Every Great Story Has 3 Central Questions - Jeffrey Alan Schechter

[@Laocoon283]

Tying the global conflict to the protagonist overcoming his personal conflict is what resonants with the spectators. It makes there own personal conflicts feel incredibly important and motivates them to overcome them. It's the ole slay the dragon to save the princess archetype.

[@wexwuthor1776]

Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes. Whatever gets the job done on screen.

[@charleshuguley9323]

True, but Hollywood scripts are so formulaic that scripts must follow the formula to succeed.

[@chrisd7733]

I think there are quite a few stories with small stakes - personal journeys, coming of age stories, love stories, etc. - where you would have only personal and private central questions - as there is nothing that would involve large groups of people, i.e., no professional central question.

[@Laocoon283]

"Everry great story" not every story.

[@dannyfar7989]

What he seems to mean is "I do it like this, so do great others, see: it can work" he has valid points. What he says is: everything great is like this, everything not like this is not great. I give him benefit of the doubt and say what he means is allright. That also means that what he saif can and should be corrected as it just was in the comment above.

[@willlicks8584]

You don’t think love stories, personal transformational journeys, and coming of age stories have large stakes? These are the personal stories that make us who we are

[@dannyfar7989]

@@willlicks8584 beeing reductive, stakesizes are ignored. He only differenciates between the sizes of the groups that are affected by and not the sizes of the stakes. It's somewhat "overly" simplified

[@ElJefe3126]

@@Laocoon283 I would suggest Ordinary People. "Great" enough to win an Oscar. It's an epic that sweeps through just a handful of characters instead of a cast of thousands. In a similar vein, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and Atonement. Sometimes you can still separate the personal question from the professional question in a story like that, sometimes you can't.

[@dustyhills8911]

I love this explanation of the 3 questions/central question and the vocabulary used! Very easy to follow and practice. I also like the idea of reverse engineering the 3rd act through these 3 questions being answered. It ensures that you have a clear connection between your story and protagonist and then also ensures a satisfying conclusion and wrap up to that character's journey. Even if you come up with the character first, they should be connected to the central question in more than just a superficial manor.

[@letithemp]

hi my name is Luke, I have wondered for the last 7 years how do set my problems at my mini-documentary series and after that video it just ALL became clear. Thank you so much Film Courage and Jeffrey Alan, may the force be always with you!

[@Brinco-tv]

Character vs plot : Perhaps finding the right balance matters ? Sometimes I find myself obsessed with plot and structure, but the things is: I don't get to know my characters. It's like flying in a plane and seeing villages from the air, you get an idea on their architecture but you don't get to see the people in them. At this moment I find myself in a situation where I've had an incompleted structure for too long. I just couldn't figure out some elements of it despite the efforts. I just ended up landing and walking through the scenes with the characters. I begun writing with the structure "mostly finished", but with some questions yet unresolved. By playing with the characters I get to know them better, and it's actually helping me a lot on finishing the plot of the story, cause now I know who this people are.

[@denvan3143]

Frank Oz of the Muppets discovered the character of Miss Peggy. When, during a rehearsal, , he adlibed a karate chop to Jim Henson’s Kermit. Miss Piggy’s character was instantly defined with the karate chop, and the ”Hy- _yah!”_ Sometimes you find the kernel of what makes up your character in a line of dialogue you just write out on the spur of the moment. Other times you dig and dig through rewrite after rewrite of dialogue until you find who the character is.

[@TorchwoodPandP]

Abbie E Emmons has some good thinking on how story and character are actually linked. Could help make your story complete?

[@barbariancauldron3284]

This is probably your best video that explains most of what you need. Thanks for having this guest.

[@drimeloca]

That's so helpful - thanks a lot! I love this channel!

[@z128791]

I highly recommend his book and the Contour software he was involved in creating. I have them both and I find running the original ideas through his process greatly clarifies the merits of the story and guides the Author through the journey of the Main Character. It's always better to make sure all the kinks are ironed out at the treatment stage, rather than go through a few drafts, only to discover the whole thing is going nowhere. Totally worth the investment. Still, I appreciate all the free advice we get from him. Plus, his voice is very soothing to listen to.

