The Screenwriters Taxonomy

6Pathway

The screenwriter’s voice suggests how the story could be told, but the pathway describes the trajectory of how the audience will move through the story. Regardless of genre, each story takes their protagonist(s) along a specific pathway. This pathway becomes a subconscious atlas for the audience—a tool to guide them through the story.

A traditional pathway has five elements. Most Hollywood movies follow this pathway:

1. One central protagonist goes through a change (except in a romance, where there are two equally weighted protagonists).
2. The audience and protagonist generally learn information at the same time.
3. The protagonist follows the Hero’s Journey (leaving home, having an adventure, learning something, then returning home).