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The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue & Vice for Box Office Success

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I remember this like it was yesterday: I read a letter to the editors in regards to the film "The Deer Hunter." The person wrote: "I can't understand how a film that glorifies violence and beer drinking and hunting can win Best Picture." This person was, obviously, looking at the over all story - not at what the movie was REALLY about which is a film about love and sacrifice and, literally, laying one's life down for a friend. Far more depth than "beer drinking and hunting."

What are we talking about? The "subtext" of a film. What the film is REALLY about. "The Incredibles?" What's the movie about? "It's about a family of superheroes that does battle against an evil villain and saves the world!" What's it REALLY about: It's about love, the power of family, finding your identity, making sacrifices and doing what is right against all obstacles."

In the book: "The Moral Premise" author Stanley D. Williams, Ph.D. takes the concept of subtext and creates a layer of subtext under it. It almost asks: "What's the SUBTEXT really about?" And if you come up with the answer, then you have the Moral Premise.

The Moral Premise can be described easily as saying: "Evil actions equal failure, Good actions equal success" (depending on the script you are writing). That's a poor example of what the author creates. For example, Dr. Williams's Moral Premise for "Bruce Almighty" is:

Expecting a Miracle Leads to Frustration; but
Being a Miracle Leads to Peace

By digesting a number of films, including "The Incredibles," "Bruce Almighty," "An Officer and a Gentleman" and, to a greater extent, "Braveheart" - he breaks down the Moral Premise and then shows how those films adhered to the premise as stated. It is within the process of dealing with that Moral Premise and the fact that the characters first reject, return to, and live out, that Moral Premise that not only gives the film depth but also, in turn, creates Box Office Success (see full title of the book above).

Dr. Williams goes into extreme detail when it comes to figuring out that Moral Premise and then applying it to your story taking you first through chapters describing the Moral Premise and then taking you through steps giving you a step-by-step of applying the Moral Premise to your script.

The initial chapters, with titles like: "The Moral Premise in Modern Writing Guides" and "Structure of the Moral Premise" give you a fully detailed analysis of the subject (including footnotes) and then the chapters end with exercises to give you a better understanding of what was discussed.

The step-by-step chapters encourage you to apply what you've learned with your own script. Where the previous chapters felt, in some ways, like a class room - the steps feel more like you have been let loose on the world to use the knowledge that you have learned.

I will warn you: This is a weighty book - not in terms of size - but in concept. I found myself re-reading sentences to get a better grasp on what he was saying (often times thinking in my head how to apply what I was reading to my current story - and not paying attention to what I was reading). I am still not sure that I fully have the concept - but I do see how I can use some of the tools he has given me to add more depth to my current script - to give my characters more of a purpose, more of a reality, more of a "Moral Premise."

Where I felt the book could have improved was by providing BAD examples. We know there are a lot of terrible films out there that had no box office success - how did their lack of Moral Premise add to that failure? And how could have ADDING a Moral Premise possibly pull the film out of studio killing tailspin. Is there a Moral Premise in "Catwoman?" What about "Basic Instinct II?" But then there's the rub, I bet with both "Catwoman" and "Basic Instinct II" if you looked for a Moral Premise you could probably find one - so the movies sucked by either NOT focusing on the Moral Premise or they just sucked on a whole.

Another suggestion that Dr. Williams makes is by going through your characters, figuring out the arcs and the plot points and the dramatic (or comedic) beats BEFORE you put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboards). He suggests getting out 3x5 cards (or using a computer program) to plot these out and arrange them in a way that reinforces the Moral Premise. As helpful as this sounds - and I'm sure it is VERY helpful - most of my students want to jump right in and start writing their script and not think about these nuances and details (as important as they are). So if you want to dive right into your screenplay - go ahead - but you might need to do some backtracking.

Stan Williams does an outstanding job of cutting through what you think your screenplay is about and getting to the heart of what your screenplay is REALLY about. A must read for any screenwriter.

In THE MORAL PREMISE, Stanley Williams analyzes numerous contemporary films, creating an admirable companion to the analyses of stage plays in Lajos Egri's classic, THE ART OF DRAMATIC WRITING.

Williams explains the concept of moral premise first "academically" and later "practically": "Every one of the physical obstacles that the protagonist confronts is rooted in a single psychological, spiritual, or emotional obstacle....That single psychological obstacle is summed up by the Moral Premise--a statement of truth about the protagonist's psychological predicament."

The moral premise "is comprised of four parts: a virtue, a vice, desirable consequences (success), and undesirable consequences (defeat). These four parts can be used to create a statement that describes precisely what a movie is really about, on both physical and psychological levels. This is the formal structure of a Moral Premise: [Vice] leads to defeat, but [Virtue] leads to success" (p 60).

