Film Courage: What are stakes?
Naomi Beaty, Writer, Screenwriting Teacher and Consultant: Something that confuses a lot of
writers, stakes are very generally like whatever hangs in the balance
with regard to what your character is trying to achieve. A lot of movies are very clear external
life and death stakes. If your character doesn't escape the serial killer then they will die,
your protagonist will die, so that is life and death stakes. It's whatever consequence would
come to bear if your protagonist fails to achieve their story goal. That's how I would define it.
Film Courage: Why are stakes important?
Naomi: Well I think stakes are important because that's
if there's nothing at stake then the story doesn't matter. If your protagonist is trying to achieve a
thing but nothing there won't be any consequence to it then I don't know if your audience will
remain engaged in the story right because if we understand that a series of events doesn't
matter it doesn't have any consequence to it it's inconsequential I think most of us would check out
could be entertaining for a while but eventually we'll be like okay I I don't really care about the
ending of it so whatever's at stake in the story is really what gets us to care about the outcome
yeah and I know again we use hustle as an example and I think that's what got the film for me that's
why I liked it I'm not really into sports but the the stakes that were involved and it was
numerous times yeah that was what was so great is you thought you got through one hurdle and then
there was another one presented yeah and I think all of these elements go hand in hand right they
all depend on each other to create the effect that you want them to create on the audience so
what's great about Hustle is like it's not life or death stakes it's not that high stakes of a of a
movie but you feel so much for that character that what's important to him is important to
you so that what this career means to him it's the only thing he's ever done it's what he loves it's
what he's dedicated his whole life to there's the feeling that if he washes out now his whole life
will be meaningless or he'll have invested all this time and something that ultimately didn't
matter had no out no consequence so all all of that is wrapped up in what's at stake for him so
what I was describing earlier the external stakes of like what's the consequence that
will happen if your character fails right that's usually in a movie there's something external at
stake so life and death stakes or like somebody's safety or losing the house or what have you but
then there's also the internal stakes of it the emotional stakes of it which is really like what
it means to your character so it's important for the Adam Sandler character to achieve that goal
because of all that stuff that it represents to him and that's that I think is the more emotional
side of things and that's what really gets us like emotionally invested in a story right I
think there's like one scene in the beginning or close to it where Adam Sandler's on the phone
with someone he's like 50 year old guys don't have dreams we have nightmares and panic attacks yeah
yeah they do such a good job of like layering that stuff in right of of just exactly what does
it mean if he fails to get this last career thing because it would be very easy for that
movie to hit all of the the plot beats that we expect but to feel empty right like that
would have been the bad version of that movie of like a near retirement guy has one last chance
to get a player signed and you could see that playing out in a way that the plot would make
sense but because they went the extra the extra mile in terms of like developing that character
and what it all meant to him that made it I loved that movie it made it very emotional
for me instead of just being like oh this is a fun movie about guys playing basketball it was
much more about the Adam Sandler character and that was like a redemption story for him it was
like my life hasn't been a waste I'm not too old to accomplish things all of those things I think
were layered into that movie and that's what made it that's what actually I made it a movie that I
would recommend to people versus one that I watch and forget about and and then without giving away
too much the basketball player has his own stakes and then you also see that part of the stakes for
Adam Sandler is proving to the basketball player that I'm actually not going to let you down yeah
that's what was really great about that movie too is that relationship between those two guys so
it's very much an underdog sports movie and the two of them are the only the only two the only
person that each has in their life that really believes in them in a way that that matters and
they can help each other and so there are two underdogs working together to achieve this big
thing that nobody thinks they can achieve so yes that that made me root for them what I love that
two underdogs working together that's right yeah yeah that's what works about it how do we know
the stakes are high enough for the audience to be emotionally invested that's a good it's a
good question and I think that's one of those things that's a little bit trial and error in
your in your writing you do what you can to create the stakes in your story external and internal
try to plan them out in a way that that you feel like will be enough to get the audience invested
but that is definitely one of those things that in completing the first draft sometimes you have
