I have read countless things about what makes a screenplay sell, however, when I look at a film like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off I can’t help but wonder how a screenplay like this sold.
All I’ve heard from the experts is that you need character arcs and all that jazz but I just don’t see that in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He wakes up and gets back in bed the same person, right?
Obviously it’s a great film, an instant classic but it just seems to defy everything a “great screenplay” should have by today’s standards. Any thoughts?
— Nick
Rhode Island
You could spend a semester studying what makes Ferris Bueller such a classic, but the character arc thing is easily answered:
Ferris doesn’t change. Cameron does. Cameron is the reluctant protagonist, literally dragged along by Ferris. By the end of the story, Cameron has changed a little, with plans to stand up to his father. Arcs don’t have to be epic.
As I’ve [said before](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2005/whats-the-difference-between-hero-main-character-and-protagonist), the main character doesn’t have to protagonate. Yes, in most movies, your hero is the protagonist and it’s all cut and dried. But it’s not the only way a story can work.
If you’re ever confused, refer to Michael Goldenberg’s advice: The protagonist is the character that suffers the most.
In this case, that’s Cameron.