The Dramatic Question?

Michael Clayton : A Masterclass in Screenwriting Genre

Jonathan Bailey -

In screenwriting, genre forms a hierarchy that dictates how you will structure, write, and present your screenplay to an audience.

Mastering this hierarchy will help you make the correct narrative decisions, clarify your story's core conflict, and create a more satisfying experience for your audience. The viewer is subconsciously expecting genre cues to guide them through your story. When this is not set up correctly, the story risks becoming muddled, leaving the audience confused and emotionally disengaged.

But blending multiple genres is not a trivial task for the aspiring screenwriter.

Today we will learn from the master, Tony Gilroy, and explore how the Michael Clayton screenplay creates a seamless hierarchy of genre.

Marketing vs. Screenwriting Genre

Movies are a business and businesses make money.

Producers use genre tags to hook the audience into buying a ticket. Our genre savvy viewer, with their favorite genre already in mind, expends minimal effort to find the movies they like. For promotional and marketing purposes, platforms like IMDb often list multiple genre tags to appeal to a broad audience.

Great for selling movies, not so great for writing them.

A screenwriter cannot treat genre as an unordered, isolated set of tags.

This is the current list on IMDB for Michael Clayton : Crime, Drama, Mystery, Legal Thriller.

Michael Clayton's primary genre is Thriller.

The Role of Primary Genre in Michael Clayton

The primary genre defines how your protagonist tries to solve their problem, how your screenplay is structured, and what information you give to the audience.

Gilroy opens the Michael Clayton screenplay with a masterclass in character setup. He establishes dramatic conflict driven by dialogue. The drama genre is established, but the lack of jeopardy raises an important question:

How can Michael Clayton be a Thriller?

Karen Crowder's desire drives the narrative and structures the screenplay, so she is the Protagonist. Michael Clayton is the Main Character, and while the story is told from his perspective, his lack of clear desire, means the story cannot be structured around him.

Key Thriller Indicators :

  • The second Act is framed by the Dramatic Question : Will Karen be able to deal with Arthur and close the U-North case?
  • We see Karen hiring professional killers.
  • Dramatic Conflict is created from Karen's desire and Arthur, the Antagonist's, desire to stop her.
  • The audience is provided with all the information about both characters, so their interest in the story is not around figuring out missing information.
  • The audience wants to know if Karen will succeed, how she will do it, and what will happen to Arthur.

Drama as a Secondary Genre

Drama explores character's personal relationships, arcs, and moral dilemmas through dialogue and dramatic conflict.

Gilroy takes time in his story to show us the complicated relationships Michael has with his family, his son, and friend Arthur Edens. When Michael searches for Arthur in New York, minimal screen time is used to show the act of searching, so we can move quickly to Michael confronting Arthur.

If this were an Action Thriller the time would have been focused on the pursuit and chase of Arthur.

It's also worth noting, that in the original screenplay and cut, Michael had a girlfriend, and a past relationship with a colleague. These cuts make the Drama genre less dominant.

Too many dialogue scenes exploring your characters and you will have a drama on your hands, whether that was your intention or not.

What if Michael Clayton Were a Drama?

As a learning exercise, we can change the primary genre in Michael Clayton to Drama.

It's key to recognize the primary genre's impact on the protagonist's actions. 

Karen Crowder could remain the protagonist and drive the narrative, while we still experience the story from Michael’s point of view. But Karen’s desire, which structures the second act, would have to change. She needs to jeopardize Michael’s relationships.

The obvious but jaded choice, is the custody of his son. A screenwriter is required to find a new perspective on the child custody story. You could write Michael Clayton as a child custody drama, like Kramer vs. Kramer, and still have her hire hit-men to kill Michael.

But you are presented with two competing primary genres and the problem of writing scenes for both. You now have to set up your first act and explore Michael's relationship with his children, and Karen's desire to have him murdered.

Crime as a Supporting Influence

The crime genre focuses on criminal acts and their impact on the characters.

In the first half of the Michael Clayton screenplay, crimes are committed with little or no consequences for the characters. There is no police detective asking questions or the looming threat of prosecution. At the midpoint, after Arthur’s death, Michael becomes the detective and starts to investigate his friend's murder.

The crime genre increases the tension for the audience and pulls them into the story by asking the question : will Michael uncover the secrets U-North case, Arthur’s death, and Karen Crowder's actions?

The crime genre also forces Karen to act against Michael and give us a transition into the third act and climax. At the end Karen is held responsible for her crime and arrested.

Mystery

The mystery genre works by withholding information from the audience and protagonist.

The audience accompanies the protagonist on a journey as they uncover clues to the mystery. We learn as the protagonist learns new pieces of information, and are kept engaged wanting to know more.

At the midpoint Michael is suspicious when Arthur’s death doesn’t halt the U-North case. He starts to investigate and uncover the mystery. But Gilroy has written this story using dramatic irony, so we already have the answers Michael doesn’t.

While there are elements of mystery for Michael, it’s a bit of a stretch to apply this genre to this story, as the mystery is solely from Michael's point of view.

Putting a lawyer in jeopardy doesn’t make a screenplay a Legal Thriller.

The Michael Clayton screenplay involves lawyer’s, legal firms, and a corporate case involving innocent victims, but these all play a secondary role. There is no court room battle leading to the third act climax. The jeopardy doesn’t centre around Arthur using the law to defeat Karen Crowder and U-North corporation.

The incorrect tagging on IMDB does reveal a trait about Tony Gilroy and his screenwriting ability.

Michael Clayton is a lawyer who doesn’t practice law and is instead a legal janitor fixing wealthy clients' problems. The story is set in the legal world, involving a corporate legal case, but there is no court room scenes or climax.

Tony Gilroy, by not making the obvious choices, has elevated a mundane premise, into an Academy Award Nominated screenplay.

Until Next Time

This article has shown how a clear understanding of genre hierarchy can elevate a screenplay by aligning structure, character motivation, and audience expectations. By studying Michael Clayton and Tony Gilroy's approach, screenwriters can make more intentional and effective choices when blending and prioritizing genre elements.

At the early stages of story development and drafts you don’t need to concern yourself with genre.

This is a time to explore without constraints and let your creative instincts and imagination guide you. Your early drafts may well have competing genres.

But at some point, like other parts of a screenplay, you will need to commit to a primary genre and structure your story around it. Take and objective look at your protagonist and observe how they try to fulfil their desire. It may be clear, or you may have to cut parts of your story that don’t work.

The painful—but essential—process of killing your darlings and committing to a clear genre structure will elevate your screenwriting.