The DRAMA REPORT is a diagnostic tool for examining and identifying the dramatic strengths and weaknesses of every draft of your screenplay. The events and character actions (including dialogue) that are present in your screenplay are the basis of the grammar by which a story becomes emotionally compelling, or meaningful. Examine your screenplay to see how clearly it provides answers to the following questions.

Producers, directors and others will find a useful tool in this report, however, the first two questions are for the SCREENWRITER ALONE to answer. Vivid and accurate answers to these questions are an essential prerequistie for any writer who intends to work as a medium for character and story.  

Caveat Emptor: You may answer all the questions satisfactorily and still not have a screenplay worth making if you (we) do not care about the characters or their story; however, without a satisfactory answer to all the questions, it is probable that your screenplay is not yet DRAMATIC.

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         THE DRAMA REPORT

                          TWO QUESTIONS FOR THE SCREENWRITER ONLY

AUDIENCE  -  To whom is the story addressed, and what effect do you imagine it will have?

TRIBE - For whom is the writer speaking, or who is it that is speaking THROUGH the writer?

SETTING UP - the Character[s] and their Conflict

1. Who/What is/are the main character(s)?  

2. What problem/opportunity does the main character confront at the beginning of the main story?

3. What action (plan) – on the part of the main character – is prompted by the initial problem? 

4. What goal does the main character hope to achieve as a result of employing this plan?

5. Who or what opposes the main character/s?

6. What else, other than what directly opposes the main character, does he/she fear?

7. In what manner or aspect is the main character [or characters] compelling?        

8. Obstacles/complications:  What is/are the major obstacle/s or complication/s confronting the main character after he/she has decided upon his/her initial plan of action? 

9. In what ways does the problem evolve or change, and what impact does this change have on the main character’s objective and/or plans for achieving it?

10. Stakes: What is at stake in the main character’s quest for his/her objective or goal?   And how do these change with the evolving problem/s?

11. What is the main character’s final goal?

12. What new or  significant realization or understanding does the main character have at the conclusion of the story?

13. List and identify any subsidiary stories, and explain how they contribute to the dramatic meaning of the main story.

14. Scene sequencing: Does each scene contribute to advancing or retarding the main character’s progress towards a clear goal?    YES/NO     Please note any scenes that are not doing so.

15. Unanswered questions: Does the script raise any questions that it doesn’t answer? Specify. 

THEME - log-line, dramatic question & premise

16. What is the logline of the central story of the screenplay? 

17. What is the dramatic question of the main story?

18. What is the answer provided at the end of the story?

19. What is the premise of the main story as you understand it?

GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES / GENRE - the contexts in which the action occurs

Time of action?

(i.e.: How much time does the story cover? Duration & at what time/s is it set?)

Place of Action?

Society?

What social and/or societal groups govern the characters beliefs and actions, and what characterises the interactions of one group with another?

Intellect and culture?

What is the intellectual and cultural context/s within which the characters act?

Politics and Law?  

What governmental and/or legal institurions, groups or organisations are relevant to the story?  

Economics?

What is the prevailing economic/financial system in which the characters collectively live, and what sorts of daily financial activities are the characters engaged in within that system?

Spirituality? 

In what kind of spiritual context does the action occur?  (This refers to the formal religious elements in a script, and might include the presence of religious societies, ceremonies and traditions, and the religious values espoused by the characters.)

Neutral circumstances?

Are any of these circumstances or aspects merely stated but not used in the story’s telling?

Genre?

In light of the dramatic question (and its answer) AND the given circumstances, what is the genre?