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

He does have kind of a point of a strongly constructed plot/story with weakly constructed characters is a bit better than storngly constructed characters in a weakly constructed plot.

[@diemes5463]

That's not a scientific study

[@pietzsche]

@1catboi2 That's kind of dependant on other things, in a series you might need really strong characters to carry all the plot downtime, in a movie, a rough sketch of tropey characters can be enough if the plot's there

[@moment2momentphotographyvi236]

@1catboi2 What study? Who did those studies? If you can't name who these scientists are, you're as guilty of constructing poorly defined characters in your comment. Why would anyone care?

[@G360LIVE]

@1catboi2 I agree, and that's the exact reason I love Downton Abbey. The characters hooked me. They didn't draw you in, but that's okay. Not everyone relates to certain characters. But yeah, it's the characters that really matter. Darth Vader didn't have to win at the end of the first Star Wars movie for him to become the most popular character and help to drive that movie to its success. I mean, if you think about it, the plot of Star Wars isn't even very interesting; it's actually very safe (the standard good vs evil). What makes the movie so great is the characters in the film and how we connect with them and remember them and their dialogue. It's the famous bits of dialogue that we repeat to each other every so often, not the film's plot.

[@diemes5463]

@1catboi2 that’s a poorly written show altogether, the plot and characters are bad. Think of Inception, which has very little, but effective, characterization, and very memorable plot. Characters need something to do as well as a personality, without plot, there’s no story, I really don’t understand this imaginary conflict between the two.

[@josephedmondson1969]

His notion to plot first over characters isn't too bad of a notion. Although I do feel that character and story needs to be balanced in equal amounts. It's a Goldie Locks situation; it needs to be just right!

[@kakyoin3856]

Nice. Need to inspect this soon

[@aliabbasrajani2499]

Thank you ❤

[@billkage4279]

Jeffrey Alan Schechter is definitely a Screenwriting Jedi Master.

[@denvan3143]

Jeff certainly knows the Jedi mind tricks. He knows how to create expectations, direct them through the narrative, and satisfy them at the conclusion.

[@rayzrsharp]

By far!!

[@DUST35]

So much helpful information in here, thanks! Looking forward to read Jeffrey's book 👍

[@juju10683]

I am better at plot than character. But I find a first draft with a good plot lends itself to fixing the character. You can figure out the kind of person who would be most challenged by the plot.

[@tdog808]

Great advice!

[@therasbull]

This dude knows what he's talking about

[@billkage4279]

Indeed!

[@ScottE-2]

Jeff brings up some good points here. 3 very important things that will doom a series regarding the protagonist. If we think they are unrelatable, uncaring, and unrefined our investment into their story drops. Even if there is something structured around them like say the world is built well or characters outside of them are tolerable, its a bad show or movie. I will list only one example because I'm making a video going further in depth about this character: Subaru Natsuki from Re:Zero. To begin with, this clinically dumb and easily irritable protagonist gets placed into another world in the blink of his eye. He has no goal, no real reason to be summoned there, but most notably has the expectation that he will be on a quest with everything handed to him. The latter of which does by the mere fact that the plot and NPC types just willingly give him what he needs without effort. The major issue that the entire first season of the show relies on is that of a personal goal that he will save and get this one girl to fall in love with him. With the challenge being, every time he fails and perishes, he resets to a previous location in time. Each time this happens the course of events repeat with slight alterations so that he will eventually make the correct actions, with every wrong move causing him to either: perish or fail his mission requiring he does the former. Eventually after convincing one character to trust him, he makes a rather nasty blunder in emotionally hurting the girl he's madly in love with and cannot reset it. Thus he attempts to overcorrect himself until he's reset enough times to comply and act accordingly. It isn't until he perfects the set of events that he does get to apologize and attempt to make amends with that girl and save her a second time. Said scenario being caused by Subaru himself entirely by acting selfishly on his personal want and goal. There are way too many conveniences and repeatable opportunities for Subaru to abuse that becoming invested into the world and the plot become impossible to take seriously. To speak directly to the core of the problem: Subaru has no real investment into acting in any professional behavior when constantly breaking it in the interest of the girl. There isn't a private reason for him to embark on his journey either since he was taken to this new world without explanation or purpose, leaving it up to him to determine that. Said purpose then becomes purely and heavily reliant on Subaru gaining the love and affection from the girl who saved him when they first met (which Subaru failed to save in return). There's also something incredibly offensive with how his character and the plot device that he returns with each reset that denies his past actions having any real punishment toward him. All it does is punish the audience for watching him fail by setting him back to the start of that given point. It at its least severity at the start of the show but as it goes on the number of resets stack up and drag out things needlessly. The start had 3 total resets, the beginning where common sense is thrown out causing the first one, the second Subaru explains what he's going to do to the person who got him to reset the first time, and the third time being forced on him so quickly for not responding to some thugs properly. All of this plays out in the first 3 episodes, but after that, the number of resets grow up to 5 almost consistently before the final portion limiting it to about 3-6 (an estimate I will have to recount this later). I have much more to say but I am growing quite tired writing this so early in the morning. Thank you for sharing Jeff's portion of the interview, I find it a rather useful tool to aid in identifying issues and finding solutions with characters who need to excel properly in their introduction and conclusion (if applicable).