Throughout the book, Williams presents the moral premise as the subtext underlying numerous films such as:
* "BRAVEHEART: Compromise of liberty leads to tyranny, but dying for liberty leads to freedom";
* "AN OFFICER AND A GENTELMAN: Deceiving ourselves and others leads to despair and death, but truthfulness to ourselves and others leads to hope and life";
* "DIE HARD: Covetous hatred leads to death and destruction, but sacrificial love leads to life and celebration."

Do all films follow or even have a moral premise? No. Williams' contention is that the ones that win box office success do. Not convinced? Williams presents a formidable-looking mathematical equation (p. 164) from "Narrative Argument Validity and Film Popularity," his 600-page Ph. D. dissertation. Not to worry, he isn't just an academic. The bio-note on the book's jacket says "he's an internationally award-winning film-maker, writer, and instructor. During the past 30 years, he has produced, written, directed, shot, or edited over 400 projects."

The practical part explains eight steps to outline your screenplay.

1. Determine the controlling virtue.
2. Determine the controlling vice.
3. Determine the moral premise.
4. Determine the movie's genre.
5. Determine the protagonist's physical goal.
6. Determine the protagonist's physical obstacles.
7. Determine the major dramatic beats.
8. Sequence the dramatic beats.

This lucid book merits top priority on the aspiring screenwriter's study list.

-- C J Singh

I read an interview with Stanley Williams wherein he claimed his concept of a moral premise would provide a more dynamic story for both screen AND fiction writers. Game as I am for a lesson in how to improve my writing, I purchased THE MORAL PREMISE and afforded it the opportunity to wow me.

The result? WOW!

This book is fantastic. THE MORAL PREMISE doesn't advocate a religious or moral lifestyle for the writer who would apply the ideas therein. What it does push, however, is the idea that the truly great stories have at its core a moral premise, a statement that amounts to nothing more than a conflict of two opposing values. It can be as simple as, "Bigotry leads to injustice, but equality leads to justice." You then structure your story around this one premise, with every character playing to either end of the spectrum. The end result is a bigger sense of purpose instilled in your story that will move your audience in ways that most books/movies don't accomplish.

That's just the nutshell version of the technique; trust me when I say it's much more layered. And yet, it's not difficult to grasp or execute; I've already applied it to my stories with phenomenal results. Williams does front load the book with theory, as most writing books do, but his theory proves to be riveting as he constantly fuses it with practical application. Probably more important is that he backs up his findings by analyzing a ton of movies. In this way, you learn that much quicker how to correctly incorporate a moral premise into your story. I give THE MORAL PREMISE 10 stars, and highly recommend it if you want to take your story to the next level.

Before Syd Field, Lajos Egri was one of the most influentiual screenwriting gurus - except he never intended to be. Writing about theatre plays, Egri developed the `premise' as his main writing tool, a three-word phrase, which contains the theme of the play (for instance: love conquers all). Keeping this premise in mind, the writer makes sure that every scene expresses this theme in some way.
Williams updates and adjusts this theory to screenwriting. His contention is that the most successful scripts use a premise which is a moral truth. Updating the concept, he expands it by focussing on both a virtue and a vice (virtue leads to x, but vice leads to y). In this way, the writer focuses on the conflict between the two values, and avoids getting lost on the thematic level. Williams provides eight steps for structuring your story material, which includes choosing the virtue and vice, determining the arcs for the protagonist, antagonist and main secondary characters, and then determining the dramatic beats to support them. At the end, you'll have most of your story figured out.
The Moral Premise is an interesting, theme-driven approach to screen writing. A few points to keep in mind though: moral laws vary enormously from culture to culture, so this system should be most effective for `domestic' (i.e. culturally related) markets. In some cases, it's pretty hard to relate the premise to the main storyline, as in the original Die Hard. And some huge box office hits revel in amoral, even immoral themes.

Most respected screenwriting books acknowledge the fundamental need for movies to embody a theme, one which expresses a truth about our human condition and provides the cornerstone for a story's unified action. This concept is crucial for a story's success at the box office, and audiences can easily sense when it is lacking. Dr. Williams dives into this screenwriting tradition by consolidating the various manifestations of the "theme" idea, emerging with the Moral Premise concept that elucidates the heart of a story better than any of its conceptual predecessors.

Oddly enough, Williams' simple but powerful Moral Premise idea brings back the old ideas of virtue and vice. These two concepts have long been pariahs in our culture; stashed away for fear their use would bring back the totalitarianism of an objective standard for right living. The loss has been ours. Dr. Williams illustrates the power these concepts hold in helping us to understand the psychological spine of stories, which under girds and drives the external action of all stories. I believe that it is imperative for the aspiring screenwriter to understand the psychological spine of stories through the Moral Premise concept, and it is equally important to heed the practical steps Dr. Williams illustrates for the incorporating it into stories. The Moral Premise provides the storywriter with a deep source of unity, design, and inspiration for their stories. I encourage all writers to tap into this source

This is really an important book. In an age where so many people are distracted by what's on the surface of entertainment and media, this book reminds us that the real reason we make and watch movies -- and in many cases, the real benefit of them -- is the underlying moral premise (or 'message') of the story.

