The Holiday: Story Structure Breakdown

Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

Okay, I’m not going to hold back. This is a terrible movie. And I say that both as someone whose life this kind of is (dual life, Scotland/LA) and as a huge fan of Nancy Meyers’ Something’s Gotta Give and It’s Complicated.

But The Holiday, yeesh. For me? Non-stop cringey and unwatchable. The usually fabulous cast looks genuinely embarrassed most of the time, as if they’d rather be anywhere else—with the exception of the lovely and perfectly natural Eli Wallach, the only good thing about it. Besides the bad dialogue and worse acting, it is overwhelmingly, distressingly white. And I don’t understand how anyone can live through the constant fake laughter the stars are forcing in virtually every scene.

HOWEVER.

A good movie is kind of a miracle, and every filmmaker makes a bad one sometimes. It’s all part of what makes you a good filmmaker. And that goes for books and every other kind of art.

And inexplicable as it is to me, lots of people love this movie. And if that’s you, obviously, you can ignore my personal loathing for it, cue it up, and actually get quite a lot out of it structurally.

Once you learn the basic building blocks of film story structure, all the things that I’m always hammering—I mean, gently stressing—in these posts, books, and workshops, especially:

• The Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure

• Act and Sequence Climaxes and Setpieces

• Essential Story Elements of every genre, act by act

• Genre-specific elements

… then you will see them automatically, and every movie you watch becomes a textbook for studying your craft. You never have to feel like you’re wasting your time if you can shift into story analyst mode.

So if you choose to watch The Holiday, or are corralled into it, I’ve put together a cheat sheet for you to do just that, hitting on Sequences and Story Elements.

The Holiday

Written & directed by Nancy Meyers, produced by Nancy Meyers & Charles Block

PREMISE: Two recently heartbroken women from opposite sides of the Atlantic arrange a home exchange over the winter holidays to get over the men who betrayed/spurned them.

It’s a MAGICAL DAY story—in this case magical season—where the influence of a holiday brings love and character change.

And structurally it’s a DUAL PROTAGONIST story, with each heroine having equal time and weight, each having a love plot, and each of the eight sequences devotes approximately equal time to both stories, alternately.

All of which makes it a simple, understandable, very writeable structure for a love story, and it carries the resonance of centuries of romantic comedies that follow two couples through romantic misadventures.

First a general note:

Romance movies often follow more of a classic Three-Act Structure (like from older movies, pre-1960’s), that goes something like this:

• A long Act I stuffed with character setup, sometime an extra third sequence

• A two-part Act II of three or four sequences that is shorter than the Act II of other more action-oriented genres

• A shorter than usual Act III that tends to mash up elements that get longer treatment in other genres. This is done deftly, if shallowly, in Act III of The Holiday.

You see all of the above in action with The Holiday.

But as always, it’s most useful for you to decide for yourself what the Acts, Sequences and Climaxes are!

ACT I

SEQUENCE 1 — INTRODUCTION TO HEROINES, their SPECIAL SKILLS and GHOSTS:

We see first journalist Iris (Kate Winslet) in London, then movie trailer producer Amanda (Cameron Diaz) in LA, and learn their particular love GHOST/WOUNDS: Iris is in unrequited love with a narcissistic colleague, Jasper, who has just announced his engagement. Amanda has just discovered her boyfriend’s infidelity, but more importantly, is not really very moved by it. We will learn Amanda hasn’t been able to cry since she was 15. (Huge, glaring PLANT for an eventual CHARACTER CHANGE.).

I’d call this a long Sequence 1 that CLIMAXES with the mutual PLAN and CENTRAL STORY ACTION: the online house exchange between strangers Iris and Amanda.

SEQUENCE 2 — (INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD).

