Analysis: Writing the Social Issues Film – The Fact-Based Screenplay

We’ve all seen films that have an agenda woven through the narrative. When done well, these ‘social issues’ films can be compelling and emotive, while opening our eyes to various injustices. However, these films can also tip over into the maudlin and preachy. In this analysis, we take a closer look at writing films that incorporate one or more social issues…

In broad terms, a ‘social issue’ is something that affects a section of the public. Often termed ‘social problems’, these issues have a negative impact on people’s lives. The social issue tent is large, covering everything from smoking and pollution to homelessness and discrimination. From a screenwriting perspective, these issues offer almost endless opportunities to tell meaningful stories.

To get you started, here is a shortlist of weighty issues and an example of a film in each case (with a link to the script, where freely available online):

Capital punishment (Capote (2005))
Discrimination and inequality (Hidden Figures (2016))
The environment (Erin Brockovich (2000))
Public health (The Insider (1999))
The role of the media (privacy and freedom) (Goodnight, And Good Luck (2005))
Homelessness (Hector (2015))
Human rights (The Report (2019))
LGBTQ+ issues (Milk (2008))
War and terrorism (Born on the Fourth of July (1989))
Women’s rights (Suffragette (2015))

Of course, within these overarching issues, there are lots of sub-issues and areas of overlap to explore. Women’s rights are often simply human rights, while homelessness can be driven by a range of other factors, such as addiction and discrimination.

Many social issues films are fact-based, often falling into the biopic genre. Dramatizing the life of an inspiring modern day or historical figure can be a great way to personalise your issue, as well as generating commercial interest for your project.

Indeed, think about how many ‘social issue biopics’ have attracted awards and great acclaim. From Gandhi (1982) to Lincoln (2012), Erin Brockovich (2000) to Harriet (2019), there are lots of real-life figures whose lives and achievements are attractive fodder for the big screen.

Should you choose a fact-based or original narrative?

One thing to think about when developing your story is whether you want to fictionalise real-life events and figures or whether your idea is best served through an original narrative. There are pros and cons of both approaches.

While stories based on real events and characters provide a solid framework, there is still a requirement to shape and adapt the material into a dramatic narrative. There are debates over the extent to which a writer should adhere to the ‘facts’ about history when developing a story.

We write a lot about this on the site, such as our article, Does the Truth Matter?. Essentially, our view is that it is important to stick to the spirit of the truth within the framework of creating a dramatically satisfying screen story. As Aaron Sorkin said:

‘On one hand, you don’t want to screw around with people’s lives, you never want to say anything that isn’t true, and you don’t want to mess with history. On the other hand, this isn’t a documentary.’
(Quoted in Marilyn Beker, The Screenwriter Activist, p58-59.)

With original stories, you have a little more freedom to develop your narrative. You can invent scenarios and have more flexibility in terms of setting and genre. However, this freedom brings extra creative decisions. You might have to work a bit harder to develop a strong protagonist and an original narrative structure, while side-stepping the pitfalls of moralising and cliché.

How topical or on-trend should your script be?

One of the advantages of the social issues film is that it can cover evergreen topics. Even historical films can be brought up-to-date by showing a contemporary issue through a narrative set in the past. Society may have moved on, but many of these issues persist, in some places and in some form. Child labour, voting rights and democracy, women’s rights, slavery… there is a long list of issues that (unfortunately) still plague society.

Of course, there are times when a certain issue comes to the fore – expect a lot of pandemic-related stories to invade cinemas and streaming services over the coming months and years! However, writing ‘on trend’ is not a great idea.

Authors who self-publish can tie their fiction and non-fiction content in with the news headlines but think how long it can take for a script to go from your laptop screen to the big screen. Will people still want to see Covid-19 movies in five years’ time?

There are times when film releases coincide with current events on a similar topic (such as Selma (2014)) but as writers, that’s not something we can plan.

Unless you’re hired to write a screenplay on a topic or are simply aiming for a ‘calling card’ script that gets you noticed, the best advice is to write the story you want to write and make it relevant to readers and audiences, current and future.

Here’s a quick rundown of what some screenwriting experts have said about writing strong social issues scripts:

Structure

Beker (The Screenwriter Activist, p67-68) sets out several ‘models’ for writing the social issues film. As well as the ‘biopic model’, there is the ‘trial model’, which usually has a lawyer protagonist, with a pivotal trial taking up much of the action. A Few Good Men (1992) is an example. Another model is the ‘whistleblower’, which revolves around an investigation, either from the point-of-view of the investigator or the whistleblower. Serpico (1973) and The Insider (1999) are examples.

When it comes to structuring the story, Beker (The Screenwriter Activist, p34) suggests finding the “emotional backbone and the compelling tension” before subtly weaving in the exposition. What does this mean in practice? Well, it essentially means don’t sacrifice the drama for the issue. A social issues screenplay is still a screenplay, so all the usual ‘rules’ apply.

