If there is one thing 300 gets right, it’s the awesome spectacle of blood spattering. Matching with uncanny accuracy the images provided by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, director Zack Snyder provides fanboys with the ultimate comic book adaptation.

If only a complete story had accompanied the crimson-soaked celluloid…

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The Annual Comic Convention in San Diego (ComicCon) is going on right now and throughout this weekend. And while the spectacle of geeks and fanboys in various modes of costume always seems to steal the show, the most fantastic and appealing part of the convention, the whole reason for even going there, is the shear wealth of stories that are available to those who attend.

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Bolstered by a captivating performance from Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix serves up one visual delight after another for fans of the book series. Unfortunately, for those of us who have not read the books, the film fails to provide enough story information to go along with the spectacle.

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Ensemble stories are always elusive when it comes to interpreting their meaning. Typically, these kinds of stories bring together several separate throughlines with the intention of making some “greater point.” Unfortunately for many, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s Babel is not typical. While compelling and thought-provoking, the film lives up to the confusing nature of its Biblical namesake.

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Not every well-told story fits perfectly into the typical Dramatica story paradigm - i.e. an Objective Story, a Main and Impact Character, and a Subjective Story. Sometimes a good story can have multiple Impact Characters and multiple Main Characters. One way of pulling this off with minimal confusion to your audience is to ensure that each Main Character shares the same perspective…just as the South Park movie did.

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Some readers aren’t aware that you can actually ask me questions if you feel so inclined. While I don’t profess to know everything about this theory, or screenwriting in general, I do feel like I have a unique voice on the matter and enjoy helping to make stories and, more specifically, screenplays, better. The following is an example of the kind of feedback you’ll expect when you click on “Contact” above…

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Nowadays, photographic evidence isn’t enough. With the advent of Photoshop and digital photography, anyone can claim ownership of the truth. In order to convince someone that a conspiracy exists, even one related to something so inconsequential as story theory, the whistle-blowers of today need cold hard facts and an airtight case.

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Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t crack the code of a story. Whether it’s a film you are analyzing or a spec screenplay that you’ve been working on for weeks, the storyform can remain frustratingly elusive. There is a technique I’ve found that works, and although it’s not revolutionary, it might help you get over that Dramatica-imposed writer’s block.

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The relationship between the Main Character and Impact Character provides the heart of a story. Unfortunately, this emotional connection is often overlooked in many a screenplay. The heap of forgotten films teems with stories that made the simple error of not engaging their audiences passionately. It seems strange then, that Deadwood, a series often referred to as vulgar and crude, should present us such a successful attempt at this essential relationship.

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There are elegant ways to introduce the Subjective Story in your screenplay…and not so elegant ways. Examples of both can be found in two films from last year: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Notes on a Scandal. Care to guess which one handles this important introduction in a beautiful and artful way?

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