Every good movie must be “about
something.” State what your movie is about before the
adventure begins. (I like to put it in early, roughly on page 5.)
It’s usually spoken to your unsuspecting hero, often without
his knowing what is said will be vital to his surviving this tale.
It’s the moral of your story.
The Theme Stated moment on page 5 of a
well-structured screenplay ties in to the lesson the hero will
learn. This is the place, up front, when you as writer get to say what this movie
is about — and it
might take a few drafts to enunciate precisely. A clue for finding
it is seeing how the B Story “helps” the hero learn the
lesson. When you do figure it out, state the lesson up
front,
tie it to the B
Story’s introduction on
page 30, the raising of the
stakes at Midpoint, the
moment of clarity
that helps the hero realize his error
in Dark Night of the
Soul, and the final push into
Act Three the hero needs to
learn his lesson — and triumph.
