With so many sub-plots, I found it quite challenging to select the major plot points. How do you decide which to add? Here's my take. 1. Richie, Irving and Edith/Sydney have a meeting with Carmine Polito and Carl Elway in a hotel room. Carmine refuses to take the briefcase with money and leaves. 2. Irving meets Sydney at a party. They're's an instant connection between them 3. Irving shows Syndey his office and loan business. Edith leaves and comes back as Lady Lady Edith Greensley, with London Banking connections and agrees to partner with Irving. Irving and Lady Edith have a succesful con business and build a love relationship 4. Irving is married to Roselyn and has adopted her son. He lets her know he isn't happy but she refuses the idea of divorce and threatens with custody and his illegal business. 5. Richie Dimaso shows up as customer and hands Edith, who likes him, a check. The FBI arrests her. Richie is an agent. 6. Richie uses Edith to force Irving to work for him and trap other cons. 7. Edith wants to run away with Irving and Danny but Irving can't. He wants to stay for Danny and not loose any custody. Edith freaks out and is going to lenght to get them both of this, even if it means getting close to Richie. 8. Irving's plan to use a fake sheik as investor who will attract other con men. 9. Carl Eway wants in in the plan of Irving and suggests a much more lucrative deal: the rebuilding of Atlantic City. He says Carmine Polito has all the right connections 10. Stoddard Thorsen, Richie's boss, refuses to park 2 million dollars in the name of the sheikh to con Carmine Polito. 11. Edith befriends Brenda McPherson from the FBI who transfers the money without Stoddard's approval. 12. Irving convinces Carmine Polito to take the money and to work with just him. They have a common background 13. Greed creeps in and Richie decides to go after as many politicians as Carmine can attract to the sheik. 14. Irving, Carmine and their wifes have dinner and become friends 15. The fake sheikh arrives with a plane and presents Carmine a ceremonial knife. 16. Carmine, his wife, Richie, Edith, Irving and Roslyn are at the Atlantic City Hotel where Carmine shows the sheikh the hotel. The mob, among them Pete and Dick, is there. Carmine, Richie, Irving and the sheikh meet Tellegio, the great mob boss who says that the sheikh needs to be an American citize to make his investments legal. Tellegio demands ten million dollars within two weeks wired to a back to prove this deal is legitimate. 17. Irving cocks a gun at Richie and wants out of the deal. Tellegio is worse than jail. Richie threatens that Tellegio will come after Irving and his family and Sydney if he finds out about the con. Irving is forced to cooperate. Irving and Sydney reconcile. 18. Richie has beaten up Stoddard who refused to give him 10 million dollars to bribe congress men and a whole plaza floor. Amado agrees to the hotel suite but denies the ten million. 19. At the Plaza, Carmine, Irving, Edith and Richie meet several congress men. Carmine talks them in and the congressmen get a briefcase with money while everything is being taped secretly by the FBI. 20. Roslyn meets Pete in a restaurant and tells Pete that Irving is forced to do something for Richie and that IRS is involved. 21. Pete picks up Carmine and Irving and usher them into the car. 22. Irving tells Roslyn her mobster friend Pete put a bag over his head. Roslyn tells him they should divorce. Irving asks her to cooperate and don't do anything till it's over. 23. Richie, Irving and Sydney are in Alfonse Simone's office and make over the wire transfer after Alfonse confessess what he will do. 24. Irving confesses to Carmine what he did. He offers a way out but Carmine throws him out of his house. 25. Richie, Amado and Stoddard say the 2 million is missing. Irving and Sydney claim to know nothing and pin the missing money back to Richie who get sent home by Amado. 26. Congress members who took the money and Carmine get arrested. Richie's name is never mentioned in the press conference. The 2 million dollar is returned in exchange of Sydney and Irving's freedom and a reduced sentence for Carmine. 27. Sydney and Irving live together and open up a legal art gallery. Roslyn is with mobster Pete.

That's a great job, Shari. I don't disagree with any of your choices of plot points. Each provides a spin to the narrative. Interesting to compare major plot points as noted by readers to the first two scripts in his series: Argo: 15 or 16 Gravity: Anywhere between 7 and 9 If American Hustle has 27, what does that tell us? One thing: There is no single formula to craft a successful screenplay. As to the Four Primary Plotline Points, how about this: The Opening: 1-7 which establishes Irv, Sydney and Richie, and the sting operation. Act One End: 28-35, wherein Richie busts Irv and Sydney, forcing them to work with the FBI. Act Two End: 101-109, where we see the weight of the situation on Irv, he is stuck and there is seemingly no way out. The Ending [Final Struggle]: 134-150, how Irv and Sydney con the FBI. Sandwiched in the middle is Irv's personal final struggle, wherein he confesses what he's done to Carmine [141-144]. That is a key moment in his metamorphosis.

