The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (written by Steve Conrad based upon the James Thurber short story) is a delightful, clever, funny movie with an Inciting Incident that is much more elaborately constructed than the one we find in Saving Mr. Banks. Here is a breakdown of the scenes which comprise it:
1. Walter having breakfast at his computer and trying to send an eHarmony “wink” to Cheryl Melhoff
2. Walter waiting for his train and talking on his cell to Todd from eHarmony, which inspires one of Walter’s zone-out heroic moments
3. Walter arriving at work and learning that Life Magazine has been acquired; meeting his sister, from whom we learn it is Walter’s birthday and that their mother is moving and is having trouble moving her piano
4. Meeting Ted Hendricks, he obnoxious managing director of the transition–and Walter having another zone-out heroic moment in which they engage in an epic superhero battle
5. Seeing Cheryl in the hall (she also works at Life), but not being able to talk to her…and having another zone-out heroic moment in which he is a romantic adventurer “testing the limits of the human experience.”
These initial setup scenes involve:
(a) the romantic subplot between Walter and Cheryl; and
(b) the acquisition of Life Magazine which will give urgency to what follows:
6. Walter enters his office and finds a gift from a colleague, the über-photographer and real life romantic-adventurer, Sean O’Connell. It’s a wallet with Life Magazine’s motto on it. Then Walter learns that Sean O’Connell’s latest batch of photos, his “neg roll,” is missing Negative #25. This piece of bad luck is the “happening” that upsets the balance of Walter’s life. On the surface it’s a “negative” value charge, but in fact it will represent the opportunity for Walter to step out of his comfort zone and start to live the life he’s only been dreaming about.
7. Staff meeting with the obnoxious Ted Hendricks and the rest of his transition team. Hendricks announces that Life Magazine is folding and that Sean O’Connell has sent a telegram urging that they use Negative #25–a photo O’Connell calls “the quintessence of life”– for the cover photo of Life’s final issue. Hendricks asks Walter for the negative (exerting pressure on Walter). Walter lies, saying it’s “being processed.” We learn it’s 2 and ½ weeks before the final issue goes to press. Walter’s obfuscation here is a decision that serves as the catalyst for all the actions that follow. If he does not decide to buy some time in order to look for Negative #25, there is no story. Soon enough, a larger decision will be demanded of him: namely, whether to fly to Greenland to find Sean O’Connell and ask him what happened to Negative #25. But this much bigger transition is the First Turning Point of the story and the end of Act I (I’ll talk about Turning Points tomorrow).
8. Walter introduces himself to Cheryl and asks if she has an address for Sean O’Connell. She agrees to help him. One decision to try to find Negative #25 now leads to another, which also deepens the romantic subplot with Cheryl.We’re about 17 and ½ minutes now into the movie.
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