More for Tree People (call to action)

This is the moment when the hero makes a decision the consequences of which are revealed through the rest of the movie. You've already given considerable thought to this moment in your paradigm chart and possibly in your step outline.

Check one more time the flow of actions from hook to complication to hero's decision here. If there's a sense of the inevitable in this flow, even though the moments of the hook and complication have an element of surprise in them, then you have the hero where you want him/her: moving into action, committing to reaching a goal. Looking back at these early moments of the story, there's almost a sense of fate - the hero is destined to take this adventure because this particular sequence of actions dropped into his/her lap.

Maybe he does so reluctantly, as the sheriff in High Noon refuses to leave town with his new bride in order to meet his fate against the outlaw coming to get revenge. The hero's call to action says something about the hero's character - and it is something we admire, although at this stage of the game this does not have to be a big issue.

The point is, certain things have happened - the hook and complication - that require a response from the hero - and that response is to engage oneself into the story, to commit to a goal, to leave ordinary circumstances for the journey into the new world of the story, the "extra-ordinary" world.

The story spine is now in place.

[BACK TO TEXT]


MODULE 5: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

8/97