I organized major plot points with Irving Rosenfield, the Protagonist, as the focal point, the character around whom the story, uh, swirls. And because he is the primary story narrator. In Media Res, Part #1: the Teaser (pp 1-8) The story begins just as the FBI sting operation is about to be played out in the Plaza with the 3 principals anxious and bickering. The segment ends on a cliffhanger beat when the major mark, Mayor Carmine Polito, walks out on the meeting. Setup (pp 8-27) Flashback to how and why Irving became a con artist, how he hooked up with Sydney (a con artist after his own heart) and how his life is complicated by his ditzy and manipulative wife, Rosalyn. Life Changing Event (pp 27-35) [I am inclined to go granular, get very specific on the beats that pivot the life of the protagonist in a new direction. Ergo:] The Complication or Incitement: Irving and Sydney are busted by the FBI, led by Richie Dimaso. The Call, An Offer They Can’t Refuse: To win their freedom, they must cooperate with the FBI, setup a sting operation. The Refusal: Of course, but eventually... The Decision: They agree to cooperate with Dimaso. The Objective Goal: Bust 4 white collar crooks. (Notice how specific the objective goal is: not "some" but exactly four.) The Dramatic Question: Can they pull off the sting, win their freedom? Strategy, Raise the Stakes, Jeopardy, Get the Greenlight (pp 36-54) The Initial strategy is to use a fake sheikh as a honey pot for a sting against con artists. But the stakes are raised when a con artist suggests bigger game, powerful New Jersey pol, Carmine Polito, who is looking for investors in newly legalized gambling in Atlantic City. The money stakes are raised when Richie goes over the head of his boss, Stoddard Thorsen, gets the greenlight to play with $2 million. In Media Res, Part #2: "A" Story Progress, "B" Story Complications, Cathartic Musical Moment & Comic Relief (pp 55-73) Back in the present, where the movie started, Irving is able to reel Carmine Polito back in -- sort of. Not back into the meeting, but Carmine invites Irving and his wife, Rosalyn, out for dinner. While Carmine and Irving socialize, Richie and Sydney dance (cathartic musical moment) and Richie becomes (officially) emotionally entangled in Sydney's web. The next morning Carmine agrees to meet the sheikh and gives Irving a gift, a new-fangled appliance, a microwave oven. Which Rosalyn blows up by disregarding warnings about metal (comic relief). [Hope to discuss at some point about a pattern of musical moments and comic relief I have seen in movies -- or maybe I am hallucinating.) Crossing the Threshold into the Danger Zone (pp 74-101) Irving and Richie bicker over strategy and Sydney. Carmine meets the sheikh on the jet, invites him to Atlantic City. Rosalyn finds out that federal agents are involved and manipulates her way into the Atlantic City party where she is the center of attention. One mobster in particular, Peter Musane, is immediately smitten by her. Meanwhile, Irving and the sheikh encounter and barely pass inspection by Victor Tellegio, a ruthless mob enforcer. Rosalyn and Sydney fight over Irving. Rosalyn finds comfort in the arms of Pete. Horns of a Dilemma, "A" and "B" stories begin to converge (pp 101-113) Richie is rebuffed when he tries to have sex with Sydney and Irving threatens him with a gun. Irving tells him the sting operation is over, it's too risky. Richie tells him he can't back out. When -- not if -- the mob find out, Irving will sleep with the fishes. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, Irving commiserates and reconciles with Sydney after Richie leaves to argue with his boss. Sydney wants nothing less than revenge. But how? The Sting, Part One: To the Edge of the Cliff (pp 110 -125) The sting operation starts to go down... as Rosalyn has lunch with the mobster Pete, spills the beans that Irving is involved with the IRS. Pete picks up Irving as he comes out of the Plaza with Carmine. This is the moment of maximum jeopardy for Irving: will he end up sleeping with the fishes? "A" and "B" Stories complete convergence (pp 126-132) Irving lives! He and Rosalyn agree to divorce after cooperating to save Irving's life -- and get revenge. The Sting, Part Two: The Twist and Denouement (pp 133-150) Richie plays his sting; the $2 million transfer is made. Irving tries to apologize to Carmine but is rebuffed. Richie celebrates with his fellow agents until... they (and the audience which is also being conned) discover that the $2 million transfer has disappeared. Although some Congressmen are caught in the sting, Richie's career is finished. Rosalyn and Pete drive off to a new life together. Irving is reconciled with the mob, and he and Sydney go legit.

