Film Courage: Naomi, can you explain what a story goal is?
Naomi Beaty, Writer, Screenwriting Teacher and Consultant: Sure, the way I use it is really just
that it's that ultimate goal that your whole story is structured around. It's the thing that your
protagonist is trying to achieve in the story. Story goal is just the easiest way to describe it.
In Silence of the Lambs it's Clarice trying to catch the serial killer Buffalo Bill,
that's her story goal. It's the plot thing that gives your entire story its structure.
Film Courage: Is the story goal also the story engine?
Naomi: The character's pursuit of that story goal I think is what creates the engine and the story.
The protagonist trying to achieve that thing, that's what drives the story forward. It's what
moves the plot so yeah I think the story goal is a necessary part of that engine.
Film Courage: Can you give us examples of story goals
that work? Effective ones and then ones that don't work well?
Naomi: Sure, so effective story goals will have some external component right so they can be
dramatized on screen in some way ineffective story goals are are usually very internal and things
that we can't see a character taking action toward we can't see them pursuing if you're writing a
movie it's it's going to be easier to to write it to structure it if there's some external action or
at least a way for you to show us what the character is doing and for us to understand what
they're doing let's see another thing that makes a story goal effective is if it's difficult enough
to achieve that it will take the whole movie to achieve right you don't want something so easy
or so quick that it would be achieved in one scene or a couple of scenes because you need
it to be difficult enough that your character can try to can attempt to achieve it over 100 minutes
or whatever and that difficulty can come from the goal itself can be difficult or it can also come
from there's just so much conflict in the way right that your your character has a hard time
achieving it because there's something or someone trying to stop them if that does that make sense
it does so an internal goal is hard because we unless it's a novel we can't really tell what's
going on with the character yeah and I think that yeah so in a something that's very internal would
be hard for you to would probably be difficult to show on screen right unless you can find a way to
dramatize it externally I think the movie short term 12 is a good example of that
the the story goal is I think it's twofold in that movie but part of it is one of the things that the
character is going through is trying to open up right to be more open emotionally which seems
like it would be hard to to show on screen right like how do you show someone struggling with that
but I think they do a good job of of really clearly saying that it's it's
if she can talk about what happened to her in the past I think that's how the story goes
if she can talk about what happened to her to her in the past to her fiancé then that's the
the the milestone or the benchmark that we're looking for to indicate that she has achieved
that goal so yeah if it's a very internal thing if you can find a way to indicate that that it's
being pursued and that it's been achieved then you can that's dramatizing it you can make it and
something that you can shape your movie around and I think some actors are are really fantastic at
showing a very closed off person I mean William Hurt was always great at playing somebody that
you could tell there was a lot going on inside but he wasn't letting it out probably would at some
mid point but very contained and stifled and and so I think there's certain certain actors
that really can play to that character yeah and I think even with that though something like that
something like if my goal is to learn how to open up to other people there are great actors
who can play that struggle of like I really want to open up but I'm afraid to or I can't
bring myself to do it even that can only sustain I think so many scenes right and so it has to be
something that you can also have other characters create conflict with that with your protagonist
there has to be there have to be obstacles in their way or opposing forces that are making
this difficult for them as well if that if that makes sense why do you recommend the writer define
the goal and the method separately oh well I think that that makes it easier to wrap your head around
your your own story sometimes because the goal the story goal that thing that the protagonist is
ultimately trying to achieve it doesn't always imply or indicate the action that your protagonist
will be taking for most of the movie right so I think hell or high water is a good example of this
I don't know if you've seen that movie or we can talk about silence of the lambs as well whatever
one yeah yeah that's okay the the goal sometimes is a very definite end point that your character
is working towards which is great because that gives you the framework for your story and again
it gives you that the thing that your audience is tracking so we know where the character is
headed and that allows us to understand are they making progress are they having setbacks
but the method I think is is the missing piece sometimes if you're trying to break down your
story and figure out like what happens moment to moment because sometimes the the method is
different or or not implied by the story goal itself and then a lot of times the method is
actually the entertaining thing about the story it's like the thing that people want to see
in the movie so I know these are examples that that are foreign to you but silence the lambs like
her goal is to catch the serial killer right but the method she's using is working with Hannibal
Lecter which is fascinating that relationship is like part of the the entertainment hook of
the of the movie so that's what we're excited to watch it's also the chase and trying to catch that
serial killer but the the really the scenes that everyone remembers are the ones where she's
dealing with Hannibal Lecter and going toe-to-toe with him mentally and
