![]() Find out what the primary character wants in the scene (his/her goal), and let the dialogue evolve from that.ī) Set up your dialogue ahead of time. ![]() In most good screenplays, goals are what keep the energy up and the story alive.Ī) Structure the scene around a character goal.Every scene you write, the characters in that scene should have a goal.The more people you have going after things, the more characters will clash with one another, and that’s when it gets fun! Clash equals conflict and conflict equals drama and drama equals entertainment.They should extend to every character in your screenplay. Goals shouldn’t be limited to your protagonist.As long as there’s an immediate task (goal) for your character to accomplish, your script should move along at a brisk pace.But before he can reach it, there are a bunch of smaller goals he must complete first. We need a series of smaller goals to get us to the big goal.You simply impose a time limit on your character’s pursuit. And yet, adding urgency is one of the easiest things to do. The writer doesn’t infuse enough urgency into his story, turning the script into a Tempur-Pedic mattress with goose-down pillows. Urgency: One of the biggest problems with amateur screenplays is that they’re slooooooow. If there are no stakes, we won’t care whether the hero succeeds or not. There need to be STAKES attached to the goal. And the more that’s at stake, the more invested your audience will be. The more the outcome affects your character, the more will be at stake. Stakes: Once you have a goal, you can establish what it means for your character to achieve that goal. Those are the things that make movies fun! As long as your character is pursuing something, he’ll be running into challenges, encountering situations, and bumping up against other characters. That “thing” is typically referred to as a “goal.” Why is it so important to have a goal? Because characters with goals move stories forward. Goal: You want your hero going after something in a story. The “epiphany moment”: it signifies that your hero is ready to take action.Ĭhapter 2: Storytelling – Goal, Stakes, Urgency.He won’t have completely transformed yet, but this realization will give 6 him the confidence to go after the girl or take on the villain or look for the treasure one last time. If he’s fearful, he’ll find the strength to be brave. If he’s selfish, he’ll see the value of selflessness. After your hero reaches his “lowest point,” he’ll experience a rebirth, finally realizing the error of his ways.The final act of your screenplay is really about your hero’s inner transformation.This is often referred to as your hero’s lowest point and will signify the end of the second act. ![]() The closer we get to the climax, the more dim your hero’s chances of achieving his goal should get. As the pages tick away in this section, so too should the attainability of your character’s goal.Make the problems bigger and more difficult for your character. After the midpoint, keep upping the stakes of your story.Filler scenes are script-killers and will destroy everything you’ve worked so hard for.Whatever the first half of your story was about, the midpoint will shift it in a slightly different direction. Pages 55-60 in your script are referred to as the “midpoint.” The midpoint is important because it’s where your story turns.And conflict is what makes your story fun to read! In addition to this, every roadblock, every obstacle, every setback, should escalate in difficulty. The more things you throw at your character, the more conflict he’ll experience.A lot of people get confused by Act 2, so let me remind you of its nickname: “Conflict.” Act 2 is the act where all the resistance happens in your story.We wouldn’t have a movie if the hero stayed put, so your character always goes after the goal.The “inciting incident,” which is a fancy way of saying, the “problem.That problem will propel him into the heart of your story. Act 1 introduces your hero then throws a problem at him.
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