A minute-by-minute story beat analysis of MONEYBALL by Todd Klick
MINUTE 1: AT-TENSION!
Tense playoff game. A’s take 1-0 lead
MINUTE 2: THE BUILD
The As cause two errors
MINUTE 3: THE RATCHET
Billy Beane listens to the tense game alone
MINUTE 4: ANOTHER NOTCH
Billy’s team loses
MINUTE 5: JAW DROPPER
Billy freaks out and stomps his radio
MINUTE 6: FRIEND OR FIST
Billy and the team owner commiserate (KISS)
MINUTE 7: FRIEND OR FIST 2
Billy and the owner fight about money (FIST)
MINUTE 8: SOMETHING STARTLING HAPPENS
Billy's friend screws him over and he looses a key player
MINUTE 9: THE PURSUIT
The A’s scouts pursue cheap but good players
MINUTE 10: THE DISCUSSION
Billy says, “Guys, you are just talking—la, la, la” (they’re discussing which player to pick
MINUTE 11: THE WARNING
Billy warns the scouts—they don’t know what the problem is
MINUTE 12: HARSHER WARNING
Billy warns the scouts again, saying: “The runt of the litter dies”
MINUTE 13: THE SUBMISSION
Billy submits to his scouts’ request to let them do their job
MINUTE 14: DANGER WATCH
The Indian’s secretary comes to get Billy for a key meeting
MINUTE 15: WHEW, THAT WAS CLOSE!
Billy chuckles when the negotiator takes a dig at him (Whew, that was close—he could have lost the other execs’ respect)
MINUTE 16: THE BIG CONCERN
The execs reject all Billy’s offers, which causes him deep concern
MINUTE 17: WORLD UPSIDE DOWN
Billy can’t get one deal make, which turns his world upside down
MINUTE 18: TROUBLE TURN
Billy confronts Peter
MINUTE 19: THE THREAT
Billy says to Peter, “I don’t give a rat’s ass what your name is”
MINUTE 20: PUSH BACK
Meek Peter speaks his mind to Billy
MINUTE 21: THE GREAT AFFECT
Peter tells Billy that losing Damen opens up a lot of interesting possibilities
MINUTE 22: TRUTH DECLARED
The scout says, “Very rare do you come upon a young man like Billy...”
MINUTE 23: SCARY STUFF
Young Billy will have to pick between college and pro ball
MINUTE 24: SCARY STUFF 2
Billy’s parents put the big decision on his shoulders
MINUTE 25: SCARY STUFF 3
Billy takes a big risk by buying Peter from the Indians
MINUTE 26: THE BIG UNEXPECTED
Peter evaluates 51 players instead of the expected 3
MINUTE 27: THE MINI-QUEST
Peter sets up his computer and goes to work
MINUTE 28: BIG QUEST PREP
Peter prepares Billy for finding value in players nobody wants
MINUTE 29: BIG QUEST PREP 2
Peter continues to prepare Billy for finding undervalued players
MINUTE 30: THE NEED
Art needs to talk to Billy
MINUTE 31: DISTRESS SIGNAL
Art wants his contract extended
MINUTE 32: ANXIETY AMP
Billy rejects his scouts’ choices, which ups their anxiety
MINUTE 33: OMINOUS OH NO!
“Billy, that’s trouble,” the scout says to Billy’s player choice
MINUTE 34: FRIEND AFFECT
Peter gets Billy’s back by saying: “Because he {the player Billy chose} gets on base”
MINUTE 35: BAIT & SWITCH
Billy says, “He can’t throw and he can’t field (BAIT), “but what can he do? He gets on base (SWITCH)
MINUTE 36: HIDE & SEEK
Billy says, “This is not a discussion (HIDES), but his scout SEEKS to change his mind
MINUTE 37: OVER HIS HEAD
None of the guys Billy chose can play first base (he may be in over his head)
MINUTE 38: POSITIVE RECONNECT
Billy says to out-of-work Scott, “The good news is, we want you at first”
MINUTE 39: NEW JOURNEY BOND
Billy tells Scott that they’re going to teach him to play first base
MINUTE 40: ALLY’S WORLD
Scott hugs his wife and daughter, happy to be hired
We see how Billy’s ex-wife lives with her new husband
MINUTE 41: THORNY ROSE
Billy chats politely with his ex-wife and her husband (ROSE), but it’s extremely uncomfortable for all of them (THORN)
MINUTE 42: SURPRISE REVEAL
Billy is surprised to hear that his daughter has a cell phone
MINUTE 43: SURPRISE REVEAL 2
Billy’s daughter’s beautiful guitar playing surprises him
MINUTE 44: NEW NEWS
Billy’s learns that his daughter is a great singer
MINUTE 45: OUT OF THE ORDINARY
Young Billy strikes out and fails as a player
MINUTE 46: THE REVELATION
Peter tells Billy about “The Greek God of Walks”
MINUTE 47: THE ESCORT
The head scout escorts Billy to the conference room to talk
MINUTE 48: NEEDED KNOWLEDGE
The head scout is telling Billy that he’s discounting what scouts have done for 150 years
MINUTE 49: FOREBODING FACT
Billy informs his head scout that he doesn’t know if a kid is gonna be a good or bad player
MINUTE 50: THE PORTENT
Billy fires his head scout
MINUTE 51: THE ENGAGE
Billy’s new players look bad, and Art the coach isn’t happy
MINUTE 52: SAY UNCLE
Art gives into Billy
MINUTE 53: THE INTIMIDATION
Billy says to Peter: “This better work”
MINUTE 54: THE LIGHTBULB
One player has knee braces, one’s a partier, one’s old and one lacks confidence—this doesn’t appear to be a good team
MINUTE 55: SIDESWIPE
Chad sideswipes Billy by saying he’ll be praying for him
MINUTE 56: DARK TWIST CHAT
Billy tells Peter that he’s going into the clubhouse—he doesn’t watch the games
MINUTE 57: DIFFICULT WORDS
The radio announcer says, “It’s the third Ranger to be hit today”—difficult words for Billy to hear on opening day
MINUTE 58: VITAL EVENT
Art and Billy butt heads over the team’s direction
MINUTE 59: THE DECEPTION
Billy lies when he tells Art: “Good talk. Every time we talk I’m reinvigorated by my love of the game”
MINUTE 60: THE SHOCKER
The guy who came up with the Moneyball theory was a security guard at a pork and beans company
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
And try the #1 Bestseller, The Screenwriter's Fairy Tale: The Universal Story Within All Movie Stories: http://www.amazon.com/The-Screenwriters-Fairy-Tale-ebook/dp/B007U6D0CM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1348519200&sr=1-1&keywords=the+screenwriter%27s+fairytale+the+universal+story+within+all+movie+stories
Todd Klick Writing Services: www.toddklick.com
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