Screenwriting: Stakes

[@TOOFUTURETV]

New quote for the wall: “Having a character attended to two unrelated problems doesn’t double the tension it divides it in half.” Glenn Gers

[@writingforscreens]

On the wall! An honor! *(unless you're in The Handmaid's Tale...)

[@TOOFUTURETV]

@@writingforscreens Lol, neatly written on a Post-it note. 👍🏼😎

[@MikeODea-qf1ed]

"Passive characters suck." This video has a lot of gold nuggets. I needed to convey what my character wanted not what the people around him want. That one change in my outline was huge. Instead of him owing money and having to do anything to get it back, the only way to pay it back is by doing the one thing that he realy wants, but is very hard to achieve. Thank you!

[@writingforscreens]

Superb - what a great specific example of how to use this idea. Congratulations, and thank you!

[@ozdigg9254]

Thank you Glenn, I love your kind of brilliance. You are a wonderful teacher to learn from.

[@writingforscreens]

Thank you so much!!

[@jai.joylove]

Thank you so very, very much for every single video lesson here!

[@writingforscreens]

It really means the world to me that you find them useful. Thank you for telling me!!!

[@digitalprincesses]

Uh, there's a dystopic drama popping up for a character: not having to want something because wanting something and achieving it is a privilege of a chosen few. Thank you for the inspiration and the solid clarity of your videos!

[@writingforscreens]

You're so welcome! And do not be fooled by the propaganda of the chosen few: anyone can want to do creative work and achieve it!

[@JoelAdamson]

One of the best writers in this respect is Howard Ashman with his "I Want Song" technique. "Skid Row" in Little Shop of Horrors and "Part of Your World" in The Little Mermaid do the job.

[@writingforscreens]

Yes, I agree!

[@RebelKitty525]

My baby absolutely loves the intro music. Every time I come to class she starts dancing and gets so excited once she hears the music. Thank you for all your videos! I have 15 left I’m super excited to finish the course💖

[@writingforscreens]

Thank you - I will pass this on to the composer! So glad the videos are helpful.

[@buddyalbert5808]

Songwriter here. Your approach is a treasure trove for me. I shall be binge watching. Thank you so much. Ha, love the outtakes at the end.

[@writingforscreens]

thank you so much! binge away :) knowing people are watching and learning something useful is the whole point for me

[@esf4923]

Somewhere around 06:20, a pit of snakes flashed through my mind, and I thought... "why'd it have to be snakes." Snakes don't bother everyone to the degree that they bother Indiana Jones. And that bothered me, for him. It's empathy. So, yeah - stakes are PERSONAL. Thanks for the reminder. And all the other nuggets on offer.

[@writingforscreens]

That's a great example, thank you!!

[@filmmakeranto]

One best example of this is the opening scene of inglorious basterds.. It’s like Tarantino says the suspense is a rubber band stretching it to the max till it breaks or something. Great bloopers in the end 👍🏻👍🏻🤣

[@writingforscreens]

Yes - and thank you!

[@tomlewis4748]

Wow. At least a dozen or more really important thoughts. All brilliant. This is a video we all should watch about once every two months. It sort of ties into something I've noticed, which is there seems to be a trap that way too many writers fall into, where they assume that making something stand out is simply a product of over-increasing the drama and expressing things in an overly-sensationalistic manner. Increasing the drama beyond what works is simply melodrama. Nobody really wants that. Increasing sensationalistic aspects of the plot to an extreme just makes everything into 'Transformers'. Nobody wants that, either. I'd like to hope we've outgrown that phase, but maybe we haven't. There really is only one thing that can make our work stand out, and that is good story told well, and the suggestions in this video are a big part of how to do that. I think I understood unconsciously that stakes should relate directly to the motivation of the protagonist, but it's helpful, now that you've pointed it out, to understand that consciously. It provides a checkpoint to refer to that I didn't have before. 'Pile-up plots'? Maybe yes, maybe no. I'd like to think there are two ways to write multiple plots. One of them would be to have multiple parallel stories that don't really connect to each other all that well. 'Anthological' is really just a way to bundle a number of stories that aren't long enough into the format of a full story, like a full novel or a full movie. Anthology can work, but it's typically not a strong concept. The other way would be to have all of the different elements of separate plots informing each other, and in particular the main plot. That leads to a coherent story, even if complex. IOW, make the elements of plots, subplots, and secondary plots relate closely to each other. Make them depend on each other. Do it right, and that works. Multiple plots that don't connect only end up as a mash-up, and can be confusing. Yes, that approach does indeed divide the impact in half, but making the plot elements inform each other actually strengthens a story, increasing the aggregate impact.

