Screenwriting : Today's Wish and Creative Tip by Laurie Ashbourne

Premise vs. plot and character: Ideally all plot information should contribute to the realization of the characters and all character information should move the plot forward The setting is the backdrop of the story world All three feed the promise of the premise (which frames your logline) Most stories fail in delivering the promise of the premise. It's important to keep these elements serving their individual purposes so when joined together the sum is greater than the individual parts. Let’s look at a basic example (that failed): The premise of Batman vs. Superman is that a vigilante super hero goes after a super hero alien. The world is Gotham City and Metropolis – 2 gritty cities where super powers are commonplace but feared more than revered. The characters are Batman, an elusive vigilante with a big ego and bigger wallet, driven by the loss of his parents to rid Gotham city of crime and Superman, an alien once thought of as a god-like hero but who has fallen out of grace – and the only one who believes in him is his girlfriend, who he would do anything for. The plot is, a megalomaniac businessman (Lex Luthor) wants krypton weaponized and krypton also happens to be Superman’s only weakness (aside from his love for Lois). So Lex schemes to have Batman take out Superman, as Lex makes off with the krypton stash. Where the promise of the premise fails is (mostly) due to the fact that the character information doesn’t move the plot forward – when it comes to Superman and Batman’s characters. We spend way too much time in their backstory heads. One could argue that this plot information contributes to the character realization – but the problem is that these character traits have little or nothing to do with saving the world from Lex’s grasp. This misstep isn’t just a confusing subplot, it’s messy story telling and if we had never heard of these two characters the film would have never gotten as far as it did. This isn’t meant to be a critique of BM vs. SM but rather an example of when the crucial elements of story don’t work together in synergy. There's nothing wrong with the premise of Superman falling from grace and Batman wanting to save the public from him all to be revealed as being manipulated by a mastermind of evil, but it didn't come off that simply. Let's look at THE LION KING as one that did work: The premise: Hamlet with animals, in the African pride lands The king of the pride is killed and in his guilt ridden grief the rightful heir runs off leaving the evil mastermind as king. Now, without getting into a lengthy breakdown of each element; just think about those characters, plot and premise and setting -- and you see how they all worked in synergy to deliver on the promise of the premise. Make good on the promise of the premise of a new day. Don't forget -- I'm taking requests of topics to round out the 100 tips. I have a few spots left. This is number 85.