Much ink and many pixels have been spent over the years over how to write a quality screenplay. Many people with more experience than I have waxed on about structure, mythology, inciting incidents, plot points, subplots, twists, turns, and every other theory imaginable. I, myself, have written about many of those same things here in this very blog, and I don’t want to devalue any of those components in any way. The more tools that you have in your toolbox, the easier it should be to craft an excellent screenplay.
However, I think that something has gotten lost in all of the theories and ideas on how to fill that tool box, and that is the basic notion of where a good screenplay comes from. First off is the premise. It’s hard to turn chicken shit into chicken salad, and if you don’t start off with a solid idea, then you’re going to struggle to turn it into a compelling story. But beyond that, I think there are three basic tenets to writing a compelling screenplay, and they are character, story and theme. If you have interesting characters, a compelling story and a captivating theme, then you’re well on your way to writing a successful screenplay. If you’re missing even one of those things, then all of the bells and whistles in the screenwriting pantheon are not going to help.
Now that might sound obvious to you, and if you think that, I agree. I don’t believe I’m saying anything controversial here. However, you’d be surprised how many screenplays I’ve read over the years that are missing these components, especially in early drafts. It’s no sin to be missing anything in an early draft, but the longer it takes you to find all of these components in your script, the longer it’s going to take you to get it to the point where it’s ready to shop around. With that in mind, these three components serve as the lifeblood of your screenplay.
The characters are draw us in.
The bottom line to any script is that if you don’t have characters that the audience will care about, then you don’t have anything. Stories are about people and the things that happen to them. Taking that to the next level reveals that if the audience doesn’t like, or at least care, about your main character, then they will not be engaged enough to spend two hours of their lives following what the character’s doing. If they don’t care about the character, then they won’t care about what happens to him or her, and therefor won’t care about your story. That means you have to do the leg work with your characters. What motivates them? What do they like? What don’t they like? What is it about them that will make them do something in the beginning of the story that will engage them to the audience, and thus make the audience willing to go with them on their journey? You need to be able to answer all of these questions correctly in order to make your story work.
Remember, your main character doesn’t necessarily have to be likable, especially in the beginning. Two Dustin Hoffman films come immediately to mind in Kramer Vs. Kramer and Tootsie. Hoffman starts out both of those films as relatively unlikable at worst, and deeply flawed at best. However the filmmakers in both of those movies gave us reason to be interested in him early on by making his flaws something we could relate to. Then they quickly got into the story and confronted those flaws, which forced him to reevaluate who he was, and allowed the audience to engage with him by hoping that he would change in the right way.
The story keeps us interested.
The story is the journey. You’ve made us interested in your characters, so now we’re interested in seeing what happens to them. But making your characters interesting is only half the battle. You have to make what happens to them interesting as well. That’s where conflict and drama come in. As an audience, we crave conflict. We want things to become uncomfortable for the characters. That discomfort and conflict are what creates drama, and the more drama in the story, the more interesting it will be. Knowing what your characters want and seeing how difficult it is for them to attain it is what keeps the audience engaged, and the more difficult it is for your character to attain what he or she wants, the more dramatic your story will be. That’s especially true when what your character wants is different from what he or she needs, and it’s great when those two dynamics play against each other.
A great example of that is from the classic Gone With the Wind. Scarlett O’Hara is in love with Ashley Wilkes, but she can never have him because he’s in love with another. And even if she could have him, he’s such a weakling that she’d never be happy with him. Her infatuation with him blinds her to that fact. Meanwhile, the dashing Rhett Butler is in love with Scarlett, and tries throughout the film to show her how happy he could make her. Deep down, she knows that Rhett is the right man for her, and the audience knows that as well because she’s a better person when he’s around. But she believes her heart is with Ashley, and she doesn’t realize that Rhett is the right man for her until it’s too late. The dynamic between these relationships is what guides the story, and the conflict created between what Scarlett wants and what she needs is the basis for a very dramatic story that became one of the most popular films of all time.
The theme makes us care.
Like the Holy Spirit in Christianity, theme is the most difficult and most elusive component to comprehend in the Holy Trinity of screenwriting. Several weeks ago, I posted a blog about theme and how it comes from character. That remains true, and the reason for that is that the theme is what makes us care about your character. In Tootsie the theme was about living in another’s shoes in order to really appreciate what their going through and to garner a new found respect. Sometimes it’s even simpler, like in the western High Noon which is that you don’t know who your friends are, or Gone With the Wind with home is where you find your strength. The theme generally is the point you’re trying to make by writing the script. You might believe that many films, especially lowbrow comedies or action flicks don’t really have an overarching theme or lesson or point. I would first submit that that’s what makes them lowbrow. But I would also submit that even many of those films have some overarching thematic elements to hold the story together. It might be weak and it might be thin, but I’ll be almost anything that they’re there.
Overall, it’s these three components that you have to have that must serve as the foundation of your screenplay. Without all three of these components firmly in place, you’re going to have a very difficult time writing a screenplay that has any kind of quality.
If you’re working on a script that you think could be lacking in any of these components, then we can evaluate it, and let you know how it can be improved. Click the link below to see the kinds of services we provide and which one you think would be best for you.