[@writingforscreens]

yes, i agree: i only meant to warn about a particular kind of hollywood thinking which piles up plots for the wrong reason - not to suggest that multiple plots aren't possible!

[@LesandaMooreAuthor]

Another great video Glen.

[@Donna07]

Thanks Glenn - perfect timing, again:) I like the personal stakes & obstacles idea.

[@writingforscreens]

Glad it's useful! Even if it's got other public layers, gotta make the story personal somehow - IMHO.

[@Maratletoso]

Great video!, just the problem I was trying to figure it out… many thanks!!!

[@writingforscreens]

Yay! Glad it helps.

[@agoogleuser4410]

Great info. Thanks!

[@kb2vca]

Really clear video. The idea that stakes must be believably high for the protagonist is the key (IMO) to a good story. Stakes that are generically high for the audience allows a writer to write on auto-pilot.

[@writingforscreens]

Thank you! Yeah, that "generically high" problem only came clear to me when I was writing this video - but it sure feels like it explains a lot.

[@BlancheChiang]

Watching this video made me understand how lame my scripts are!😔 Thanks , Glenn. Now I know how to improve them ❤️

[@writingforscreens]

Glad it helps, but I'm sure they are NOT lame!

[@Ruylopez778]

Lame scripts are much more fun than no script at all. Plus you learn more fixing lame scripts than not writing. So we have no choice but to write crap again and again if we want to write something we are halfway proud of. It's the people who think what they write is wonderful that never improve.

[@writingforscreens]

@@Ruylopez778 Yes, I agree. (Though sometimes I think what I write is wonderful...so I guess it's the people who ALWAYS thing what they write is wonderful we have to worry about :)

[@Ruylopez778]

​@@writingforscreens I was thinking specifically in terms of Dunning-Kruger for those of us stumbling in the dark. I can imagine it's different for writers who know what they're doing. But at the same time, I can't really imagine what that feels like.

[@writingforscreens]

@@Ruylopez778 I suspect any writer who thinks they "know what they're doing" in any grand or final sense is the Dunning-Krugerest of all. I mean, sure you might have some confidence that in a certain format you will get a pile of words into an acceptable shape. But otherwise, never. Unless...maybe you finally know that you never know, and you're okay with that and just do the best you can.

[@Kvima]

very good video, thank you

[@writingforscreens]

Thanks!

[@Maria_Espino]

And don’t forget sometimes you have to “kill your darlings”. Because sometimes it is more interesting in a character’s arc to force a change by presenting an obvious pivot. And nothing forces that pivot more than death or the threat of it. Boy wants hot out-of-his-league girl (girl #1), boy has girl best friend that isn’t that girl (girl #2), he spends all his time trying to get the attention of girl #1, we (the audience) keep screaming at the screen about how much better girl #2 is, girl #2 is suddenly diagnosed with brain cancer, boy is forced to pivot from his desire to land girl #1 to notice he’s had the best girl for him all along. Typical trope. But effective. The girl doesn’t even have to die but the threat of it takes us the audience on an emotional journey that has us question who around us are we also taking for granted. By telling this boy’s story you make the audience feel and that’s exactly what a script is supposed to do. So, raise the stakes. And don’t get so enamored with your characters that you don’t put them through the paces of living a HUMAN life.

[@writingforscreens]

Good points!

[@jeanf8998]

Unexpectedly difficult ❤

[@writingforscreens]

Yes :)

[@maledetta_mente]

Great video!! Had to rewatch it a couple of times to fully absorb every piece of information. What about passive characters though? Is there any tip or trick to make them interesting or relatable while they still have to figure out their next objective? Or what about a hero that's been in the whale's belly for a very long time and struggles to come out of the most difficult obstacle they've ever faced? (I asked about similar things some months ago but got busy in the meantime and didn't catch up with all of your recent videos, so tell me if there's any of them that got the topic covered!)