Like life, what's being said and shown on the surface, is rarely what it's really about. The true hero's journey is an inner one, a psychological, emotional, spiritual adventure from one state of character to another. And all the obstacles and struggles of the story aren't there merely to create more action and entertainment, but rather to peel away the layers of the character, to dramatize the 'moral premise' of the piece, and ultimately transform the character and (hopefully, in some small way) the audience.

What Dr. Stanley Williams does in his great book, THE MORAL PREMISE, is show us how this is done in film. What he also does is show us how this same idea has been taught (and is being taught) by all the major teachers on story -- from Socrates to Syd Field.

More than anything, what I personally appreciate and agree with in this book is that most films of enduring quality and success have at their center this moral premise. At a time where it seems as if the studios are looking for ways to create bigger and bigger FX extravaganzas, this book reminds us (and hopefully them) that it is the heart and soul of story, not the special effects, big bugets, or even A-list stars, that make a film great and, in many cases, commercially successful.

Read this book. And make your stories, no matter the genre, as clear and meaningful as you can!

Derek Rydall
Founder, EnlightenedEntertainer.com, ScriptwriterCentral.com
Author, "There's No Business Like Soul Business," "I Could've Written a Better Movie than that!"

"...I cannot say how glad I am that this book was written. Anyone who calls themselves a filmmaker (or a movie reviewer) should be required to read this book. At a time when we are spending so much money on movies, we are sorely uneducated on what makes a truly good or bad film.

While this book may not be for everybody, you will not be disappointed if you do get it. There is a lot of material and it is deep, but it is also easy to follow. It is not overly technical and asks nothing more than the reader having an open mind and a strong interest in good movies..." Kari Ann Morgan, Microfilmmaker.com

Story structure isn't everything in screenwriting. However, it can't hurt to know as much as you can about it. The Moral Premise is definitely a niche book, but a good one to look over.

Williams' interpretation of theme, premise and the like is much more sturdy and fleshed out than most other books. He expands the basic premise concept to include both the positive & negative aspects of a moral, which helps you focus on all sides of your theme.

Even more important than the actual moral premise in my opinion is the concept of the "Moment of Grace" where the main character is given the chance to accept or reject the change he needs to make in order to succeed. This moment tends to come in the middle of Act 2, the squishy part where there's no structure to build around. Anything that helps firm up the most vacant part of traditional story structure is fine by me.

On the downside, The Moral Premise is one of those books that feels padded. The main purpose of the first half of the book is to talk up the second half. This isn't surprising since it only covers one small aspect of screenwriting. I'm also not swayed by the book's claims to help vanquish writer's block or ensure a script's box office success.

All in all The Moral Premise presents a concept worth learning. Just don't be surprised that a large chunk of the text is completely skip-able.

This is probably the best book on the essence of story that I have read thus far. It is clear and concise and offers easy practical steps to incorporate the Moral Premise into your script or novel. The book clears up the difference between Premise and Theme and expounds the importance of starting with Premise when writing your story.

Here's the fluff or filler: Chapters 2,4,6, and 7 are either redudant or excessive filler that could have been reduced to about 10 to 15 pages in total or at best omitted. These chapters were on the Theory section, but I felt did not add to the text, perhaps on just a superficial level.

The end of chapter exercises read like textbook summary questions. Williams also notes on a few occassions that he either does not have the time or space or it's not the scope of the book when briefly mentioning a number of topics, but has 20 BLANK pages throughout this book as section dividers. I would have liked better if he had either used those blank pages as either worksheet templates or better yet to expand on these topics that he mentions briefly in his book because of "so-called" lack of space:

Such as: Exploring all the film genres' moral values in conflict (mentioned in the book); going in more depth of other authors who point to the moral premise in their books; examples of advance applicaiton of arc plots in other screenplay structures; going in more depth of each of the Three Act Structural Parts.

He also mentions the Purchase Pyramid. Does anyone know what that is???

All in all, this is an excellent book and it does deliver what it has set forth to do. Every writer should read this book before they embark in their writing!

Describes the reason why stories are told and retold, and reveals what makes one story a classic and another a waste of time. Williams provides a clear theory for analyzing stories in any medium, as well as a usable methodology for creating a plot skeleton. Other story theory books dwell upon teaching the reader how to use software or narrowly focus on the meta-myth. This text explains how to find the soul of the story and how to verify that it "speaks a universal truth".
An excellent reference for anyone hoping to write or improve the quality of their writing.