The Breakdown Webcast: Writing Theme

We're kicking off the final month of 2020 in the Writers' Room with a another member-inspired Breakdown Webcast! This month we will be talking about writing Theme in your feature scripts.

Every well-conceived and executed story will have a theme, which is the ​"controlling idea", underlying essence, or deeper meaning of film script. And yet, because themes are often buried deep within a story’s structure, it can be hard to articulate or even recognize them.

That is why we will be breaking down story structure to find out exactly which scenes typically explore theme. As always, we will be utilizing scenes from some of our favorite films to discuss how they handle theme. We pull clips from classics such as Jurassic Park, Shawshank Redemption, The Exorcist, Saving Private Ryan, and more!