[@chrismeister884]

I write that exact way. Always plot first and action first then come back to characters.

[@shanehixson1313]

People buy tickets for the story. They love the characters after they watch the movie.

[@vapx0075]

Okay, This is an interesting point! Thank you for sharing your insight.

[@shanehixson1313]

@@vapx0075 I should have said, “I buy tickets if I am intrigued by the plot (the challenge) and setting.” But I how I much I enjoy (or love) the movie depends on how much i like the characters.”

[@emilypearson5484]

I would also suggest that the majority of your scenes need to be relevant to more than one of those three central questions. Some beginning writers accidentally pad their work because they’re trying to answer the private question. We end up with “pet store” scenes because the writer thinks we need to be told who the character is in a vacuum. I’m not saying you can never have a scene focused only on the private question, but plot-meaning the advancement of the professional and personal questions-is the chief way good writers answer the private question.

[@bairsm2081]

For me, Luke's Personal Question (or it is the Private Question, and then becoming a Jedi is his Personal Question) is reconnecting with his father (even, "saving" him and bringing him back to light)... saving Leia is just an episode, although of course he wants her to be safe ... Just my opinion...

[@Cass-808]

That's an interesting take. I think I would have said that for the trilogy as a whole. I think in this instance he's just referring to the original movie where we didn't know there was a family connection.

[@Ruylopez778]

You might like Michael Arndt's video 'Endings: The Good, The Bad and the Insanely Great'. And the channel 'So Uncivilized' has a fun three part analysis of Luke in Episode 4, 5 and 6, and how his dialogue is used as a refrain.

[@bairsm2081]

@@Cass-808 except he mentions Return of the Jedi and Luke becoming a Jedi, and that is when the Central Questions are resolved.

[@bairsm2081]

@@Ruylopez778 Thank you for the tips

[@JorgeGonzalez-kp9fp]

@@bairsm2081 He's referring to the moment in A New Hope (i.e. Star Wars) when Obi Wan says to Luke "use the force" and Luke does in order to destroy the Death Star. This is the moment in the original film where Luke symbolically becomes a Jedi, accomplishing the private question, personal question, and professional question all at once. He says all this at 2:20

[@Thenoobestgirl]

Dude has a cool office!

[@sinshenlong]

interesting take. I'm curious as to if these three questions can come into play as the story develops - or if these can be in the story but not necessarily affecting the main character. One of my favorite stories in recent memory is Good Night Pun Pun, and it definitely focuses on the personal and private questions, but the professional one takes a back seat, it's there but it doesnt necessarily involve the main characters particular journey. Edit- Saw the answer by video end

[@frenchcoupon3391]

I adore your channel- but there is definitely as many cinema schools as intervenants. Maybe if someone one day made a synthesis - common concepts accros all interventions - you can have an ultimate Cinematic Compendium.

