mike can say whether it’s accurate) was simply:

  • The story opens on a character (almost certainly the MC) who has problems in their life that they haven’t been addressing
  • They make a decision to do something related to these personal issues, and that decision is NOT driven by another character or event

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this setup, although it certainly seems rare!

I think the backstory part is kind of unimportant; it could be a very small amount of screen time dedicated to establishing that something is wrong in their life.

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#11

Sorry for being vague. I’m trying not to limit anything out, especially since it isn’t a strong way to start a story and we’re going to be drawing from a limited pool. I’m also sure that if I could be specific, I wouldn’t have this question.

That said, @mlucas has it right, although I’m going to add a bullet point to the end:

  • The story opens on a character (almost certainly the MC) who has problems in their life that they haven’t been addressing

  • They make a decision to do something related to these personal issues, and that decision is NOT driven by another character or event

  • The decision to do something about their personal issues leads to the OS

“They decide to change course” does not mean “there is a plot point”. A plot point could be anything. I"m saying that the only relevant character we’ve met makes a decision.

To summarize it a different way, I would say this:

FIRST: Opening, MC Signpost 1
THEN: Driver 1, Decision, made by the MC, who it will turn out is also the Protagonist
THEN: OS Signpost 1

Well, yeah. That would be the decision made by the character. The nagging feeling would be what is explored in the scenes leading up to it. I didn’t suspect a “nagging feeling” would be considered an “outside impetus”.

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