If you think about it, good storytelling is actually good attention management.
Directing the audience’s attention where you want it, giving them enough information to keep them interested, but not so much or too little that they get bored or confused. Sometimes using misdirection.
All to get a deliberate effect and entertain them in the way you want (and hopefully the way they want to be entertained).
The goal is a navigation tool
One of the tools screenwriters use for this attention-management is establishing a story goal. Doing so creates a target in the audience’s mind. It’s like a North Star that helps them stay oriented over the course of the movie. As the audience watches the story unfold, they can tell how things are going because they have the target to track progress against.
So the story goal is a pretty vital part of the context that’s established in Act 1. That context prepares the audience, tells them what they need to know to go along on and experience this journey.
But what do you do if your story involves a “hidden” or “fake” goal? A story in which the protagonist doesn’t know the whole picture about what they’re trying to accomplish, what they’re up against, etc. When you can’t, for one reason or another, provide all of the essential context for the audience or the protagonist?
Today I want to share one quick lesson from a script I recently read off of last year’s Black List: Mercury, written by Stefan Jaworski. Here’s the logline:
“When a first date takes a dangerous turn, down-on-his-luck Michael risks everything to save his newfound love from her past. Little does he know, the night — and his date — are not what they seem. Michael soon finds himself on a high-octane cat-and-mouse race across the city to save himself and uncover the truth, armed with nothing but his wit, his driving skills, and a 1969 Ford Mercury.”
(This script is a great example to look at, too, because it’s a simple premise that really delivers in the execution. If you’re looking to get some attention as a new screenwriter, it’s definitely the type of thing to consider writing.)
And, fair warning… spoilers ahead! If you’d like to read it before continuing, download the Mercury screenplay here.
Establish a goal, even if it’s fake
If you’re writing a script that involves a protagonist who’s missing some information about what he needs to do or what he’s up against, one potential pitfall is that the audience is also missing that information and so we don’t have a North Star. We don’t have something to track, which makes for a disorienting experience.
Mercury smartly gets around this problem by creating a fake goal. Or, to be accurate, it’s a real goal for the protagonist. It gives the story structure and fulfills the storytelling function it needs to. But the protagonist doesn’t know what’s truly going on.
Where the script could have featured a protagonist who is just taking direction from another character and therefore doesn’t feel like he’s driving (no pun intended) his own story…
In Mercury Michael takes ownership of what he’s doing and what he wants to achieve. After he learns love interest Laura’s in trouble and convinces her to let him help by driving her to Mexico to escape her violent ex-boyfriend, Michael says: “I’ll get you away from him.”
Even though story-wise, Michael will soon have the rug pulled out from under him and realize he doesn’t need or want to pursue this story goal, right now this creates that North Star for us to track. We know what Michael is trying to accomplish, what his actions are directed toward achieving.
We have a yardstick to measure his progress, so we know when he’s getting closer to the goal and when he’s falling back, when he’s succeeding and when he’s failing. This creates a fertile environment for tension! We’re rooting for Michael, so watching him gain and lose ground keeps us on the edge of our seats.
Give your story some direction
Just before Michael’s goal declaration, Laura also lays out a list of things she needs to do before they drive to Mexico. On page 22, Laura says: “If we actually do this… before we go… I have three stops I need to make.”
This dialogue gives the story added direction. We have a sense of what Michael is going to have to do, the steps he’ll need to take, in order to achieve his goal. It’s basically a map. With this and the North Star in sight, we (and Michael) set off through the story.
So today’s lesson: if the protagonist doesn’t have a built-in story goal, create one. Even if it’s all one big trick.
In the moment, it IS his story goal. That’s how it functions, and you need all of the parts of your story engine functioning in order for it to run properly.
If your protagonist can’t immediately know everything that’s going on in the story, you can still strive to create a strong sense of anticipation and narrative drive in the script. And it might even be more important to give the audience the feeling of dependable navigation tools while you’re secretly moving us along the hidden track!