[@wuzi7049]

Focusing more on the character vs plot depends on the context of what you are trying to make

[@AltairZielite]

Been trying to figure how to strip around 40 pages off my story... I think this might be helpful... No pet store for Luke.

[@filmcourage]

Nice!

[@oliolion]

The central question for this video is 'What are the 3 central questions?'

[@UmBelenense]

haha, spot on

[@Shishirsadventure]

Personal, private and professional story of character and their own resolutions. As written in syd fields book.

[@elemaire86]

At what point are you able to construct your central questions? Take starters for example. Princess, Leah hasn't been captured so you don't even know to ask that question. You may also, not know to ask if we will become a Jedi. Does the inciting incident open up the opportunity to pass the central questions or does the climax or does it vary from script to script?

[@shanmukh747]

"Hey did you see star wars" 😅.

[@Hyplum]

Love the info

[@Bat_Boy]

What’s the central question of Pulp Fiction?

[@fugedaboudit]

"Is a foot massage going too far?"

[@ZordaanTelevisioN]

I don't understand why some people seem to expect creators to follow rules as to the order of the components... or maybe I just feel a kinship here because I sometimes write songs music-first.

[@swadesh8585]

what is the difference between personal and private question?

[@sinshenlong]

professional affects many people personal affects a small group private affects the character alone

[@swadesh8585]

@@sinshenlong thx buddy

[@sinshenlong]

Np man. We all learning together.

[@swadesh8585]

@@sinshenlong yes, I am swadesh from India, working in indian film industry in direction

[@r2-3po24]

This is a 16 minute video that Disney Writers will NEVER watch.

[@MK-je7kz]

For me a good movie/series needs to answer why it starts and ends where it does. Answering those don't make a good movie/series, but if especially the ending reason is not clear, then it cannot be good. Ending can be open, but you have to have a sense why we stop following here. Actually many documentary fail in this.

[@BusterDarcy]

Hard to understand what he means by your character isn’t there yet but the story is - character is story. What the character wants, why they are obstructed from it, and what they’re willing to do to get it is the story, it’s what informs the plot which in turn develops the established character further, so if you haven’t figured out your character yet then you just have a sequence of events happening to a blank slate for no real apparent reason other than the writer liked the idea of those events. I suppose you could retroactively craft a character to fit with the plot you’ve devised, but the chances of that working out in any appealing or compelling way are incredibly low. Characters that exist purely to service the plot tend to read as contrived and artificial when played out on the screen, because that’s literally what they are.

[@G360LIVE]

I have to completely disagree, and it's apparent when he gets The Dark Knight totally wrong. I mean, the central question is actually, "How does the hero become the villain?" There's a line of dialogue in the film foreshadowing this, when Harvey Dent says, "You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain." For some reason, Jeff seems to put a shallow, "Does he get the girl?" in there as an important question. That's a subplot in movies, but unless it's the center of the film's story, then it has nothing to do with the central question.

[@Ruylopez778]

While I can see how this is a useful tool for plotting it doesn't really explain the payoffs in Star Wars as well as Michael Arndt's video, 'Endings: The Good, The Bad and the Insanely Great', where he breaks the movie down into internal, external and philosophical stakes, and demonstrates how they are ALL reversed in the space of only 90 seconds. A major component to the success of the movie is Han Solo's arc. Both Leia and Obi-Wan believe there is something bigger worth fighting for, while both Owen and Han believe, as cynics, you should look out for number one. Of course, Owen pays with his life when the Empire disrupts his little world, and Han's outlook is changed through the role models of Leia and Obi-Wan, and to some extent Luke. Yes, Luke has to learn to trust the Force (faith) over the targeting equipment (technology), just as Vader says the Death Star is insignificant compared to the power of the Force. If Luke had just used the Force to blow up the Death Star without Han arriving to save his neck, it would be a weaker movie. While undoubtedly the movie deals with Luke's 'destiny' to become a Jedi like his father, and thus have faith in spiritual, he also has to have the noble aspiration to 'step into a bigger world' and have compassion (as the Jedi do) for others.

