Is My Screenplay Big Enough to Be a Movie, Part 4: Conflict
This is a fundamental question screenwriters must ask themselves at all stages of a screenplay’s development and writing. Why? Because it’s a question movie studio execs will ask as one of the key determining factors whether to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to buy your script.
“Is my screenplay big enough to be a movie?”
This is a fundamental question screenwriters must ask themselves at all stages of a screenplay’s development and writing. Why? Because it’s a question movie studio execs will ask as one of the key determining factors whether to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to buy your script.
For years, movies have been known as playing on “The Big Screen,” as opposed to TV (the “small” screen). Typically movies have big budgets, big marketing campaigns, and big stars. Their running times, clocking in at an average of two hours, are big. The film industry is our nation’s second biggest export business (behind airplane manufacturing). So much about movies is about being big.
Being ‘big enough’ pertains not only to huge blockbuster action-thrillers, but also to small character-driven scripts. While the plot may be ‘small’ in scope, what happens and what those events mean to the story’s characters must have a ‘big’ enough meaning and emotional resonance with a big enough potential audience to warrant a studio’s green light.
The central question here — Is my script big enough to be a movie — is a… well… big topic. What I’ve done is put together 10 questions you can ask in relation to any of your writing projects, current and future, to test if it’s big enough to be a movie. I’ll be posting these questions over the next few weeks.
PART 4: DOES MY SCREENPLAY HAVE BIG ENOUGH CONFLICT?
This is a direct transition from the previous point as conflict is the central ‘stuff’ of a story’s emotional world. I’m sure you’ve heard this countless times, but I read so many scripts with little, let alone good, conflict, that it bears repeating: Without conflict, you have no drama, no spark, no intensity. And without those dynamics, you’re not going to have much in the way of a movie.
The apex of conflict in most scripts is the struggle between the Protagonist and Nemesis. Almost always, they have a contested end point — that is, Protagonist and Nemesis share a goal, each with their own version of how that goal should be realized, each version not leaving room for the other. One of them will win, the other will lose.
Again, it’s easy to see how in a movie with huge stakes, like Star Wars, where a struggle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader can translate into a visceral battle. But what about smaller movies? Can their conflict be ‘big’? Of course, if, as noted above, the dynamics of the players in the story’s emotional world are crafted well, played out with imagination, and the human ‘stuff’ they’re confronting and dealing with is something with which the reader / audience can resonate.
Adaptation is a ‘small’ story: A screenwriter adapting a book. But look at the some of the conflict subplots therein:
- Charlie vs. Donald — different screenwriting world views
- Charlie vs. Donald — sibling rivalry
- Charlie vs. Donald — misunderstood past and present
- Charlie vs. Charlie — screenwriting as art vs. commerce
- Charlie vs. Charlie — shadow self loathes everyday Charlie
- Charlie vs. Charlie — undermines his ability for romance
- Charlie vs. “The Orchid Thief” — writer’s block
- Charlie vs. Susan — who the hell is she
- Charlie vs. agent — when the hell will the script be ready
And that’s just conflict centering around Charlie. None of these is particularly ‘big’ and yet, each of them provides an emotional touch point for the reader / audience, so that both individually and collectively, they end up feeling big. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to throw in a gator attack!
A good exercise: Go through your script and determine each area of conflict. Are they big enough individually? Collectively? Are they big enough to be a movie?
Next time: Does my screenplay have big enough stakes?
Part 1: Does my screenplay have a big enough story concept?
Part 2: Does my screenplay have big enough characters?
Part 3: Does my screenplay have big enough set pieces?
