The Ultimate Story Checklist v3

So this is it, folks, The Ultimate Story Checklist...Volume 3! Before George turns your story into a movie, he wants to know: Is your concept solid? Are your characters compelling? Does it all hang together? I’ve used this list to evaluate my favorite movies and my own scripts. The result: my favorite movies all pass and my own scripts mostly fail. This tells me what I’m doing wrong.

The goal is simple: Answer these questions and try to answer yes to as many as possible. Every movie is unique and no movie that I’ve evaluated gets a yes on every single question, nor should it, but the more beloved a movie is, on average, the more yeses it tends to get.  To see the list in action, go here. 

Part 1: Is this a good story idea?

1. Is this an extreme situation extrapolated from a common emotion?
2. Is the concept a unique twist on a classic type of story?   
3. Is this the simplest and most streamlined version of your concept? 
4. Is the concept simple enough to allow you to spend more time exploring character than explaining the plot?
5. Is there a central relationship we haven’t seen in a story before?
6. Do the plot and the character arcs intertwine (The plot is either the hero’s hope, the hero’s fear, or an ironic answer to hero’s question)?
7. Does something inside this hero have a particularly volatile reaction to this plot?
8. Does the hero transform the plot?
9. Does the plot transform the hero?
10. Is the hero the person working the hardest to solve the problem?
11. In the end, is the hero the only person who can solve the problem?
12. Is there at least one actual human being opposed to what the hero is doing?
13. Is this challenge something that is the not just hard for the hero to do (an obstacle) but hard for the hero to want to do (a conflict)?
14. Is this a fundamentally ironic situation?
15. Does this concept show us an image we haven’t seen before (that can be used to promote the final product)?
16. Does the story contain a twist that is not obvious from the beginning?
17. Is the concept marketable without revealing the twist?
18. Is the conflict compelling and ironic both before and after the twist?
19. Do you openly or implicitly pose a dramatic question at the beginning that the audience will expect to be answered at the end?
20. Is the dramatic question answered only at the very end of the conflict?

Part 2: Is this a compelling character?

1. When the story begins, does the hero know exactly what he or she wants, but not what he or she needs?
2. Does the hero cleverly and resourcefully pursue what he or she wants?
3. Does the hero have a well-defined public self ?
4. Does that contrast with a hidden private self?
5. Is the hero misunderstood?
6. No matter how much the hero changes, does he or she have a default personality trait?
7. When the hero argues, does he or she have a consistent default strategy for uncovering information or getting others to do things?
8. Does the hero’s language draw from a consistent metaphor family (usually based on his/her backstory, job or developmental state)?
9. Does the hero have a universal public fear and a specific private fear?
10. Does the hero use special skills from his or her past to resolve the conflict?
11. Does the hero have a false statement of philosophy at the beginning of the story and a corrected statement of philosophy near the end?
12. Does the hero have a false goal at the beginning and a corrected goal before the climax?
13. Does the hero have a moment of humanity early on? (A funny, or kind, or oddball, or out-of-character, or unique-but-universal “I thought I was the only one who did that!” moment?
14. Do you know why the hero’s friends like him or her?
15. Do you know the three rules the hero lives by? (the hero’s self-image)
16. Does the hero engage in physical exertion early on?
17. Does the hero work harder than other people doing the same thing?
18. Is the hero surrounded by people who lack his or her most valuable quality?
19. Does the hero have a long-standing personal problem that he or she will try to solve?
20. Is the hero’s biggest flaw the flip side of his or her biggest strength?
21. At the end of this story, is the hero transformed (his or her self esteem, ethics, morals, or personality)?
22. Does the hero engage in reversible behavior that will instantly tell us that he or she has changed when we see a contrasting behavior later on?

Part 3: Is this the best structure?

1. Are the hero’s goals clear the audience early on?
2. When we first meet the hero, does a long-standing personal problem become more acute, perhaps in the form a social humiliation?
3. Does the hero soon find out about an intimidating opportunity to solve that problem?
4. Is there hesitation, as the opportunity becomes more and more appealing?
5. Does the hero commit to pursuing the opportunity by a quarter of the way in?
6. Does the hero try to solve the problem the easy way first?
7. Does the hero’s pursuit of the opportunity cause an unforeseen conflict with another person?
8. Does the hero enjoy some success and have some fun? Is the promise of the premise fulfilled?
9. Does the false promise of early success culminate in a midpoint disaster?
10. Does the hero lose a safe space or sheltering relationship at this point?
11. Does the hero start to question his or her assumptions, goals, and/or philosophy?
12. Does the hero try to solve the problem the hard way throughout the third quarter?
13. Does the hero learn from mistakes in a painful way?
14. Does the hero find out who his or her real friends and real enemies are?
15. Are the stakes raised as the pace increases and the motivation escalates?
16. Is the hero forced to face the underlying thematic dilemma?
17. Do the hero’s successes and/or failures lead to a spiritual crisis three-quarters of the way in?
18. After that crisis, does the hero finally commit to pursuing a corrected goal, which is still far away?
19. Before the final quarter of the movie begins (if not long before), has the hero switched to being proactive, instead of reactive?
20. Despite the hero’s proactive steps, is the timetable moved up unexpectedly at the end, forcing the hero to improvise anyway?  
21. Do all strands of the story and most of the characters come together for the climactic confrontation?
22. Is there an epilogue/ aftermath/ denouement in which the hero’s original problem is finally resolved one way or another, as he/she realizes (and hopefully shows) how much he/she has changed?

