Things keep getting tense for your characters.
One of the most common mistakes I see newbie writers make is that they never raise the stakes in their screenplays. Whether it’s a TV pilot or a feature film, they’ll just present a problem and show the characters’ work to solve it. But it always feels like something huge is missing.
What’s missing are the stakes continually getting higher and higher. This can happen within character development and with additional conflict.
Today I want to talk about “stakes” with you. We’ll go over what they are, how to raise them, and look at some fun examples.
Sound good? Let’s go!
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
