What makes a story great?

jonpiper · Jul 11, 2008

creativexec said:
The goal of any great story is to move its audience.

It takes craft and passion to do that.

That goal, the goal of a story as it relates to an audience, must be evident from the beginning of the story.

The protag's goal is usually defined near the end of the first act.

The screenwriter's goal is to have his or her damn story turned into a movie.

The director's goal is to change the story to make it his or her own.

The producer's goal is to turn a profit.

The critic's goal is to show how brilliant he or she is by tearing the film apart.

Spell-it-out · Jul 13, 2008

FinbarReilly said:
Er...I hate disagreeing, but you have three great stories here. Two of them are about a lone man against the system, finding allies, and then escaping the system, which almost always makes for an interesting story. You then have a story about a guy with the dual threats of the system and nature itself, which again makes for an interesting story.

Now, trying to selling a story about chess, a spelling bee, or even debate club....

FR

The Great Debaters??

Spell-it-out · Jul 13, 2008

About scripts making the film fall flat, never has this been more evident than in 'The Happening'.
Great trailer, very good first 3/4 of movie, then bang!

Anyway, back to what this thread is about!
IMO, what makes a great story is pretty varied and suited to the tastes of the individual,
but this is what gets me.

Mystery,
Strong sources of evil,
Not showing everything too early,
Making us feel for the characters by putting them in situations that we could possibly encounter ourselves.

chewtonglen · Sep 26, 2012

jonpiper said:
We've talked about how to write a logline.

We've talked about loglines written after the screenplay is completed, loglines geared to selling the screenplay or attracting a Read. We've also talked about writing a logline before writing the screenplay, a logline to guide us as we write the screenplay/story.

But how about the story itself? What are the ingredients of a great story? Some movies are packed with action, others are more dramatic. Yet both kinds of movies may or may not be about a great story. In fact I've heard comments like, " it kept me in my seat, the set pieces astounding and the acting superb, but it didn't have a story."

It also seems that the movies with great stories have longer legs than summer blockbusters without stories.

So what makes a great screenplay story?

Mystery, laughter, the unknown and something different

chewtonglen · Sep 26, 2012

chewtonglen said:
Mystery, laughter, the unknown and something different

Spell-it-out said:
The Great Debaters??

I think you spelled that out pretty good.....THUMBS UP!!!

Lady Ice · Oct 10, 2012

Simplicity. Even the most complicated films are based on a simple premise.

garyw · Oct 23, 2012

Not only a good story line. But also good characters. Make sure you don't use the some old characters you see everyday. Come up with your own type of character.

If you want more info on screen writing just click on the link below.

Click here to grab your free e book

max929 · Jan 2, 2013

Raghu said:
Jonpiper,

Henry James once remarked,

“What is character but the determination of incident and what is incident but the illumination of character?”

Believe it or not it took me days to figure out what he really meant.

Most people seem to attach too much importance to character which I agree in part but you need to understand that it is the incident that reveals the character, which brings us right back to story and story elements.

Action is character and therefore a character is what he does and not what he says he is.

I was once working on a script and the structure of the script demanded that the MC be created in a particular way, a handicapped person, which I did.

Either you revolve a screenplay around a key incident or you create a key character and revolve the screenplay around him. But you still need a key incident to illuminate this character of yours and therefore you are back to the story once again.

Coming back to your question about what “ a good story “ is all about, I have an opinion and I’m not at all sure any of you will endorse it but here it is all the same.

" Story " and " story telling " are completely different animals. A story is a….story, but story telling is your screenplay.

You can take an great story and with good story telling deliver a good film.
You can take a lousy story and with great story telling still deliver a great film.
But you cannot take a great story and make a great film with BAD story telling.

So you see, a good film is not about a great story but all about fabulous story telling.

The Shawshank Redemption is an highly acclaimed film, appreciated by lay persons and film critics alike. It depicts Tim Robbins being wrongly accused of murdering his wife, spending 20 years in jail and finally escaping. You call this a great story? Phooey!

In Jaws a small town is terrorised by a killer shark and a bunch of guys go capture it. Great story?

One flew over the cuckoo’s nest is about a guy in a mental asylum and his tormentor the head nurse. Interesting story? Nah!

But you see all these film had excellently crafted screenplays and that’s why we still keep talking about them.

When I was studying in the Film Institute, I used to challenge my class mates and tell them to make a film without a real story and still keep the audience enthralled. " That " I said, " would be the true mark of genius, the final recognition that you have mastered the art of screenplay writing ". Nobody listened !

So, jonpiper, you quit worrying about stories and concentrate on honing your screenplay writing skills and one day you will be able to bestow the world with an extraordinary film.

Raghu.

Bumping this, great insight into story/character building.

What makes a story great?

jonpiper

Spell-it-out

I'm gonna give all my secrets away

Spell-it-out

I'm gonna give all my secrets away

chewtonglen

chewtonglen

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions

garyw

max929

Fear is a only a barrier