Part 4: Is this a satisfying theme?

1. Is there a thematic question that is posed early on?
2. Can the thematic dilemma be stated in terms of good vs. good (or sometimes bad vs. bad)?
3. Does the story have something to say about real life?
4. Have you avoided moral hypocrisy as much as possible?
5. Do the characters’ actions reflect the way the world works?
6. Do the difficult decisions have real consequences?
7. Is every element of your story as ironic as possible?
8. Do many small details of your story reflect your larger theme?
9. Does the climax make a strong statement about the thematic question, without answering it definitively?  

Part 5: Is this lively dialogue?

1. Does each character have a distinct voice? (Can you always tell who is speaking without looking at the names?) 
2. Is the dialogue bouncy?
3. Are there pithy and/or quotable lines?
4. If you have more than one protagonist, have you polarized them in an impartial way along the lines of head, heart and gut?
5. Have you listened to the real-life jargon of people in this profession or setting?
6. Do you feel genuine empathy for all of your characters?
7. Do your characters consciously and unconsciously prioritize their own wants, rather than the wants of others?
8. Are your characters resistant to openly admitting their feelings (to others and even to themselves)?
9. Does each of your characters, including your hero, have a limited perspective?
10. Do you withhold exposition until the character and the audience are both demanding to know it?

Part 6: Does the story manage its tone to create and fulfill audience expectations?

1. Are you satisfying the urges that get people to buy and recommend these types of stories?
2. Have you chosen a pre-established genre? (Or accepted the risks of not doing so?)
3. Are you prepared to fulfill most of the audience expectations that come with that genre…
4. …and then defy a few of them?
5. Have you chosen a pre-established sub-genre or two (but not three)?
6. Are you prepared to satisfy the demands of your sub-genre?
7. Are you using your genre and sub-genre as metaphors for common emotional dilemmas?
8. Have you used framing devices (flashforwards, framing sequences and/or first person narration) to establish the tone and pose ongoing questions?
9. Have you established a consistent mood?
10. Have you planted the right questions in the audience’s mind (in order to keep them from asking the wrong questions?)
11. Have you created expectations about what will happen (through foreshadowing or dangling questions?) 

Part 7: Are you getting the most out of each scene?

1. Does the plot and/or character arc progress in this scene (preferably both)?
2. Were false and/or hopeful expectations for this interaction established beforehand?
3. Were these events foreshadowed?
4. Does this location naturally create conflict for the hero, externally and/or internally?
5. Does the scene have its own mini-ticking-clock?
6. Do you know what outcome the audience will be rooting for in this scene (and are you prepared to gratify or disappoint that expectation)?  
7. Do you know what each character wants in this scene?
8. Do the characters have strategies to get what they want using tricks and traps?
9. Is at least one of the scene partners convinced, forced, or tricked into doing something he or she didn’t intend to do when the scene began?   
10. Are previously-asked questions answered?
11. Are new questions raised and left unanswered for now?
12. Are there hints of a character’s past (info-drip instead of info-dump)?
13. Is there reblocking?
14. Is there literal push and pull (often resulting in just one touch)?
15. Are there objects given or taken, representing larger values?
16. Is at least one of the major scene partners not focused on the plot, at least at first?
17. Are the characters dishonest or in denial about their own feelings?
18. Do the characters avoid direct confrontation as much as possible (but feel compelled to confront each other indirectly?)
19. Do they confront each other mostly through subtext, rather than through text?
20. Do you enter the scene as late as possible?
21. Do you cut away as early as possible?
22. Do you allow friction caused by the setting or the characters’ emotions to slow down the scene when necessary? 

So that’s it.  And if you want to actually fill it out, you can download a copy in .doc form here.  Hopefully, it can help you hang a big lantern on the problems that are keeping your story from connecting with audiences.