“A dramatic story is any series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, striking interest or results.”
~William Froug, Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade

Setting the Parameters: The Story’s Sandbox 

Story is the sandbox that screenwriters play in. When crafting compelling stories, once you have established or determined the parameters of the story that you plan to tell—the story’s sandbox—you are, for the most part, obliged as a writer to stay within the confines of that sandbox. Is that true one hundred percent of the time? No, but close to it. Story encompasses the world of the movie and requires both heartfelt passion and logic within an established framework in order for it to be palatable to an audience that wants to understand what is happening. For example, audiences would likely be thrown off if after the opening scene of The Godfather Attila the Hun rode in on horseback leading a thousand of his soldiers to do battle with Don Corleone’s mobsters. It would be illogical within the established story parameters.

Think of the openings of the following movies: Star Wars, Easy Rider, Casablanca, The Hangover, Children of Men, The Dark Knight, Moonlight, Little Miss Sunshine, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barbie. The screenwriters of each of these set up each individual story’s world quite well. Each of those stories unfolds in very different, unique settings. The writers then adhered throughout the film to the logical world of each story as it was set up. In short, the stories stayed contained within a specific world. And so you must do the same with your stories.

The Significance of Story Integration when Crafting Compelling Stories

Story is the foundation of the moviemaker’s craft. Without story you have random events in no particular order and with neither a point of view nor a point. Without story a tale would quickly devolve into chaos. Some people tolerate chaos well; most do not. Some chaos, usually when it is managed as a smaller piece of something else, is, for most people tolerable, but not if there’s too much of it.

Each story lives within its own contained universe, its individual sandbox.

Crafting compelling stories is the opposite of chaos — even when the perception of chaos operates within a story. I once had the great privilege of working for six months on three live stage plays that were produced and directed by the legendary filmmaker, John Cassavetes. It seemed to me (and others) that John loved chaos. He thrived on it. Frequently, the moment an action he had staged would start to gel he would work to change it, sometimes in significant ways. He loved to constantly retool the three productions – all from original plays. Of course, eventually the shows had to be set in stone so that we could have performances before live audiences day after day. Those productions, with awesome performances by Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Jon Voight, and numerous other wonderful performers, came off brilliantly well with each curtain rise.

The hallmark of John’s most beloved and revered movies is that they play as if the actors are improvising – as if real life is unfolding before your eyes. But I can tell you from watching his process that the appearance of improvisational reality was mainly due to his diligently working to establish the appearance of improvisation, not actual chaos. The lesson here is this: creating chaos takes hard work. Creating a story’s sandbox takes both hard work and discipline – especially when the story’s world must appear to be filled with unexpected and chaotic moments.

The Role of the Writer: Creating the Sandbox

Camera, lighting, art direction, editing, and all other artistic choices made during the making of a movie come from a production’s various artists and craftspeople understanding and interpreting the story. Every one of those artists, and many more, must rely on the script in order to give them clues about how to do their job. The writer, director, actors, and the other great craftspeople become the audience’s guide to understanding the story and its various meanings. If you, the writer, don’t create the story sandbox for them to play, they will be lost – and so will the audience.

Drama vs. Melodrama: Driving the Narrative

As you proceed to build the world of your story, just be sure you know the difference between drama and melodrama.

Compelling stories tend to play best when characters drive the action, not when the action drives the characters. There is nothing wrong with melodrama per se, but melodrama usually plays more on the surface than well-written drama. Melodrama tends to be more about plot. Many great thrillers and action movies are melodramatic. Such movies can be truly entertaining, wildly popular, and make a lot of money. In fact, Hollywood stays alive by producing many successful melodramatic stories. The key to success in close to all memorable melodrama is that the story is driven by a single character (that we care about) on a quest to achieve a powerful goal. Without that you may wind up with two hours of exciting car chases that no one really cares about except motorheads.

On the other hand, drama is driven by the characters, or more importantly, the central character, the protagonist.  Dramas tend to win Oscars. Melodramas tend to make a lot of money.  Know which world you wish to enter and then go there with great passion.

Craft an Unforgettable Protagonist

Stories work best when a great protagonist makes things happen through his or her desire to reach a powerful objective. Think of great, exciting, memorable melodramas like Star Wars, The French Connection, Die Hard, and every James Bond movie. But think about how the power of such unforgettable character driven dramas as Casablanca, Chinatown, and The Godfather movies move you. You must understand what kind of movie you want to write in order to write the best, most powerful, sellable script possible. Craft a compelling story, and the audience will follow.

“Drama is when characters move the plot; melodrama is when plots move characters.”
~ Sidney Lumet, Making Movies