The Hero's Journey is a plot writing method that every writing class teaches.  Its a structure, that is proven in storytelling.  Whether or not our scripts were adhereing to this structure in the long run, in school we HAD to write a treatment in Hero's Journey structure.  Star Wars was written in this method, and since we all had to learn it in school you should know it too.  It could help you better plot your story.

It is broken into 3 acts.

Act 1

1) Ordinary World---opening sequence - want to foreshadow the begining, raise dramtic question, make an entrance for your protagonist, establish theme.

2) Call to Adventure---can no longer remain comfprtable in the ordinary world, establishes stakes of game.

3)  Refusal of Call---Protagonist becomes scared, wants to turn back

4)  Mentor---wise person who helps hero to be successful, prepares hero to face unknown.

5)  First Threshold---end of act 1, commits to adventure, no turning back, a moral dilemma.

ACT 2

6)  Tests, Allies, Enemies - put in situation with severe contrasts, they make villians & allies, learns the rules of the new world.

7)  Inmost Cave---Hero' pause at the gate to prepare self, stakes increase, villian becomes stronger.

  Ordeal---all is lost for prptagonist, goals are in mortal jeopardy, life or death.

9)  Reward----hero gets hands on treasure: i.e. knowledge or wisdom

ACT 3

10)  Road Back ---- deals with consequences after viewing the darkness, recommits to goal

11)  Resurrection---climax, hero has final confrontation, has new personality, death and rebirth

12) Return with the Elixir---hero returns to ordinary world, but must return to it with a new aspect from the extra ordinary world. 

Dont leave subplots unresolved or sudden ending.

a lot of the movies made today actually follow this method.  Even though my favorite movies do not, the majority of big budget hollywood movies do.  If you write a script that adheres to this format, you are guarenteed the dramatic cliche movie.  Think about Lord of the Rings and read the acts again.  You will see that it is true.  Hell, the new testement even follows the heros journey.

Since I recently watched G.I. Jane again and its fresh in my mind, ill attempt to demonstrate how the Heros Journey was used in the film.

O'brien is a Lieutenate (sp?) in the navy.  She is played by Debi Moore.  I hope most people have seen this movie.  I will use the heros journey and site how it applies to GI JANE. 

ACT 1

1) Ordinary World --Obrien is an intel officer in the navy.  She is shown doing logistical computer stuff in a military office.

2) The Senator Lady wants to proove women can excell in the military.  She needs a guinea pig, and finds Obriens file, choosing her for SEAL basic training.

3) Obrien has doubts, her boyfrind and her discuss her going to SEAL basic.  She particularly has no intrest other than career advancement.

4) her boyfriend doubts her, she now has something to proove.

5) she goes off to basic training for the SEALS.

ACT 2

6) She faces gender discrimination, along with the general hardships of SEAL training.  Especially with the Crew Cheif.

7)  She is accused of being gay and given an utilmatum...desk job or nothing, her SEAL training is over. She goes home.

  She exposes the conspiracy and forces the Senator through political blackmail to get her back into the program.

9)She inserted back into the program, with the respect of her male SEAL trainees.

ACT 3

10) Her crew is called up for a real mission in the middle east.  No training, the real thing.

11)  She saves the life of the wounded Crew Cheif in combat.

12)  She makes it to SEAL, gains the respect of the Crew Cheif, everybodys happy.

Those of you familiar with the concept of the Hero's Journey.  A couple questions (I'm more interested in the Why then simple yes or no):

1.  Is it something that one should write into all screenplays that they tell?

2.  Do all elements need to be there?

3.  Do they need to be in the pre-designated order, what are your personal opinions?

4.  Can you bend/break the formula without destroying its integrity, i.e. will the story still be good if you only use parts of the hero's journey?

5.  Lastly, how does one utilize the hero's journey when starting their outline.  Is it simply deciding what scenes will fulfill those slots, or is a more complex process?

I'm not sure if we're thinking of the same thing but I will try to help based on what I know of the subject (Again might be a bit different from what you're looking for)

1. Yeah, most films do have it I guess if you look beyond the sweet outer rim, even Gigli has the quest. (Finds out his "quest" or job, gets advice from Pacino not to screw it up, finds an ally in J-Lo and an enemy as well, they fall in love or something like that, final showdown and boom he leaves into the sunset.) Seems like even bad movies try.

2. The romance part doesn't always need to be there in my opinion; if you take out the girl in a hardcore action flick will it really hurt the film? I think those pauses would hurt the flick like in Bad Boys 2.

3. This one is hard for me to answer on an industry level but my own personal feeling is that they can go wherever you want as long as they don't kill the screenplays pacing.

4. I think you need every element (Maybe not the romance one) just watch Spiderman and tell me if it would be better or worse without certain parts of his journey, the romance with Mary Jane was needed but hurts it at the same time for me.

5. Personally I write the story, if the story does not include them I failed to write a good story. If at first you don't succeed try, try it again.

If you put as much thought into your story as you should they should be there whether you know it or not.

Hope I could help, I might be talking about something completely different or I might actually have a good opinion for once, it can happen.

1. No, but it helps to be aware of the mythic structure when plotting your stories.

2. Not at all. Use what's useful. No need to cram in any element just for the sake of it. Mix and match, remove elements, repeat elements, change the order in which they occur.

3. Nope, you can change the order as you see fit. Obviously, elements like 'The Call' need to be near the beginning. Most of it, however, can be adapted to suit your needs. It's a guidline, not a strict set of rules.

4. See above. Adapt it to suit your needs. Use whatever works for your story.

5. Again, whatever works for you. You don't need to follow the formula exactly. Use the different elements to spark your creativity, but don't feel you have to fill in every gap.

Check out these links:

Perceiving The Foundation of Storytelling
http://www.ifvchicago.com/process/wr_structure_perceiving.shtml

Archetypal Criticism and Joseph Campbell
http://www.fccps.k12.va.us/gm/faculty/english/archcrit.htm

Archetypal Narratives
http://www.cus.cam.ac.uk/~blf10/stories.html

The Mythic Structure of Action Movies
http://reelmind.com/pages/articles/default.php?artid=44&ck=33

Wesley, Dr. Mabuse

thanks for your comments.