The Director's Idea

Chapter 6

Text Interpretation

The first step toward developing a director’s idea is reading or interpreting the script. Every script, every story can be interpreted in many ways. A writer has fashioned the story using a mix of narrative tools: a premise, a generally goal-oriented main character who is faced with having to choose between two opposing alternatives, and two groups of secondary characters, one of which helps the main character and one that stands in opposition. In terms of structure, the narrative is organized from a critical moment to its resolution along a course of rising action—barriers, people, or events that make it increasingly more difficult for the main character to achieve his goal. The structure includes a plot layer and ...