Themes

Dougyfresh13

Dougyfresh13

Active member
i have doing a lot of reading about screenwriting and i feel like a common way, and probably the best way, to progress through a script is through themes. my question is how do u guys incorporate certain themes into a script? this may be a stupid question but i always have a hard time with it and my scripts always are lacking becuase i didnt involve any themes or they are shallow and cliche.

so my question is how do you guys incorporate meaningful themes into your scripts?
 
Well, if you select a theme you want to have underlying in your story, try to appreciate how that theme, if it relates to the setting or a specific person or event, would be affecting all of the characters within the story. Does the theme affect those people on multiple levels? Can the theme be interpreted differently? How differently are people affected by that theme?

If you're seeing that the themes you are writing about are quite shallow, then what you need to try and do is blur the lines a little - work on making that shallow morality tale or conveyed message something deeper and much less clear-cut than before. Add in sideline stories that don't immediately relate but eventually tie in with the theme later on after some wandering.
 
I generally don't focus too much on the theme. I find that as a writer, my writing is very personal, even if I don't intend it to be. Thus, themes naturally work themselves into the script.

It's usually the second or third draft and after the script has percolated a bit, will I go through and try to identify the themes and develop them further.
 
Dougyfresh13 said:
so my question is how do you guys incorporate meaningful themes into your scripts?
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The theme of your story is something pretty hard to figure out.

If you don’t know your theme, start working on other elements (plot, characters, etc), since the more you know about them, the easier it will be to figure out what you’re really trying to say with your story.

Then ask yourself “What’s your protagonist’s goal?” “What obstacles does he face” “How does he overcome these obstacles?” In the answer to these questions you’ll find your theme.

Once you know your theme, it’s time to go back to plot and characters and dig deeper into it. There’s more than one way to do this, but here’s a common method that usually works:

Let’s say your theme is “You got to believe in yourself in order to realize your full potential”.

Act 1: You introduce a protagonist who’s a non-believer of the theme. Neo doesn’t believe in himself. He can’t escape that office building because he doesn’t think he can make it to the roof. He gets caught by the agents.

Act 2: You make the protagonist meet other characters that do believe in the theme and challenge the protagonist’s belief system.

Like Morpheous, who blindly believes that Neo is the one. Constantly pushing him to free his mind (i.e. to believe in himself).

But the protagonist still doesn’t embrace the theme despite the fact that the plot requires him to do so, in order to succeed. Neo has to believe in his potential in order to jump from roof to roof in that training program. But he falls.

And later he tells the oracle he doesn’t believe he’s the one.

The protagonist also meets some nay sayers, like Cypher: “You see an agent… run”.

Act 3: This is when the protagonist finally realizes the theme and embraces it. Neo finally starts believing he’s the one and realizes his potential. And that’s what allows him to kick agent ass in a way no one has done before.

You can find some more tips about theme here:

http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip44.htm
 
For me I incorporate the scripts theme in the first stages of writing. So a theme of "Jealousy leads to ruin" is the starting point and as I write the theme will be shown and proven in the story.
Some refer to this more as a premise rather than a theme.

I'm a Lajos Engri fan. :)
 
You should KNOW YOUR THEME before writing the script. The THEME is your moral of the story, so if it's about greed leading to death, then that's what your moral THEME is.

People talk about writing from THEME a lot, in other words, nearly all of your scenes can touch on your THEME and pose the debate "does greed lead to death?", others like Blake Synder (big fan btw) likes you to put up front your theme by (or there abouts) page 5.

I think any story with a THEME to it is a story well told. That said not all stories have them, but I would think if you're shooting for mainstream hollywood writing, then probably nearly 100% of them have THEMES present.

Again, it's really something that should be present *before* you write. That said, if you just wrote something, go back and read it again, and try and think "What is the moral to this story?". What is the one life message you're trying to tell here?

EJ
 
i gotta back up EJ here. i believe you absolutely should know your themes when you begin writing. i'm working on something now that is all about isolation. i think the theme would have come out on it's own anyway, but consciously knowing the theme before writing helps me to get into the zone of what the script should be about, how the characters are affected individually, how they interact, etc.

i guess theme for me is the underlying current of a world i'm creating. and knowing it's there when i start out guides me in crafting the story.
 
AJ Brooks said:
I'm a Lajos Egri fan. :)
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Me too, and I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of correcting your spelling of his name here so people could more successfully find information about him and his books.

From a recommendation here by kylekmd (I think I spelled that right) I picked up a copy of "Inside Story" by Dara Marks, and am almost finished reading it. Its primary emphases are theme and transformational arc, both in terms of character and overall story.

What a great book! It's probably about the 10th screenwriting book I've read, some of which are much more "nuts and bolts", like the excellent "Screenwriter's Bible", but overall I think "Inside Story" is the best I've ever read. Second place would go to Robert McKee's "Story", btw...

Marks' book is so rich in great information and advice I think I'm going to read it again - immediately - close the back cover when I'm done, open the front cover and have at it again. It's that good and that valuable.

So as to the OP's question, I'd say grab "Inside Story" now. It will address all your theme-related questions to a T.
 
in case you haven't seen it, check out this thread: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=130396. this guy sold his script for 300 against 600. he said he had written a few scripts, but that not a lot of life was in them. then, he started writing from theme as the main guide. call it what you will, but when he started doing that he wrote a script that sold. if nothing else, it's a very informative read from a fellow dvxer who has had a big success.
 
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