The Stakes In Every Story Are Always Life And Death - Alan Watt [Founder of L.A. Writers' Lab]

Desire. Surrender. Transformation. Ooh! Great one!

such an amazing content like this should definitely get more attention than just 3k views.. Every single video from this channel helps me more that a week in screenwriting classes in film school

Do this help you with the dilemma in the story you are working on now?

I read it as Steaks and Dimentia. Wow. Need to get eyesight checked.

perfect, needed to hear this

Wow, simply wow.

A masterclass in itself.....

Dilemma: 1. a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones. 2.(logic) an argument forcing an opponent to choose either of two unfavorable alternatives.

awesome explanation !! great job as usual Film Courage

Yess!!!

Great video. I have learned much. Thank you.

Yes it does, along with the other two videos I just watched: Dilemma is the Source of a Story and Story Structure in Three Words. All three were an education from start to finish. To paraphrase Elmore Leonard, You left out all the parts the parts the viewers skip. Thank you Alan Watt and Film Courage. I'm going to dust off that half finished manuscript now.

Great.

I just bought his book. Love film courage.

Makes sense.

Brilliant

It helps. TY.

he's talking about misconception, no dilemma. There's no choice in misconception.

Here's where I think he avoided the question about stakes; and went on to dilemma (since he already covers this topic multiple times in other interviews)and where I think he could have expanded more upon the STAKES always being about LIFE and DEATH, because he's right; but this is how I see it. For those TWO examples, it's about being a part of the "in-crowd" and having or keeping that "high status". We are social animals. It's how we (the ego) evolved. From hunter gatherers to being part of a "tribe". The ego wants these material things and status because it will help us survive in comparison to others. There's a whole list of reasons why being in the popular or remaining high-tier in my group of friends could give me benefits. Just listing random examples: information for what's in style and following a trend as soon as it's out, rather than being second and potentially being too late to the 'new thing' will result in being JUDGED: i.e. made fun of, not invited, or worse; cast out of the 'tribe' entirely; and that's not a bad thing. That's just how we survive as social animals, because being on the higher rung of the ladder as it were means better meals, better mates, first come first serve, your success in survival means your judgement of others will be trusted more because it has been held to be accurate. Because people (our ego) have evolved to organize things into patterns and that means we need to constantly compare; to JUDGE things either "good" or "bad" in order to climb the social ladder and survive (higher you are the better chances of survival you have in the world/setting, i.e. classroom, friend group, college, work, etC). So if you don't make the in crowd or you are in the in crowd that you desire but are new, perhaps you won't be paired up with someone in your crowd because resources are always finite (friends or otherwise) and now Jenny picked Matt so you're left to fend for yourself and lo-and-behold the only person available is someone your friends have JUDGED and you consider to be lower on the rung, or doesn't recognize the rung at all, which will then change you to see there is no 'in-crowd' and it's all an illusion of identification of thought. Furthering that example of perks: Perhaps that "in-crowd" has parent's that don't have to work the 9-5 and so are more available to give lifts, or are out more so they can throw house-parties. Remember? House parties are a thing of status. That's the world of high-school right? So think about your world. What are the perks of status? I could go on to give you a plethora of benefits. But what are the stakes? Not being in the in-crowd means you have lower status (which means people's EGO's on higher status LOVE to put you down in order to RAISE themselves up) because it's a self-confirmation that they hold the power. So maybe you get the dirty table at the cafeteria since all others are taken (and your own ego self-affirms that that is what you deserve) (perhaps you've been told this repeatedly so is has to be true because that's your form of self-identification; which is GREAT for you because now you know where you are, half the battle is understanding that; our ego needs to understand because the unknown is scary, it's not safe... so we will package ourselves by recognizing the patterns in order to survive in our own low-status because there is always something lower; remember, you're still comparing lol; well, at least I'm not garbage boy!) (the other thing about understanding is the ego WANTS to understand things so they can get something; i.e. power, one up on the universe, whatever it is you will get something!; think about it; why are you READING THIS?!! So that you may understand story better and tell a better story; or know how to navigate the world and not be hurt; which is not a bad thing, it's just how the ego survived. so to understand something is to have power over it; and by not knowing you have power; but actually in spiritual terms the reverse is true: when you give up understanding and allow things to be you will feel and just be as well---- (One more tangent: I remember a writer once said that the END RESULT of any great scene always accumulates with one CHARACTER telling another character HOW They are BEING, it always comes back to being: in a nutshell: I want this, well I want this too, wow; you're a jerk.) Anyways! So higher on rung means less danger, less chance to be bullied; and being lower means you'll potentially be tripped in the hall, even by accident, no one will help you or that will lower their status, or you will be helped but in secret and you want to understand if they are your friend now, OMG there is just so much juice to these stakes to evolve the story, but yeah; it's all about life and death. When you don't identify with that thought of being a loser, poor, etc; being small for example: what do these term mean? Being small might mean I'm not good at sports, but it's the little guy who doesn't know he's little that's the fastest on the lacrosse team and he's jumping over big kids; I mean, YOU ARE A CREATOR; YOU MAKE the meaning out of it or not! So when you identify with thought you give power to others to make meaning out of it; and when you don't identify with thought you can just be and not worry; but it's our mind (thinking thoughts) just as our heart beats; that is just an organ helping you to survive by offering or auditioning thoughts for your attention that you can say "yes that works" or "No, that's stupid" whatever lol. But when you no longer identify as the cool girl or the smart boy, that form dies, until a new thought-form comes and you are born again into that new thought. And the cycle continues. Life and death; the wheel of karma; the reincarnation into thought-forms. Gonna stop there before I roll into spiritually haha; but it's all connected so hope this has helped!

@Film Courage how do story creators walk the fine line between using existing stories as inspiration and creating something unique?