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I recently read a script with a pretty solid storyline. The main character wanted desperately to win a major prize. The kind of prize that would catapult his career into the bigtime in his field. The set-up was excellent, as was the build-up to the End of Act One where he began taking serious steps towards his goal.
Along the way there was a nice romantic subsplot with a woman also competing for the same prize. And there was the classic mentor figure for the main character who also had an interest in winning the prize.
Here's the problem: by the time we got to the End of Act Two there was no surprise. No twist. No major revelation. And as he drifted onward into Act Three there was no betrayal on anyone's part. The guy just plodded along, dealing with minor obstacles, and by the end of the story he didn't win for a couple of predictible reasons. And he lost the girl. And he pretty much went on with his life.
The problem with the script was that all the doors he had to get through opened too easily. Sometimes he knocked and someone opened it. Sometimes he rang the bell two or three times and someone opened. Sometimes the door was unlocked and he just walked right in.
If the author had made those doors difficult or almost impossible to open he would've had a much more compelling story.
I've said this before: don't make things too easy for your main character. It's just boring. |