The first class vs. coach class flights of our heroines, and the arrival of Amanda to Iris’s twee cottage in lovely, snowy rural Surrey; and Iris’s drive into LA along the sunny coast (geographically incorrect but gorgeous) and her sheer delight exploring Amanda’s LA mansion (comparatively). Amanda, on the other hand, has seen the village, already gotten literal cold feet and decides to fly back to LA the next morning. (CONTRASTING PARALLEL PLOTS, also showing Amanda’s inability to commit - her INTERNAL OPPOSITION; and that Iris is very capable of joy, when she’s out of ANTAGONIST Jasper’s toxic influence.)

ACT II: Part 1

SEQUENCE 3 — Introduces the LOVE INTERESTS

In LA, Iris meets and shares a moment with movie composer Miles (Jack Black) as he drops by the house to pick up things for Amanda’s ex. Miles’ actress girlfriend Maggie keeps a watchful eye. (LOVE PLOT ANTAGONIST).

In Surrey, Iris’s drop-dead gorgeous editor brother Graham (Jude Law) shows up at her doorstep, drunk, thinking he can sleep it off on his sister’s sofa. Graham and Amanda are both so attractive they decide to have sex, despite the obvious fact that she should be treating him as a potential serial killer (I mean, wtf?). Amanda’s OUTER DESIRE: to forget her ex by having no-strings sex with this extremely sus stranger. (Don’t try this at home, people.). (47 minutes in).

NOTE: You might call this the actual Act I Climax, and I wouldn’t argue with you! As I said, romance movies often have that extra sequence in Act I.

But— if you decide to structure a movie or book this way, it’s still really important to have a SETPIECE CLIMAX at thirty minutes into the movie, or about a quarter of the way into your book, otherwise your audience or reader will get restless!

Back to the breakdown!

Graham leaves Amanda in the morning, with an invite to come the local pub that night to meet him and friends for dinner. To her own surprise, Amanda shows up. She’s decided to stay.

Next morning Iris wakes up and decides to enjoy the hell out of LA. (OUTER DESIRE) but is immediately put back into a funk with a call from Jasper, sweet-talking her to read pages of his book.

Iris also meets her far more debonair and attractive 90-year old neighbor, Arthur (Eli Wallach) when he gets confused while out on his daily walk (on a walker—SET UP/PLANT). She takes him home and learns he’s an OG Oscar-winning screenwriter with some serious stories to tell.

SEQUENCE 4: Development of Love Plots

Iris takes Arthur to dinner, tells him about her doomed relationship with Jasper (who is her main ANTAGONIST). Acting now as the MENTOR, Arthur gives her a list of Hollywood Golden Age movies with strong female characters to watch so she can become "the leading lady of her own life." (Iris’s INNER DESIRE. Jasper is the Antagonist, but she must overcome her INTERNAL CONFLICT to get over him. ) This is an example of the Mentor providing the heroine with a PLAN—not well-realized here, but which could actually have been a great movie on its own. Would that it had been.

(1:05) Amanda and Graham have spent another night together but without sex, as Amanda was too drunk. (So maybe he wasn’t a serial killer. I still say don’t try this at home.) She sees his phone with calls from “Sophie” and “Olivia,” realizes he’s a busy guy. (LOVE PLOT ANTAGONIST – or at least, complication!). But when Graham says they should spend the day and get to know each other, Amanda agrees, and they have a cutesy relationship-progressing drive and lunch in the country. But at the end of the day, she’s feeling the complications and doesn’t want him to come in, saying they’ll “see each other.” 1:10 (INTERNAL OPPOSITION).

Miles shows up again while Iris is having a dinner party with Arthur and other veteran screenwriters. A fine time is had by all and Miles is obviously interested in Iris, but committed to Maggie though he very clearly thinks she’s out of his league. (LOVE PLOT ANTAGONIST). He kisses Iris goodnight – on the cheek. Twice. 1:15

Amanda sees her life as a movie trailer and realizes she always pushes men away. (CHARACTER GROWTH). She shows up at Graham’s house with wine and munchies and is shocked to learn he is a widower with two young daughters, Sophie and Olivia. (MIDPOINT TWIST, running kind of late at 1:18, but it’s a 2:10 movie, and as I said, romance movies tend to be top heavy, proportionately.)

