I work with the 8-sequence approach to structuring a feature screenplay.   I cannot overstate how much it’s transformed both my own writing and my work as a script developer.  I promise you - learning to organise both your story plot and your character’s arc into distinct sequences is going to save you so much time and so much brain ache. Breaking down a character’s transformation into incremental steps allows each sequence to have its own distinct emotional landscape, delivering newly understood truths, fresh conflicts and shifting relationship dynamics to navigate.   Adding up to a surprising and satisfying journey.

“What’s the most important relationship for your protagonist?” is a key question we ask in script development.  Who do they need most in their corner?  Whose love, pride, respect or forgiveness is the true prize that drives everything that they do?  If the answer to that question is a character who is no longer alive in the present of the film, things can get a little tricky….

Defining the main dramatic conflict of a screenplay (whether it’s one you are writing, one you are assessing or one you are studying to learn from) isn’t simply a matter of pointing to the biggest issue that the character faces at the start of the script or even the biggest lesson that they need to learn. It’s about asking what opposition the character faces when they take action to fix their problem that means they cannot easily or simply solve it.

Fleshing out a character’s back story is crucial for building their world of relationships, ensuring authenticity in their on-screen presence, cementing their values and beliefs, and creating those powerful gems of personal history that are key to generating audience empathy. Most writers love figuring out what makes their characters tick, but building back story can also be a seductive trap.