How to Marry Theme and Story to Create a Resonant Script

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Most screenplays and films sag or bore.

There are many reasons for this disaster but often the cause is the script lacks a theme that we deeply care about. Resonant themes cause audiences to empathize, feel, and come back again.

Imagine watching Titanic without its ideas of love and sacrifice. Or Shawshank Redemption without its message of hope. High Noon or The Fountainhead sans a dramatization of integrity. Or Top Gun: Maverick void its theme that the individual is the cause of success and not the machine.

Without such big personal themes these blockbuster films would have little meaning, depth, or emotional resonance. Theme is intrinsic to the premise of each of these films. Theme is in the DNA of the characters and events of these films.

The integration of theme and plot is vital to creating a compelling screenplay. It is also one of the hardest writing skills to learn. Those creatives who have mastered the fusion of theme and plot are the pros who can deeply move audiences with their stories.

The Solution

How can a storyteller integrate theme and plot?

Many years ago, I learned a simple technique of how to focus a theme into the central conflict of a story. This technique was recommended in an excellent lit class that became this book by philosopher Leonard Peikoff.

The answer is:

A Thematic Conflict Statement.

A Thematic Conflict Statement (TCS) is a three-word version of the theme in conflict form. (A TCS takes the form of Theme A vs. Theme B, or, for example, Individualism vs. Collectivism.)

There are three levels to the main idea of a story. The broadest level is the theme, the abstract meaning of the story. The most concrete level is the premise (or logline), which captures the main conflict or action situation of the story. Between these two idea statements sits the thematic conflict.

Let’s show these abstract ideas as applied to three classic films.

But first:

When analysing the three statements for each film try to see how they are same idea but on different levels of abstraction or conflict. Try also to see how these three statements get more conflict and action focused as they move from theme to premise. And see how the TCS is a conflict bridge between theme and premise.

Here we go:

Top Gun: Maverick

Theme: It is the individual, not the machine, that is vital to success.

TCS: Technology vs. Individual.

Premise: An aged but brilliant and individualistic fighter pilot trains America’s best young combat pilots to use older planes to carry out a dangerous mission against a nuclear facility whose high-tech defences make it impossible to strike and return from alive.

Shawshank Redemption

Theme: The importance of keeping one’s hope alive during adverse conditions.

TCS: Hope vs. Despair.

Premise: When a hope-driven accountant gets wrongly convicted for murdering his wife, his stout optimism gets supremely tested by extreme inmate violence and a corrupt warden hellbent on exploiting him.

Casablanca

Theme: America should give up its isolation and join the war.

TCS: Isolation vs. Involvement

Premise: During World War Two, a cynical American saloon keeper in Casablanca refuses to be involved in the war but the woman who betrayed him and whom he still loves challenges him to end his bitter isolation by saving her husband, a freedom fighter against the Nazis.

Note also that these three statements are short so they can easily be kept in mind. And, as noted, remember that each statement captures the essence of the story on a different but related level.

Actionable Writing Solution

When you are developing your story (especially if it’s a drama with a character arc), work out precise versions of your Theme, Thematic Conflict, and Premise statements. Write these down at the top of every draft of your story – whether it’s a synopsis, beat sheet, or script.

Theme:

Thematic Conflict:

Premise:

Doing this will encourage you to develop exact versions of these vital story aids and to integrate them. To marry them together logically.

When developing and writing your story always consult these statements. Always keep them in mind. These three statements are the standards by which you will know clearly what to include and to exclude in your plot. And you should use them as prompts to help you develop your characters and their motivations, conflicts, and actions.

For your current story do you have a (maximum) 10-word Theme Statement? And a related a 3-word Thematic Conflict Statement? And a related 30-word Premise Statement?

If you a want to learn more about my one-on-one support session to help you develop the Theme, TCS, and Premise of your story, reply to this email with the word FREE. 

Ideas to make your story resonate