Is my script big enough to be a movie, Part 5: Stakes

The first four posts of this series “Is my script big enough to be a movie?” are:

Does my script have a big enough story concept?

Does my script have big enough characters?

Does my script have big enough set pieces?

Does my script have big enough conflict?

And now the next question:

DOES MY SCRIPT HAVE BIG ENOUGH STAKES?

This is a way of summing up the previous four questions — because story concept, characters, set pieces and conflict combine to create a sense of what stakes are involved. But it’s such a fundamental issue, that I think many writers may overlook it, so it’s worth parsing out on its own.

Ask this question: What can be ‘won’ in my script? How significant is a ‘victory’ going to mean for the Protagonist? How big will that be in transforming their lives? If you have a hard time going there, try imagining what the Denouement is because that should be the physicalization of what the P’s ‘victory’ means.

Conversely, what can be ‘lost’ in your script? If the P were to fail in their struggle, what would that mean? Consider the life of your P after FADE OUT: If they ‘lost’, how might you envision that existence?

Note how in answering this question, I went to the Internal World of the script, the emotional life of the story. In Adaptation, there’s this whole slew of plot ‘stuff’ that goes on throughout Act II and especially Act III, and yet in a way, all that services the tiny little subplot between Charlie and the woman he loves and wants to love: By the Denouement, he’s vanquished some of his demons and gathered enough wisdom and strength of character from his now dead brother that he’s able to screw up the courage to express his feelings for his Beloved.

Obviously, in a movie like Armageddon, the stakes aren’t so much about guy gets girl as guy gets asteroid. If you’re writing that type of movie, you’d think you can answer this question in seconds and move on. But for ‘smaller’ character-driven movies and yes, even big blow-up blockbuster type flicks, stakes like everything else in a screenplay work on two levels: The External World of the Plotline and the Internal World of the Themeline. So when you consider stakes, figure out what they are for both and ask yourself if they’re big enough on both fronts.

Tomorrow: Does my script have a big enough visual style?

[Originally posted February 13, 2009]

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