The idea for a story can come in many different forms and ways. A troubling situation at work or out hiking in the woods can spark a “what if…” that leads to a story line. Observing a person walking down the street or standing in line at the post office can trigger an entire story world through a character study. The genesis of story ignites the fire of inspiration in a writer to sit down and create. Rarely does a writer think “I want to write a story that teaches a lesson or depicts a certain moral theme.” If so, that’s a dangerous place to start because it can lead to didactic, on-the-nose, finger-wagging story telling. No one wants to be preached at. An audience would rather be seduced to a moral conclusion that is implied by the story as a whole. How do you do that? How do you imply theme while telling a rich and exciting story?

A screenplay story tracks the emotional journey that a character takes while pursuing an outer quest of a specific nature. The sequence of events that defines the quest of the main character is called the plot of the story. However, unless the actions taken by the main character are motivated by some deep driving emotional need, the story is empty and without substance. How many explosions, chases, sex scenes, and gun fights can one watch before boredom creeps in? If the audience doesn’t have anything to relate to on a personal, emotional level, it will grow numb and distracted.

This is why a writer must have a main character that actually takes two journeys – an outer journey and an inner journey. The outer journey creates the plot through decisions and actions, which attracts an antagonist and also defines the story structure. The inner journey creates the theme by showing transformation in the main character. It becomes the story’s emotional engine and defines the moral dilemma.

A well-written screenplay introduces a main character that operates from an emotional armor that disguises some value out of balance. In A FEW GOOD MEN, Dan Kaffee is established as a cocky young naval lawyer who plea bargains everything and he’s excellent at it. We learn later that he plea bargains because he fears that, if he pleads a case in the courtroom, he’ll be compared to his famous litigating father. This flaw in his awareness creates behavior that compromises his honor. This brings about a need for wholeness in the main character that will provoke action. The underlying emotional engine provokes riskier decisions that put the flawed character into greater jeopardy. The resulting character’s arc leading to an expansion of awareness and transformation becomes the implied theme. By the end of A FEW GOOD MEN, Dan Kaffee brings the value of honor back into alignment by taking the ultimate risk and confronting the negative social force in the form of Colonel Jessep..

In GOOD WILL HUNTING, we learn that Will grew up in various orphanages and foster homes that were abusive. He has low self esteem that provokes him through rage to prove that he’s just as good as anyone else by anonymously solving the theorems and beating up on bullies and embarrassing grad students in front of crowds. His low self esteem is what drives him on his outer quest to fit in with his buddies. In his quest to fit in, his inner journey takes him on a path where he needs to accept that he has a gift that makes him unique. In order to utilize and share that gift he must resolve the low self esteem that manifests as rage, embrace self-forgiveness and allow love.

Plot is the vehicle for theme. A theme is the glue that holds all of the events together -- the principle by which all things are related to each other. Theme is the unifying force. Theme is what the plot events stand for -- what they communicate. In MILLION DOLLAR BABY, no matter how much Frankie wants to protect himself from personal pain, his redeeming quality of nurturing compels him to make the decision to manage Maggie. This relationship creates the plot of training a fighter to win a championship, which is Frankie’s outer quest. It also sets up Frankie’s transformation of learning to let go, learning to be vulnerable and allow the pain of the past to wash over him, learning to move on. The stated theme would be: Vulnerability leads to letting go.

Plot and theme have this symbiotic relationship. They can’t be separated, but they are different. They illuminate different parts of the same experience. The THEME tells us what the protagonist needs and yearns for as the result of some past experience, or ghost, that throws some value out of balance in his/her psyche -- the Theme goal. The PLOT shows us what the protagonist will do to achieve what s/he needs -- the Plot goal.

The elements that bring about an enter-twining of plot and theme are as follows: main character GHOST (back-story trauma) brings about EMOTIONAL ARMOR. This emotional armor puts a certain VALUE OUT OF BALANCE, which bubbles up as NEED. Emotional need in the main character attracts a LIFE-CHALLENGING DECISION that leads to ACTION toward some QUEST. Action creates PLOT because it stirs resistance from a character who opposes that action, the antagonist. This opposition brings about CRITICAL SITUATION. To solve the critical situation, the main character must shift the LIMITING BELIEF that brought about the NEED in the first place bringing his/her values back into balance. A balanced value reveals THEME.

It is critical that you understand and internalize these dual but connected goals of Theme and Plot. It is vital that you work simultaneously with both -- the inner forces and needs that drive the protagonist and his/her visible goal, and his/her visible behavior depicting character arc leading to theme. In any screenplay of significance, both needs and goals must be present and must create the continuity of the story. A theme without a plot is not a story. A plot without a theme is an empty series of events that may distract but not involve the reader/viewer.

The theme becomes known when the story arrives somewhere -- when the protagonist changes; when there is a solution to an articulated problem; when a situation changes; when there is a sense of completion, or unity. In GOOD WILL HUNTING, Will leaves the note for Sean telling him that he’s going to see a girl showing that he’s allowing love in. In A FEW GOOD MEN, Danny puts Jessep on the stand and asks the risky question showing honor to his profession and himself. In MILLION DOLLAR BABY, Frankie reveals that Maggie’s his blood and then lets her go.

In any case, it’s the climax of your story that reveals your theme. You give the protagonist a goal (Act one) and involve him/her in a struggle to learn skills and overcome obstacles to achieve that goal (Act two). Then, by vicariously experiencing the protagonist’s struggle, his/her change/growth, and climactic choice (Act three), the reader/viewer comes to know and understand what you are saying, what you value. Your climax articulates your theme.

There are two important principles in communicating themes in your story: the presence of passion, and the absence of announcement. Show us the passion you feel about your subject in your writing. It is through your passion that you separate the Life-Challenging Decisions – decisions that challenge the protagonist’s emotional armor - from the ordinary decisions -- and thus we discover your theme. Six steps in the Life-Challenging decision-making process are:

1. major obstacle to the quest;

2. self-doubt and attempt to resort to former flawed or limiting behavior;

3. intercession by the Conscience character calling him/her on a less-than-heroic reaction;

4. new information (which could come from Conscience character or another source);

5. that beat of silence where the decision is made;

6. Life-Challenging Decision.

These six steps, executed well at each emotionally-challenging decision (about every 15 pages) helps to define the character arc that leads to your thematic resolution while it drives the plot of the story forward. Excellent examples of this six-step process can be seen in the following movies: A FEW GOOD MEN; MILLION DOL LAR BABY; GOOD WILL HUNTING; OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN; ADAPTATION; THUNDERHEART; CASAB LANCA; among many others.

I also suggest that you avoid "announcing" your theme. It is your function as a story-teller and dramatic screenplay writer to seduce, to influence, to affect, to gain understanding and acceptance of your themes through vicarious and emotional experiences. You must create a journey that elicits feelings and personal insights in the viewer. The reader/viewer can discuss the meaning of your story after experiencing your screenplay, but you as a writer are more successful with your theme if you allow the story to imply it. In your story every scene should move toward one idea; every moment should lend to a unifying idea; each beat should express the theme.

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