If you’re struggling to structure your story, there are lots of resources out there to help, from Syd Field’s basic and well-worn three-act structure (Screenplay, p9-10) to Beker’s no less than 24-point outline (The Screenwriter Activist, p71-72). While the three-act structure has received criticism, mostly for its over-simplicity and uniformity, it’s a helpful tool to think about units of action and moving the story forward, with defined turning points. To avoid the long act two drag, we would recommend adding a midpoint, an extra turning point that comes halfway through (around page 60 in a 120-page script). You might also like to look at Linda Seger’s Making a Good Script Great (p3-25), which shows how the three-act structure works in practice.

Research

Syd Field (Screenplay, p20-21) refers to research as “absolutely essential” for any screenplay. His main argument is that by acquiring relevant information from a variety of sources, you can “operate from a position of choice and responsibility” when making creative decisions. When working with complex social issues and fact-based material, we would argue this is particularly important. Robert McKee (Story, p67 & p72-76) also asserts the importance of research, noting that it is how to win the war on cliché, which stems from a “lack of an in-depth understanding of [the] story’s setting and all it contains”. However, he also cautions on research becoming procrastination and adds that it is “no substitute for creativity”. Overall, the aim is to use research to inform the narrative and to understand your material and issues from all perspectives.

For On the Waterfront (1954), writer Budd Schulberg spent months attending longshoremen union meetings and anti-crime commission hearings, in addition to using magazine articles on crime on the New York waterfront. As Jack Boozer wrote (Authorship in Film Adaptation, p12): “It was as if Schulberg were preparing a non-fiction exposé on the subject while simultaneously building a script.” In other words, the writer assumed the role of a journalist, building a rounded picture of the world of the story and the people who lived in that world in order to develop a strong narrative.

Characterisation

For general advice on character, Seger (Making a Good Script Great, p141-176) is a good starting point, as she asserts the importance of character development. Specifically on writing a biopic, Dennis Bingham (Whose Lives Are They Anyway?, p7-8 & 10) notes that it is “by no means a simple recounting of the facts of someone’s life”. Indeed, it is an “attempt to discover biographical truth”. He goes on to assert that the “biopic narrates, exhibits, and celebrates the life of a subject in order to demonstrate, investigate, or question his or her importance in the world”.

For the social issues biopic, the subject and the issue are intertwined. As Beker (The Screenwriter Activist, p104) notes, this type of film “tells someone’s life story and demonstrates how a social issue is woven through it”. As we discuss on this site, the challenge becomes adapting and transforming a person’s life story into a compelling screen narrative.

We would argue the two main dangers with developing characters for a social issues film is that a.) the protagonist becomes ‘holier than thou’ and b.) the supporting characters become polarised one-dimensional caricatures or weak foils whose sole function is to make the protagonist look good. On the Basis of Sex (2018) and Saint Judy (2018) are good examples of these pitfalls.

Moralising

Beker (The Screenwriter Activist, p20) notes how “most altruistic screenwriters get so caught up in the social issue they’re writing about that their screenplays become preachy, boring, heavy-handed or maudlin”. She reminds us that the first job of a film is to entertain, even when the story concerns social issues.

Likewise, McKee (Story, p121-122) discusses the dangers of a screenplay becoming a “thesis film” or a “thinly disguised sermon”. He notes that this is a particular risk with what he calls the ‘social drama’, in which the writer picks an issues and dramatizes the remedy. His antidote is to “willingly entertain opposite, even repugnant ideas” to explore the issue from all angles in order to mine out the truths and ironies.

For McKee, then, the opposing idea almost becomes the antagonist, presenting a powerful force that your Controlling Idea (i.e. your story’s ultimate meaning) eventually overcomes. To illustrate, he picks out three Stanley Kubrick films that deal with war:

Paths of Glory (1957)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Finally, we leave you with a few questions to consider as you plan your project:

1. What overall message do you want people to take away from the film? Define this in simple terms and it can help you to stay on track as you write your script.

2. What comes first, the issue or the character’s journey? It can be both, but often one takes precedence. Deciding on your opening and closing scenes can determine the focus.

3. Do you have – or need to acquire – the rights to the source material? Legal stuff is beyond our remit but if you’re working with specific source material (an autobiography, magazine article, etc.), it is important to be aware of potential copyright issues.

4. Can you write about your social issue (at least somewhat) objectively? Be honest now… As we noted above, some form of counter-argument or counterpoint balances a social issues screenplay and helps to avoid preaching.

5. Have you done – or are you willing to do – the necessary research? Related to the above is the need to delve into the issue to be able to look at it from all points of view.

References

The Screenwriter Activist: Writing Social Issue Movies by Marilyn Beker
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee
Whose Lives Are They Anyway?: The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre by Dennis Bingham
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field
Authorship in Film Adaptation by Jack Boozer
Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger

What do we mean by a ‘social issue’?

The fact-based social issues film