Morning after corrections: Life Changing Event I forgot to include another beat between the Refusal and the Decision: The Stakes: what the protagonist stands to gain or lose. It is the stakes that tip the scales in the protagonist's mind toward the decision he finally makes. For Irving and Sydney the stakes are having charges dropped, winning their freedom. Or being convicted, going to prison. Midpoint "A" story: Irving gains Carmine confidence after the dinner, agrees to meet with the sheik. "B" story: Richie becomes emotionally entangled with Sydney. Another marker of the midpoint is that it includes a Dionysian moment of dance and music. If I had parachuted into the script (or movie) at this point and knew nothing about what happens before or after, the Dionysian disco moment would have tipped me off that it's likely the midpoint. Darkest Hour It is precipitated when Rosalyn blabs on Irving to the mob guy Pete, which threatens to take down the entire sting operation as well as cost Irving his life. Denouement Clarification: I think that Irving's apology to Carmine is his attempt at some kind of emotional closure. Considering how much time and effort Irving has invested in his relationship with Carmine, it's a necessary beat in the story. Particularly as Irving never liked for one moment what he was forced to do.

Shaped this way, Irv's journey is from shyster to straight guy, which is a very clean line. Per haps motivated not just by getting caught but by the realization of how his actions have hurt people about whom he cares.

Per your point, Nora, that's a big reason why the Irv-Carmine subplot is so important. It puts a human face... a specific human face... on the ramifications of his actions. Put another way: If Irv had not gotten busted, then forced to work with the FBI... and manipulated Carmine the way he did, especially seeing how they became something resembling friends... would he have changed? I doubt it. This is his particular narrative destiny and Carmine is one key for Irv grasping the negative impact of his cons.

Yes, smashing strangers' windows is one thing--this is much more personal. I still don't like Irv though--I had no sympathy for him. I didn't like the characters in "Gone Girl" and put the book down; but I loved the movie. I wonder if Irv would have been more sympathetic in a different media (for me).

Excellent work again, Paul. One thing that jumped out at me in reading your breakdown are the parallel, then converging tracks of Irv and Carmine, and Richie and Sydney. I think this may be where some people experienced the movie as a bit messy. When the story veers off into the Richie-Sydney subplot, some may find that a distraction from the Protagonist (Irv) story. However as your breakdown indicates, these two subplots play off each other: * Irv-Carmine: As noted elsewhere, this is a key relationship in driving home the negative impact to Irv of his cons. By becoming friends with Carmine while being forced to play the guy by the FBI, possibly for the first time and certainly in the most impactful way, Irv realizes the pain his cons cause. His confession to Carmine, also as discussed, is a necessary beat for Irv as part of his metamorphosis from huckster to a more honest life. * Richie-Sydney: As noted elsewhere, Sydney is the physicalization of the sexy life Richie imagines playing with the Big Boys to be. While she doesn't actively try to seduce him, he allows himself to be seduced, generally by the con-man's life, and specifically in his attempt to woo Sydney. So his arc is the converse of Irv: Going from a more honest lifestyle to becoming a con-man. The delicious irony in the story is that in the end, Irv and Sydney pull off the big sting, leaving Richie in the worst status imaginable: No one knows he had anything to do with anything. He is a nobody, exactly opposite his dreams of becoming a Player. Meanwhile one could argue that from an emotional perspective, we wouldn't feel a sense of positive resolution re Irv's 'victory' had he not gone through the refining fires forced on him by the FBI and specifically confessing to Carmine and experiencing the pain of his betrayal of their friendship. Once again, the value of doing deep story analysis. I hadn't made that clear of a connection between the Irv-Carmine / Richie-Sydney subplots, but through this discussion, I see it quite clearly now. Thanks again, Paul. If you don't mind, I'll pull together a breakdown from your two comments here for a blog post.

Paul G's breakdown is great. Looking at this I realize what a complex powerful character Sydney is. Amy Adams talked bout how layered she was, beyond other layered characters she's played, and how self assured, confident, and strong she'd have to be to wear the plunging necklines all the time. Yes, her plan was to weave a web for Richie. But right from the start she did like him too. When Irv is out with the wife "...your fucking wife?" the first person she goes to is Richie. I think she begins to fall for him, even though she's playing him too. She wants him if he can give her "...no more fake shit!" Had he played his cards right, he cold have won her. You don't often see a character like this. Though the other characters too have quite a bit of complexity and gray. Sydney's dilemma is one example of the theme of gray areas, even mentioned in the dialog when Irving shows Richie the fake Rembrandt that looks so real, and questions if the forger is the better artist: 'Things are not black and white as you see them,' says Irving to Richie, 'but extremely gray.' The characters in this film are amazing. I'm thinking it has to be due to them being based on real people. Truth is stranger than fiction (or the writers at least made them feel real). But the breakdown helps to reveal the nuances of the characters. It may be interesting to do character studies when we study film breakdowns.

