SCREENWRITERS: Casablanca faithfully follows the Something Startling Happens minute-by-minute story beats. Whether it's a 69-year old classic, a brand new Hollywood blockbuster, or a sleeper independent hit, every successful movie applies the universal beats.
MINUTE 1: ATTENSION!
The narrator warns us about the coming of World War 2
MINUTE 2: THE BUILD
The telegraph operator says that a murderer is headed for Casablanca
MINUTE 3: THE RATCHET
Officers shoot a suspicious man
MINUTE 4: ANOTHER NOTCH
A German plane approaches
MINUTE 5: JAW DROPPER
Nazi’s exit the plane
MINUTE 6: FRIEND OR FIST
Captain Renault has a friendly chat with the German officer (FRIEND)
MINUTE 7: FRIEND OR FIST 2
Friends chat in Rick’s Bar about ways to get transit papers (FRIEND)
MINUTE 8: SOMETHING STARTLING HAPPENS
The waiter tells the shocked owner of Amsterdam’s second largest banking house that Rick will not drink with him (a startling rejection of a very important person)
MINUTE 9: THE PURSUIT
Rick sees a man trying to get into his bar, he heads him off at the door
MINUTE 10: THE DISCUSSION
Ugarte sits and discusses the dead German couriers with Rick, and his exit visas
MINUTE 11: THE WARNING
Rick warns Ugarte that he doesn’t want to keep his exit visa overnight
MINUTE 12: HARSHER WARNING
Rick warns Ugarte that he knows he got the transit papers off the dead German
MINUTE 13: THE SUBMISSION
Bad guy Ferrari approaches quiet Rick
MINUTE 14: DANGER WATCH
Friendly bartender sees Rick approaching and says, “Oh oh”
MINUTE 15: WHEW, THAT WAS CLOSE!
Rick manages to pull his angry ex-girlfriend out of the bar before she makes a scene (Whew!)
MINUTE 16: THE BIG CONCERN
The waiter is concerned because a patron won $20,000 francs
MINUTE 17: WORLD UPSIDE DOWN
Renault tells Rick that Major Strasser of the Third Reich is coming to his bar
MINUTE 18: TROUBLE TURN
Renault tells Rick that famed Victor Laslo is coming to Casablanca and must stay in Casablanca
MINUTE 19: THE THREAT
Renault threatens Rick not to give Laslo an exit visa
MINUTE 20: PUSH BACK
Rick chuckles at the threatening Renault
MINUTE 21: THE GREAT AFFECT
The Gestapo come for Ugarte (Rick now owns the transit papers)
MINUTE 22: TRUTH DECLARED
Rick: “I stick my neck out for nobody”
MINUTE 23: SCARY STUFF
Nazi Strasser wants to ask Rick questions
MINUTE 24: SCARY STUFF 2
Strasser has a dossier on Rick
MINUTE 25: SCARY STUFF 3
Sam sees Ilsa enter the bar
MINUTE 26: THE BIG UNEXPECTED
A man begging for money turns out to be a secret associate of Victor Laslo
MINUTE 27: THE MINI-QUEST
Ilsa wants to know more about the “boy at the piano”
MINUTE 28: BIG QUEST PREP
Laslo prepares to outwit Strasser who wants to stop him from leaving Casablanca
MINUTE 29: BIG QUEST PREP 2
Laslo “must find out what Berger know” (Preparing to leave Casablanca)
MINUTE 30: THE NEED
Laslo needs to find Ugarte’s transit papers
MINUTE 31: DISTRESS SIGNAL
Ilsa asks a distressed Sam where Rick is
MINUTE 32: ANXIETY AMP
Ilsa asks an anxious Sam to play “As Time Goes By”
MINUTE 33: OMINOUS OH NO!
Rick sees Ilsa (Oh no!)
MINUTE 34: FRIEND AFFECT
Ilsa’s remembrances of Paris affects Rick deeply
MINUTE 35: BAIT & SWITCH
It seems that seeing Ilsa is good (+), but it saddens Rick (-)
MINUTE 36: HIDE & SEEK
Rick’s wants Ilsa, but she’s with Laslo
MINUTE 37: OVER HIS HEAD
Drunk Rick slams his fist—”Of all the gin joints and towns in the world, she walks into mine”
MINUTE 38: POSITIVE RECONNECT
Sam plays piano for Rick
MINUTE 39: NEW JOURNEY BOND
Rick and Ilsa bond in a Paris flashback
MINUTE 40: ALLY’S WORLD
Ilsa tells Rick the other man in her life is dead
MINUTE 41: THORNY ROSE
Rick and Ilsa kiss (+), but the Nazi planes fly overhead (-)
MINUTE 42: SURPRISE REVEAL
We see Sam play for Rick and Ilsa in Rick’s bar in Paris
MINUTE 43: SURPRISE REVEAL 2
The Gestapo is expected in Paris tomorrow
MINUTE 44: NEW NEWS
The Germans are 35 miles away
Sam says there’s a price on Rick’s head
MINUTE 45: OUT OF THE ORDINARY
Bachelor Rick asks Ilsa to marry him
MINUTE 46: THE REVELATION
Ilsa’s not at the train station
MINUTE 47: THE ESCORT
Sam escorts Rick to the train
The train escorts Rick out of Paris
MINUTE 48: NEEDED KNOWLEDGE
Ilsa tells Rick she wouldn’t have come if she knew he was here
MINUTE 49: FOREBODING FACT
Ilsa tells Rick about being with wonderful Laslo before she met Rick
MINUTE 50: THE PORTENT
Rick says hurtful things to Ilsa, she leaves
MINUTE 51: THE ENGAGE
Strasser tells Laslo that he must stay in Casablanca
MINUTE 52: SAY UNCLE
Laslo listens to Strasser
MINUTE 53: THE INTIMIDATION
Strasser tells Laslo that Ugate’s dead (his connection out of Casablanca)
MINUTE 54: THE LIGHTBULB
A local says that Ferrari is “a good man to know”
MINUTE 55: SIDESWIPE
Ferrari makes a generous offer to Rick for the transit papers
MINUTE 56: DARK TWIST CHAT
Rick talks with Ilsa, but she doesn’t want to talk with him
MINUTE 57: DIFFICULT WORDS
Ilsa tells Rick that she will be “leaving Casablanca soon and they will never see each other again”
MINUTE 58: VITAL EVENT
Ilsa confesses that Victor Laslo is her husband, and was when she knew Rick in Paris
MINUTE 59: THE DECEPTION
Laslo tells Ilsa that he would take the visa if there was only one, but he’s lying
MINUTE 60: THE SHOCKER
Ilsa and Laslo are shocked to find out that Rick has the transit papers
And so on...
To learn much more about all 120 minute-by-minute beats, and how to apply them to your screenplay, TV pilot, novel or graphic novel, order Something Startling Happens: The 120 Story Beats Every Writer Needs To Know at Amazon.com or Barnes & Nobles.http://shop.mwp.com/products/something-startling-happens-the-120-story-beats-every-writer-needs-to-know
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