[@nikkinewbie6014]

You know, not many people seem to acknowledge Han’s character arc. Truly, the magnitude of Han’s arc dwarfs Luke’s by a ton! Luke really doesn’t change except he becomes more powerful and is tempted to turn but never for one second do we the audience think he will. He is just too “good” and always has been from the start of A New Hope. As I’m learning craft, I really appreciate the concept of character arcs. Han is probably one of the “biggest” side character arcs to ever be portrayed onscreen. His arc almost overshadows the Protagonist’s. I mean when I think about how it’s Han who is in peril / frozen in carbonite at end of “Strikes” it’s like…are you sure Luke is the main guy? 😂😂. Because we care more about what’s happening to Han at the end of that movie. That B story / romance really picks up too in Empire. Of course we have to acknowledge that Star Wars was one of the first if not THE first to combine multiple genres. It’s the norm now, but it wasn’t the norm before Star Wars. I enjoyed your comment!

[@Ruylopez778]

@@nikkinewbie6014 I know many people find Luke to be a bit vanilla, but I think he's the reason the trilogy works overall, and his contribution is generally overlooked. Even though Lucas will acknowledge Luke is 'Pollyanna-ish'. It is a fairytale after all, and can't really end with a military dictatorship winning... Luke's powers are never really that significant, and only when he loses control after being continually provoked is he able to defeat Vader. In ESB, Luke is driven by all the things that led to his success in ANH; compassion, impulsive courage and idealism, and all of these things lead to his downfall. He is the first to ignite his blade on Bespin (seeking to avenge his father, Obi-Wan, Biggs, Owen & Beru). He then falls for the Emperor's trap and tries to strike him down unarmed in ROTJ (reverting to who he was in ESB). It's only after he sees that he is about to 'become a [fallen] Jedi, like my father before me' that he relies on his training from Yoda and Obi-Wan; 'stretch out with your feelings', 'you will know [light from dark] when you are calm, at peace', 'a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence', that he is able to defy the Emperor in a way that his father could not. It's Luke's mindset that makes him popular, and as in the first two movies, Luke needs others around him to save him, not a super powered Gary Stu. He's either outnumbered or outgunned, but faces the challenge anyway, rather than unrealistically succeeding alone (although he is arguably totally on his own when he defies the Emperor, without his friends to help, even if he is convinced his father is with him) which considerably increases the peril he is in compared to ANH, and unlike ESB, the Emperor is prepared to destroy him where Vader hesitated on Bespin. While subtle, IMO, Luke's outlook on what the Jedi are/were, who his father is/was and how to reconcile the two is an engaging story of redemption and compassion. Some people will claim that Obi-Wan and Yoda want him to 'kill' Vader, or that Luke ignores them and becomes a 'Grey Jedi', half light and half dark, but I don't agree wth either of these takes. Yeah, Luke's idealism is unwavering, and that's what makes Han's cynicism work, but even idealism can become corrupted and twisted into 'the dark'. I don't think Luke changes all that much, but he changes the people around him, and arguably redeems not only Anakin but his mentors Obi-Wan and Yoda, as their latest apprentice embodies those high ideals and rewrites the wrongs of Anakin. Some people don't like how Han (and Leia) take a bit of a back seat in ROTJ, but I think it's necessary to focus on Luke. The Luke at the climax of ROTJ is a wise and capable knight, at peace with himself, as opposed to the naive farm boy who wants to 'get involved', rushing into danger without thinking and relying on his instincts to survive. Probably we could argue that he's 'integrated' the dangerous and chaotic side of himself to become a powerful, disciplined and proficient man, instead of the idealistic youth. Arguably the Luke from ANH would have tried to kill Vader and the Emperor and failed or would have been corrupted. Certainly there is a lot of psychology, philosophy and mythology about 'becoming the father' in this trilogy [and I'm not talking about gender in any way, it could easily be 'becoming the mother' if the genders were reversed in the story]. I think it's a pretty subversive and cathartic ending for a straightforward fairytale happy ending. As for free resources, here are some suggestions that you may or may not know: -Writing for Screens is really an excellent channel with basically everything you need. -Brandon Sanderson's BYU lectures (they became more refined over the years, but I think the 2020 version, in a lecture hall, are the best. The lockdown ones lack a little bit, for me) He also does the 'Writing Excuses' podcast which have hundreds of episodes. -Ellen Brock (novel editor) has lots of tips. -Script Sleuths has some fun breakdowns of movies that aren't too long -There used to be a channel by Adam Skelter breaking down movies, but I think it got removed. And for mythology, there was a series with Campbell that is on KZbin And for Star Wars, there are some fun insights about Luke on the channel 'So Uncivilized' and an interview with Lucas by Bill Moyer. Paul Duncan also has excellent insight into Star Wars (he met with Lucas and went through the archive before writing 'The Star Wars archives' books). There's a few zoom interviews with him on KZbin. Hope some of that helps.

