storycoaching

Premise test – notes on stakes.

“The stakes are not ours. They are the characters.”*   Stakes are both easy and hard. It’s a category that’s easy to fill in with something, hard to fill in well. Stakes are consequences. They are what will happen if the hero fails to meet his goal. If our heroes are blue collar heroes who must blow up a giant asteroid (ARMAGEDDON), the stakes are “or else the world will be destroyed. If our hero…

The Premise Test – Notes on Goal

1. ROOTING INTEREST IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PLOT Midway through DUNKIRK, I turned to my friend and said, “Wait, is that the plane from earlier? Are sea and air narratives about to intersect?” My friend said, “I have no fucking idea. Shut up, I’m watching this.” This illustrates a truth about story telling. Everything, plot, arc, metaphor, is secondary to a rooting interest. If you care about what…

Applies equally to writing.

Five reasons a voice recorder is a screenwriter’s best friend

Record ideas as soon as you have them. We think we won’t forget, but the truth is we do. If you have your ideas recorded somewhere, your brain will give you more… if you never do anything with the ideas you have, eventually you stop having them. It’s important to record your ideas as soon as you have them, ubiquitous capture is a key step to personal organization and productivity. 1. Work…