[@kb2vca]

But why is an audience (or a reader) immersed in the story of a passive character. Passive characters are not agents in the story. Things happen to them. They bend to the demands of the world and they don't struggle to make the world bend to their needs or wants. Without agency, what makes passive characters protagonists in a story. They are not driving the bus. Someone else is ,.. and that driver should perhaps be the protagonist of that tale.

[@writingforscreens]

I am not a big fan of passive characters. If someone is figuring out their next objective, they aren't passive - they're actively figuring out their objective, or actively reacting to the failure of their last attempt, or actively pursuing a wrong objective...there's a lot of ways someone can be active. If they are recently emerged from the most difficult obstacle - they are actively trying to mend, or actively trying to recount what happened, or actively trying to get back to what they were before, or struggling with PTSD, or...so many possibilities! And that choice of WHICH ACTION you want them to be pursuing is in fact how you define the character.

[@Ruylopez778]

Slicing through all the flabby, cliched, wishy-washy 'stakes' video & blogs posts elsewhere, with actionable, specific and precise detail, like a freshly sharpened Japanese knife in the hand of a merciless Michelin star chef in the middle of a particularly busy evening shift, who just so happens to also be a former Navy SEAL. 8m25s of premium wagyu beef. Yes, that did unintentionally evolve into a Steven Seagal movie metaphor. And I don't regret it.

[@writingforscreens]

You gotts let it go where it goes :) Thank you!

[@Ruylopez778]

"Wanting something.... Wanting something..." at the end sounded a bit Sondheim.

[@writingforscreens]

I'm okay with that :)

[@Iwasonceanonionwithnolayers]

What if the goal is not wanting something to happen?

[@writingforscreens]

It's not really "not wanting." It's "wanting to not-happen..." Then: what are they doing to keep it from happening or to escape it? And if they can't do anything, if they are helpless to change it...what are they doing about that? Trying to distract themselves until it happens? Trying to find meaning or joy in the time before it happens? Those can all be great. The point is: what are they DOING. It's just really hard write scenes of someone not-doing-anything. If they're not-doing something - what are they DOING to not-do it :) Often what they want or do can fail, that's fine. Sometimes what they're doing is "dealing with" something - so the question is: how? What do they DO, to deal with it?

[@Iwasonceanonionwithnolayers]

@@writingforscreens Ty, that's a really helpful way to think of it! I was getting stuck on the "not" part 🤔

[@writingforscreens]

@@Iwasonceanonionwithnolayers Yeah, it's really easy to get stuck on that! It took me literally decades to figure it out :)

[@CornDogGamer55]

But I'm vegan

[@writingforscreens]

I've got you covered - there's a vegan stake recipe in here!

[@DenkyManner]

The lack of stakes is why I don't like the Creed movies. In the first one Adonis Creed has a well paying job. That only thing driving the story is he wants to be a boxer because his dad, who he never met, was world champion 30 years earlier. I get that not following your dream it's crushing but they don't communicate it and there's zero risk. he's not putting anything on the line as he has a giant safety net should be fail. If he doesn't achieve his goal all that happens is a man with money and privilege doesn't become world champion. And yet the series is making big money, so I guess I'm the idiot for wanting a compelling story

[@writingforscreens]

I haven't seen the last two and don't remember the first well enough to weigh in. But you certainly aren't an idiot for wanting what you want, that's why we have many movies every year, not just one :) And as for what makes money: who the hell knows what that's about.

[@Ruylopez778]

From what I remember, what's really driving him is something like, 'I'm not a mistake', more so than the status of his genetic father. So I wouldn't say he's not risking anything, and in some ways is following Rocky, because his own self esteem, and the courage to 'take his shot' is more important than the status. I guess it's a popular franchise because it's good enough at doing mostly enough, and a black male in a positive role that's not a superhero movie or crime drama. I haven't seen the sequels.