[@priesnandad]

How can professional question apply to drama dan romance or comedy, which mostly doesn't have a stake for a lot of people?

[@gaiusbaltar8915]

I would call it the inner question, the interpersonal question and the outer question - the last one being something that the characters are physically doing (despite of how relevant it is to different people). In a buddy cop movie (which are plotted just like a romance novel), the questions would be: (Inner) "Can the two of them get over themselves?" (Interpersonal) "Can they become a team?" (Outer) "Can they solve the case?" I assume it's the same when it comes to romance novels. The characters have to be anchored in the real, mundane world somehow. Maybe they meet at work over some project, maybe they are trying to win a dance competition, things like that. I hope that was helpful

[@michael_leclezio]

Did you see Star Wars? - every time he mentions Star Wars! 😁😁 Good to ask though! :)

[@evanantonola4935]

Im a little bit confused with personal and private questions.

[@abcdefghij337]

Personal seems like a burden that is applied to one person from outside forces. Private seems like a burden that said person has put on themselves, coming from an internal source. Luke’s mission of saving Leia came to him, and he could have refused but he said he “had” to help her. Luke’s desire to become a Jedi like his father came only from himself. He “wanted” to learn and “wanted” to become.

[@tennoio1392]

Why only 3? What will break if i add a 4th one? And isn’t seven the most powerfully magical number? And who called them that way? Personal and private are synonyms, so it's a bad choice of words.

[@Goku227]

Niiice

[@asahearts1]

Reminds me of the Japanese three masks.

[@andreakhaid]

The central question of Star Wars is not will Luke save Princess Leia. That's really not the heart of the story.

[@joelcasseus628]

You should've asked him if he saw Star Wars

[@sayitjamon6237]

tHE baTMAN 2022: So much Fluff

[@enjoythestruggle]

How often can a man ask 'did you see Star Wars'?

[@dyffrynardudwy9729]

'Have you ever seen Star Wars?' This man and several others in this series are good illustrations of why Holywood amerika is doomed to turn out infantile crud that appeals to an audience with the emotional intelligence of 12 year-old boys for ever and ever. Even its creators are getting cheesed off with the whole comic-book view of the world.

[@abcdefghij337]

One could argue that Star Wars, as developed by George Lucas and not by Disney, is America’s signature contribution to human storytelling. It is on par with Great Britain’s Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia and Japan’s Journey to the West. Being a different medium, film instead of paper, does not make it less valuable.

[@jhordyjimenez6283]

@@abcdefghij337 cringe, the western is.

[@samsungminlee]

Wowza, such a refreshing and simple but helpful way to look at stories! Thank you Jeffery ans FC 🫡

[@filmcourage]

Glad you enjoyed it Sam!

[@MrMarcJackson]

That's only when you're too scared to venture outside the rules you think you need to follow in order to be a writer. That's weak.

[@redringofdeathgamer]

He does have a bit of experience selling scripts. He is a successful person trying to be helpful.

[@denvan3143]

Know the rules, feel free to break them and why they are relevant or not in a particular case.