somebody read it they're like I don't really understand why this matters or I don't know
know why I should care about this story and then that the stakes aren't coming through
right they may be high enough but they may just not be conveyed on the page in a way
that the whoever read it can understand why they should care so there's both the aspect of like
planning as you're developing your story thinking through what's at stake and why this is going to
matter and what it means to the character and so that's why the audience will care about it
thinking through all of those questions and and making sure that's in your story that's half the
battle and then the other half is actually figuring out how to put it on the page in a
way that your reader can pick it up right and can understand and can feel what's at stake
yeah I think that was what was my problem with Bridesmaids when I heard about it and it came
out and everybody was raving and I was turning on the radio and oh Bryce and I'm like oh another one
of these female on female hating each other and competing I don't want to see that and it's it's
not it's so well done and there's you you really see okay no this is there's a lot more layers to
this yeah and actually you bring you bring up a good point because seeing Helen come through in
the end and change a little bit and seeing that she and Annie don't end the movie totally at odds
with each other I think that that was really important to to the the overall bigger picture
of that movie which was like it's not about women competing against each other it's actually about
the female friendship right and so even the fact that the protagonist and antagonist can
come through the end of this experience learning enough about each other to not hate each other and
not be working against each other that was an important lesson in the movie too can you help
us understand the difference between the stakes for the protagonist and the antagonist oh sure
I mean I think each character needs to have something at stake we probably need to understand
what's at stake for the protagonist a little bit more right because we're entering the story
through that character and their experience of it is really what we're tracking and writing along
with through the entire movie so just in general I would say that the protagonist stakes are probably
going to be more developed both externally and internally we're probably going to spend
more time understanding those stakes establishing them in the movie and then escalating them across
the movie but I do think that the antagonist should have something at stake as well otherwise
I think that's when you get like I mentioned earlier you get maybe one of those movies that
hits certain plot beats but feels a little bit empty if we don't understand why the antagonist
is doing what they're doing as well even if it's in very broad strokes I think it can feel
a little a little empty a little cartoony or even a little bit like it doesn't have emotional logic
sure the movie The this at The Bookshop [2017] no okay yeah okay what was that one it was so good
it was with Patricia Clarkson who's like this wealthy woman who has started this art society
in her town and then a new younger woman comes in and opens up this bookstore and that causes
Patricia Clarkson standing in the community who is this and you're doing this in my town I'm
sorry and then the young woman starts to put these beautiful book displays and everybody comes in and
they love their books the bookstore and then she does Lolita the book by Vladimir Nabokov in the
window and that's Patricia Clarkson's in and you will not have this in my town but really her her
motive is you won't show me up that that's really what it's about and it's so well done and it's
it's about this you see each character's stakes now one just wants to do it because I forgot
what the reason was she needed something in her life and this gave her joy and then the Patricia
Clarkson it was more about her image and power and yeah the two the two that well you bring up
a good point I haven't seen that movie I will add it to my list but but I think you bring up a good
point which is when the conflict is more character based or more like emotional rather than physical
I think we probably need to develop the stakes more right in order to understand why are these
characters in conflict why are they taking the actions that they're taking whereas if
you have something very external very action-y or like horror movies are often high stakes
they're they're life and death situations but because it's such an external physical conflict
we understand easily why this is important right we understand it's a life and death situation so
you don't really have to explain it as much or develop it as much it's still useful I think if
even in movies that have very clear external stakes if you develop the internal the the
meaning of it as well right because that helps us get more emotionally invested in the story
but yeah the I think the story that you brought up that Bookshop is a good example of having
the conflict is really it's character based and it's it's in not internal but
it's not a physical conflict between the two of them they have these like
big emotional stakes for each of them they're standing in the town or their reputation or
whatever and so you have to develop those so that the audience understands what's
motivating them to do the things they're doing because we don't immediately understand why
someone would take those actions that they're taking in the story you know.