CRITICAL

DRAFT ANALYSIS

A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL

TWO QUESTIONS

FOR THE SCREENWRITER

• AUDIENCE – To whom is your story addressed?

• TRIBE – On whose behalf, or in whose name –tribally – are you telling the story?

Setting up

the characters & 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. Other than what directly and

obviously opposes the main character,

what else does the character fear or

see as a (potential) threat?

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 initialplan 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?

S T A K E S

10. What is at stake in the main character’s

quest for his/her objective or goal? And

In what ways – if any – do the stakes change?

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

Either facilitate or frustrate or the main

character’s likelihood of attaining his/her goal?

Please note any scenes that do neither.

15. Unanswered questions: Does the script

raise any questions it never answers?

Specify.

DRAMATIC

QUESTION, LOG-LINE &

PREMISE

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

17. What is the answer provided at the end of the

story?

18. What is the premise?

19. What is the log-line?

GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES

Time of Action - What time-span is covered

by the action of the story?

Place of Action - Geographic location.

Where

the story set?

Society - What significant societal

groups, clans, or sub-cultures do the

characters belong to?

Interactions What characterises the

interactions that occur between and among

the different groups in the story?

Intellect / education - In what way/s that

are important to the story do the characters

express their intellectual identity?

Culture What do the groups DO that

characterises or defines their cultural identity?

Politics What principle/s do the characters

and character groups adhere to and uphold in

order to govern themselves?

Law How do the groups enforce these

principles?

Economics What principle/s do the groups

adhere to and uphold in the production,

distribution, trade andconsumption of goods

and services?

Spirituality - What sustaining spiritual

notions or values do the groups hold to be true?

(This refers to the formal religious elements that

may be present and inform their attitudes and

actions, inclduing the presence of religious

societies, churches, ceremonies, traditions,and

the relgious values espoused by the

characters.)

Neutral circumstances - Which, if any, of

these

circumstances or aspects are in evidence but

not

actually employed dramatically in the story?