matching wits with him right and he's baiting her and showing that he's got the upper hand right
right and he's pushing her in ways that other people don't push her and forcing her to figure
out that she's she can she can handle it and she can do it and she can catch the serial killer
it's a great relationship another example of hell or high water just really quickly since I brought
it up his ultimate goal is to get the I think it's $40,000 to the bank by such whatever the deadline
is right like that's the ultimate goal that's what he's working towards over the course of the movie
but the method that he's using is he has a plan to rob a series of small-town Texas banks right
so that again that's like where the entertainment value comes from was we're watching him pull off
this carefully planned series of bank heists in small Texas towns that's entertaining and that if
you were writing that movie and you just knew okay this guy needs to get this money to the bank on
time that gives you the big picture framework but it's helpful for you the writer to figure out like
okay but what's the what's the method what's the more specific method that he's using to do that
because then that gives you that act two action right that you can go okay so he's gonna do it by
coming up with this plan to rob all these banks in quick succession okay how's he gonna do that how
many would you have to do in a day and it gives you more to work with when you're coming up with
the like scene by scene plotting of your story why don't we ever hear about writing a story and
coming up with a goal first like it seems like all we do is just want to come up with this character
and we're as you say we're really in love with like the first act but the actual story goal it
seems like falls short for many new writers do you think so I'm not sure I feel like
you can come at a story from a lot of different ways and no matter which angle you you come to
that idea from no matter which aspect of it inspired you to want to write it you still
have to fill in all of the other elements in order to like have a complete thing that can work right
I wonder if I wonder if it feels that way because a lot of times the story goal feels like
dry plot very plot specific and dry and the interesting part to a lot of writers is coming
up with the the character and the the person that we're gonna go with on this journey and coming up
with those like traits that will be fun to write and this maybe the story goal just feels like a
a thing that I have to figure out that I don't really I'm not inspired by I'm that could be it
well I know off camera you mentioned the movie Hustle the and we both saw it and loved it is
the story goal the Adam Sandler goal or is the basketball player's goal or are there several
story goals oh that's a good question so I when I talk about the story goal I specifically mean the
protagonist story goal because that's really what the movie is structured around right like that's
the the character wanting that thing is what gives you that spine of the story that main through line
you might have heard it called so I would call the story goal in in that movie Adam Sandler's
goal which if I were going to articulate it I'm not sure I remember all the details of it but it
was like to have this basketball player be picked up I'm not a sports person be picked up by a team
right did that does that sound right yeah I think it was if I remember correctly was he scouting out
other players and nothing was panning out either somebody was too old or whatever and then he sees
this guy at like a street game if I remember yeah and so it's like this unexpected he gets
his wish and now he's got to convince this guy to come to the states yeah so so if we're going to
like look at that from a 40,000 foot view of of the big picture of the story like his story
goal is the thing he's trying to achieve by the end of it and in that story I would say it's it
that story goal is formed after he meets that guy right so he is down on his luck he feels like he's
got one last chance to make his career happen we're talking about the Adam Sandler character
sure unexpectedly he sees this like amazing miracle of a player and he's like that's my chance
if I can get that guy a deal and I think initially it's a deal with the team that he works for and
then they go out on their own or something like that right but if I can get that guy a deal then
basically my career will be saved so that becomes his and again I wish I remembered all the details
of that story but I think that that's it that becomes his story goal then that's the thing
that he's working towards for the rest of the movie so the story goal isn't something that the
character starts the movie with it's formed in act one so they start the story in their normal world
or their ordinary world or whatever and somewhere along the way in act one they they form this story
goal that is the thing that drives the rest of the movie so then pursuing that goal across act
two and into act three and then resolving it in act three that's that's the rest of your movie
right and if I remember correctly I think his back is against the wall because was the initial
coach or owner of the team like a mentor and then the dynamic changes and now there's a new
person at the helm and he's trying to and he's not really fitting in well yeah so that's part of the
setup that that ben foster character he becomes the team owner I think or something like that
or whatever yeah yeah so he's like the bratty son yes exactly so the the mentor character Adam
Sandler's mentor character was the owner he was the older the patriarch of that family he passes
away and then the son inherits it or inherits that role anyway and he and Adam Sandler don't get
along so then that that like you said it puts Adam Sandler's back up against the wall and so then
that's when he's in in a tough place where he has okay I have one more chance I’ve got
one more chance to save my career otherwise I'm done because those circumstances have
changed and then that's when he sees the basketball player and forms that story goal.