Chapter 2 · The Core of the Story

Idea, subject, theme, premise and logline.

What will you learn in this chapter?

To separate the idea from the subject: a film's spark and its arena aren't the same thing
To build theme and premise: the compass for the hundreds of decisions you'll make while writing
To reduce your film to a single sentence — writing your logline into the Film Lab

01What Is a Story?15 cards · ~7 min

02Idea and Subject15 cards · ~7 min

03Theme15 cards · ~7 min

04Premise (The Story's Argument)17 cards · ~7 min

05Logline: The Film in One Sentence16 cards · ~8 min

06The Logline Workshop16 cards · ~8 min · writing assignment

Step-by-step progress: this chapter opens once Chapter 1 is finished and its Film Lab output is written.