Jon, good points re Sydney. And that line you quote -- ‘Things are not black and white as you see them, but extremely gray' -- has got to be an articulation of one of the themes running through the story. Re character studies, how about this as a breakdown of what I call the Five Primary Character Archetypes: Protagonist: Irv Nemesis: Richie Attractor: Sydney Mentor: Carmine Trickster: Rosalyn What does Irv want? After he gets stung, to get the hell out of doing the business of the FBI. Who's keeping him from that? Richie. Therefore the fact Irv gets one over on Richie feels like classic Protagonist-Antagonist stuff. Sydney as Attractor, the character most connected to the Protagonist's emotional development, seems pretty apparent. Carmine as Mentor also works, I think. It's through his relationship with Carmine that Irv learns the truth about what happens to the victims of con jobs. That's a negative lesson, but it is, as noted, a key to Irv's transformation. And Rosalyn as Trickster? I think of Tricksters as playing enemy, then ally... ally, then enemy... to the Protagonist. They switch according to their own ego needs. Rosalyn is his wife. Ally. They have a shitty relationship, but she won't give him a divorce. Enemy. But we really see her Trickster ways in her relationship with Pete and how she inadvertently blows the whistle on Irv. Classic Trickster move. Never ceases to amaze me how these five character archetypes appear in movie after movie after movie.

Yes I completely agree. Roslyn is a shape shifter, and maybe she doesn't even know it, with her 'power of intention' to set Irving straight, or 'thank God for her' when she put out her own fire, or oops, she mentioned the IRS, but please don't hurt Irv. She reminds me of certain people I know (in New Jersey no less) who just let everything hang out, say whatever they're thinking, and let the chips fall. Then they cover it up by coming to the rescue. She is a classic character. However, I do take slight issue with these clinical breakdowns, even though I'm learning from them. There is something beyond what we can analyze. Putting them into these categories is very surface level. They go so much deeper. And especially here, I can't just dismiss then as trickster, attractor and so on. There is something beyond words perhaps. Its like trying to define love or art. It's something spiritual or magical. This is where I would defer to David Milch when he talks about 'writing transparent in the spirit which gives you rise,' meaning you let faith and spirituality take over and these characters evolve. Of course they start as the real people or even people we know as writers. But the spirit, as Dave calls it, makes them (and the story) 'imaginary' and more universally understood. I know I'm leaning on Milch. But that's just because he puts words to the feelings I've kind of always had about art. He's basically saying, let go, just trust your faith (in yourself) and write. You will get there. And I am anything but religious. But I think I'm realizing I've always been spiritual, or soulful as some might say. These exercises are very logical. They may be a beginning. But I think writers have to let go (use the force) and just write, knowing that the knowledge will be subconscious. But you don't have to literally place protagonist, antagonist and so on. Though all writers are different. Even when you interview writers you might say so and so is the trickster or antagonist and the writer will respond a bit surprised and say, oh yeah, I guess you could say that.

Jon, I can understand how using character archetypes can seem "surface level," but not the way I use them. Indeed, as character development and story-crafting tools, they help writers dig down DEEP into individual characters and their interrelationships. In other words, you don't END with archetypes. You BEGIN with them. You dig and dig and dig into your characters to determine what their most fundamental narrative function is and almost assuredly, you will be able to ascribe to them one of these five primary character archetypes. That becomes the FOUNDATION for who they are and work with them from there. Also, too, each character can adopt a 'mask' from scene to scene, relationship to relationship. So, for example, a Nemesis may don an attractor mask in this scene. A mentor mask in that. A trickster here. Even act as a co-protagonist. This reflects the very nature of human existence, how we all have masks we wear in different social circumstances, the varietal nature of our psyches. So, too, characters in our stories. All of this is grounded in the idea that there are certain primal narrative functions in a story. There is a character who is moving forward toward a goal. We call them a Protagonist. There is an oppositional dynamic which creates conflict. We call this Nemesis. There are allies along the way, some whose main contribution is intellectual wisdom (Mentor), some emotional wisdom (Attractor). And there are dynamics whereby the Protagonist's will and discernment are tested. Who to trust? Not trust? Pop quizzes on the way to the Final Struggle. These characters we call Tricksters. We see this alignment of dynamics in story after story. I've done several analyses of movies using character archetypes on the blog. Here are some of them: The Wizard of Oz True Grit The Silence of the Lambs Inception Bridesmaids Shakespeare in Love Gladiator Up Star Trek Yes, every writer is different. Every story is different. Archetypes, as I understand, use and teach them, are not rules, but tools. That said, just like The Hero's Journey identifies a universal pattern to narrative structure, I believe there is something going on with these five primary character archetypes in terms of the character structure of movies. We see these five narrative dynamics in movies far too often to ignore them. And indeed, can use these tools to develop and craft entertaining stories where we understand the core functions of each character and have a strong grasp of the nature of their interrelationships.