Act II: Part 2

SEQUENCE 5 – Love plot developments and complications

Amanda spends the evening with the family and bonds with Graham’s girls, who instantly adore her. Graham explains he kept the girls a secret because he doesn’t want to bring a woman into their lives unless the relationship definitely has a future. Amanda admits this all may be more complicated than she can handle.

1:28: In LA, Iris is spending her time helping Arthur exercise to prepare for the awards show. (TRAINING. I told you every story has it!). She gets phone calls from Graham and Amanda at the same time – Iris switches back and forth between calls and we see the two of them haven’t been seeing each other but clearly want to. (INNER DESIRE, and also PLOTS STARTING TO INTERSECT). Iris goes video shopping with Miles, who sees his actress girlfriend out with another man. Iris and Miles commiserate about unworthy partners back at the house and decide to enjoy Christmas Eve fettucini on the patio. (LOVE PLOT DEVELOPMENT). Amanda is also spending Christmas Eve with pasta and old movies, but alone. (CONTRASTING PARALLEL PLOTS)

SEQUENCE  6 (at 1:34) starts with a MONTAGE (this is a classic movie technique to show the passage of time and quickly sketch in plot development): Iris and Miles take Arthur to a tailor for a suit. (LOVE PLOT DEVELOPMENT). Amanda hikes the moors and tries unsuccessfully to cry. Graham edits in bed with his daughters, looks longingly at the phone. Amanda packs to leave in the morning. Graham shows up at the door and they throw themselves at each other.

ACT II DOUBLE CLIMAX:

In LA, Miles writes a theme song for Arthur and one for Iris and they sing together.

(1:24) In England, post-sex, Amanda reels off reasons she and Graham should just break it off clean. Graham says he’s in love with her. Amanda doesn’t know how to answer and just kisses him. (Sort of ALL IS LOST, not really.)

ACT III

(1:49) The afternoon of Arthur’s award night, Iris and Miles are at lunch bonding over Arthur’s movie list when Miles’ ex calls saying she misses him. He takes off to see Maggie, telling Iris he’ll try to get there for Arthur’s award. ALL IS LOST.

At home, Iris is shocked and conflicted when Jasper shows up at her front door, claiming he misses her. But when she susses he’s still engaged, she realizes she’s truly over him. (REVELATION, in the middle of what’s really Iris’s FINAL BATTLE.). She throws him out and races to get Arthur to the awards night. (This kind of hyped-up racing to a location is what usually passes for a STORMING THE CASTLE scene in romantic comedy.)

The theater (the CASTLE) is packed, Arthur walks down the aisle to a standing ovation (PAYOFF) and Miles shows up just in time with the theme music. He tells Iris “the Maggie thing” is over. As Arthur triumphantly gives his speech (SUBPLOT RESOLUTION), Miles asks Iris if she’ll go out with him on New Year’s Eve if he comes over to London. She kisses him.

In Surrey, Amanda kisses Graham goodbye and gets into a taxi (ALL is LOST), but then she starts to cry in the back seat. (REVELATION, CHARACTER ARC). She tells the driver to go back to the cottage, then runs through the snow to get back to Graham and asks him for a date on NY’s Eve. The running in the snow constitutes STORMING THE CASTLE, and the FINAL BATTLE is Amanda kinda sorta admitting to Graham she has feelings for him and wants to keep seeing him.

On NY’s Eve (the MAGICAL DAY) the two couples and Graham’s daughters party at Graham’s house and dance together like a family. (NEW WAY OF LIFE). (2:10)

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Let me know if there are other holiday movies you’d like me to post about!

And I’m happy to hear why you think this is a better movie than I think…

—Alex

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All material © Alexandra Sokoloff, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

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