No matter how you achieve it, ultimately your screenplay has to maintain the audience’s interest. That’s the bottom line.
One quick way to lose the audience is to get off track, to make us feel unsure of where we’re headed or whether we’re going anywhere at all.
Instead, we want a sense of direction and narrative momentum that carries the reader along. That feeling of forward momentum actually compels us to keep reading.
But there’s one area of the script where it’s all too common to let the momentum lapse, and I think it can be traced back to a bit of Save the Cat advice that’s been misinterpreted over the years.
There’s a difference between easing off the gas and leaving the road altogether
In Save the Cat, we’re advised to introduce the B-story in early Act 2. In fact, the B-story is listed as the next beat after the Break into Act 2 on the Save the Cat beat sheet. The introduction of the B-story is described as ‘a break from the main action, a chance to catch our breath.’ But when not done carefully, taking a break from the main action can bring the screenplay to a standstill.
Direction and momentum in your screenplay are created by the urgent pursuit of a story goal or objective. That goal is created right around the Break into Act 2. So that’s where the audience expects the story to really get going in earnest. Where we anticipate that feeling of the story taking off.
What happens if you take a break just when you’re getting started?
If it’s a total break from the A-story, the screenplay will lose its momentum, and likely any sense of urgency. After all, if the protagonist doesn’t care enough about his goal to stay focused on it immediately after deciding to pursue it, then it must not be very important to him. If he doesn’t care that much, then we won’t either.
The key to keeping us on track
The solution comes down to not losing sight of the A-story goal, even if our attention is temporarily directed to the B-story (or a supporting character or relationship of any kind).
Now that I’ve pointed it out, you will notice this principle in play in most movies. The A-story is almost never fully abandoned. We’re always aware of the main action, even if it’s not right in front of us every moment.
Whether it’s by keeping us in the location or world of the A-story, or keeping the protagonist’s A-story problem top of mind even as he engages in scenes that are really about the B-story, or maybe using the B-story “break” as a deliberate way to amp up suspense and tension in the pursuit of the A-story goal…
We must not lose track of the main action (the throughline) of the story.
B-story introductions that work
- At the start of Act 2 in Legally Blonde, Elle is at Harvard Law pursuing her story goal, and that’s where she meets the B-story character(s). But through it all, we never forget that she is in the process of pursuing the story goal. Even when she’s off getting her nails done and teaching the bend-and-snap.
- In one of my recent favorites, Hustle, at the Break into Act 2, protagonist Stan has identified talented street baller Boa Cruz as his golden ticket to getting the NBA coaching position Stan so desires. Then we spend some time getting to know Boa’s personal story, which we can think of as the B-story even though there’s a lot of overlap there.
So after Stan sets his sights on Boa Cruz (the Break into Act 2) we move off the basketball court and into Boa’s home, where Stan starts to get to know Boa the person. There’s still the pursuit of Stan’s goal hanging over everything, though. We never forget what he really wants, even as he meets Boa’s family and sits in their kitchen listening to Boa’s story.
- And if we look at something like Ratatouille, where the B-story about Linguini finding his own place in the kitchen happens alongside Remy the rat’s quest to become a real chef, we never lose sight of that Remy A-story even while the Linguini B-story is developing. And 99% of those B-story scenes happen in the restaurant kitchen. So we don’t have to go far to turn our attention back and forth.
Detours can be fun, as long as we don’t lose sight of the destination
Subplots have a place in stories, of course — you’ll get no argument from me there. But it’s important to make sure the main focus truly is the main focus, and that generally means keeping it in front of us consistently throughout the story.
If your story goes completely off the rails in order to introduce a subplot, it’s probably doing more harm than good by throwing away the momentum and sense of direction you’ve built up to that point.
A good rule of thumb: make sure the A-story is still in our sights, even if we need to slow our progress toward it briefly.