Unit 1 of 6
What the story is
Get the premise, the protagonist and the theme saying the same thing.
0/4 lessons complete 98 min
What you walk out with
You can say what your screenplay is about in one sentence without apologising, and the person in the middle of it wants something a reader can watch them chase.
THE LESSONS
Lesson 1 · 8 min · 3 exercises
Want versus Need: the engine under your protagonist
The protagonist is reactive, or the ending feels unearned.
Lesson 2 · 20 min · 2 exercises
The premise pressure-test
The premise is hard to state cleanly, or two stories are competing inside one script.
Lesson 3 · 45 min · 2 exercises
The ruling passion: building a character out of contradiction
Characters behave consistently but predictably, and conflict has to be imported by the plot.
Lesson 4 · 25 min · 3 exercises
Theme without a speech
A character explains the message out loud, or the ending has nothing to say.
The assignment
Write a one-page statement: the premise in 35 words, the want in one sentence, the need in one sentence, and the scene where those two finally collide.