The Martian screenplay breaks into Act Three with Mark removing parts of the MAV so that he is light enough to make the trip out to the shuttle, but this will require him to ditch the front of the MAV. Mark must leave the Habitat and make his way across Mars to the MAV 4. The Martian script has the climax of Act Two landing around page 85 where we get a work montage to David Bowie’s Starman. So while Mark’s situation seems to be getting worse and worse on the surface of the planet, there are new exciting ideas that might be able to save him. The Martian screenplay uses this section to alternate back and forth between terrible news and life saving ideas from the team on the ground. Mark’s chances for survival go from bad to worse. The Martian script has the midpoint and big twist occur right around page 65 where the NASA resupply launch fails. Mark grows potatoes, and then goes after the Pathfinder shuttle to try and make contact with NASA. We also get to watch as Mark uses his knowledge to prepare a trip across Mars in an effort to meet with NASA when they come back to Mars. The Martian screenplay uses the politics, optics, and technical complications of a rescue mission to act as logical obstacles. This is where the team back on Earth realize that Mark Watney is actually still alive, and because of the distance and how complicated the mission would be, they wouldn’t be able to get back to Mars for at least a year. The Martian script has Act One landing around page 25. Mark must seal up hit suit, deal with his wound and get back into the Habitat. This is where we learn that Mark is actually not dead, but still injured.

The Martian screenplay uses the inciting incident in a very clever way.

Believing he’s dead, the rest of the team must abort the mission and leave Mark behind. We meet Mark Watney and the rest of the team, but then a storm shows up to and an antennae hits Mark Watney. The Martian script begins right in the middle of the action with a mission in progress on Mars. Script Teardown Script Structure of The Martian 1.

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