What happens if your protagonist fails? In other words, what are the stakes of your story? This essential but easily overlooked element of screenwriting can weaken an otherwise strong narrative…

Like the terms ‘conflict’ and ‘rising action’, ‘stakes’ can sound overly dramatic, as if the fate of the whole world hangs in the balance.

External ‘life and death’ stakes can indeed come into play in crime dramas, action films, and thrillers. For example, in Die Hard (1988), if cop John McClane fails to stop terrorist Hans Gruber and his henchmen, all the hostages in the Nakatomi Plaza building will likely be killed.

But stakes can also be internal and personal. In Rocky (1976), if fading boxer Rocky Balboa fails to go the distance in the ring against heavyweight champ Apollo Creed, he won’t regain his self-esteem and self-respect.

Even when the main stakes are external, there is often a personal element. The fact that John McClane’s estranged wife is one of the hostages means that if he fails, someone he loves will be killed.

Further example of stakes include a character…

• getting justice
• taking a moral stance
• fighting against the odds
• tackling their addiction
• taking control of their life

Why are stakes important?

Stakes help to hook an audience (or reader) and avoid the dreaded ‘so what?’ shoulder shrug.

Audiences need to believe that if the protagonist fails, something significant will result – either for the character they are invested in or for the wider world (or both).

Stakes also feed into two crucial parts of screenwriting: a proactive (decision-making) protagonist and character want/need.

A film basically comes down to characters making decisions. This (usually) centres on a protagonist who wants a tangible thing and needs an emotional thing. Stakes provide the jeopardy which fuels the decision making that leads to the character fulfilling (or failing to fulfil) that want/need.

Throughout the story, the audience should understand the deeper implications of each decision the character makes and the outcome of each situation they face.

Stakes in fact-based stories

While many scriptwriting elements need to be built into fact-based stories to make them dramatically compelling, stakes may already be present. Indeed, the stakes are often what made the true story worth telling in the first place. For example, procedurals like All the President’s Men (1976) and Spotlight (2015) concern investigations which have clear wider implications for society.

Even when the stakes of a story are clear, the challenge becomes expressing them in a relatable way. One example is The Big Short (2015), which tells of the makings of the 2005 financial crisis. Amid the irreverent style and talk of collateralized debt obligations, the film emphasises the real-world impact of all the Wall Street shenanigans – people losing their homes.

More examples of stakes in fact-based film

Let’s take a look at some more examples which show the breadth of how stakes operate:

• The Insider (1999): If producer Lowell Bergman and whistleblower Jeff Wigand fail to get the tobacco industry exposé on air, a crucial public interest story will remain covered up and their sacrifices will have been in vain.
• Can You Ever Forgive Me? (1998): If self-destructive author Lee Israel fails to get control of her life, she will fall into a personal abyss.
• Argo (2012): If Tony Mendez fails to get the ‘houseguests’ out of Tehran, they (and he) could be killed, while the lives of the remaining hostages will be in danger and US-Iran tensions will be further inflamed.
• Lincoln (2012): If President Lincoln fails to get the constitutional amendment banning slavery passed, the bloody Civil War will rage on – costing countless more lives and tearing the country apart.
• Erin Brockovich (2000): If Erin Brockovich fails to bring the Pacific Gas and Electric Company to justice, it will continue to pollute and poison the town.

Personal stakes in biopics

Defining meaningful stakes can be more of a problem in biographical stories. For example, in Elvis (2022), what happens if Elvis Presley fails to get out from under the control of Col. Parker? Or in A Complete Unknown (2024), what happens if Bob Dylan ‘betrays’ the folk community?

The keys to establishing meaningful personal stakes here are theme, context, and universality. Both of these stories feature real-life protagonists who have defined places in history, while the dramatization of their lives focuses on the wider themes of individuality, freedom, and control.

Elvis is an ultimately tragic tale of what happens if you relinquish control of your life to someone who is only out for themselves. Meanwhile, A Complete Unknown is the opposite – an individual taking control of their creative life, whatever the cost.

If you’re having problems defining your stakes, just go back to the overarching theme of the script, as this often holds the key to what’s at stake.

Corruption, power, love, equality, justice, freedom, family, individuality… if you can boil your script down to a single word, you’re likely to get a sense of what’s at stake.

Negative stakes

It’s important to note that stakes are not always positive. In some stories, the bad outcome happens if the protagonist succeeds. An example is Oppenheimer (2024), where the real horror lies in J. Robert Oppenheimer achieving his goal of developing the atomic bomb.

Another example is The Insider. Wigand’s decision to go on air and expose tobacco industry secrets reveal corporate malfeasance, but ruins his life in the process.

Great drama lives in this kind of moral complexity – and great screenwriting lives in the myriad of struggles faced by the protagonist.

Weak stakes

If the stakes aren’t sufficiently compelling, it can lead to an apathetic script, even when all the other elements are strong. A recent example is September 5 (2024) about a sports broadcasting team covering the 1972 Olympic Games which had to pivot to live news when a group of Israeli athletes was taken hostage.

The film is impressive in many ways, effectively capturing the urgency of the newsroom as the tense situation unfolded. However, as we noted in our review, throughout, we’re “watching the watchers”.

The main stakes are playing out in the hotel where the hostages are being held. The broadcast team has no influence over this – leading to the audience being removed from the drama.

Screenwriting is often a balancing act. The main stakes need to be proportionate to the story world but also weighted in favour of the protagonist. Their ultimate success or failure should be the fulcrum of whether or not the bad outcome happens or is averted.

Takeaway

We return to the question we posed at the beginning: What happens if your protagonist fails?

However, let’s add another element:

What happens if your protagonist fails… in the context of their world?

Stakes are another element of world building in a script. When audiences or readers connect with our work, they enter the world we build on the page and (ideally) become absorbed in the stakes of that world and the struggles of the protagonist.

Whether your protagonist is trying to expose corruption, stay true to their creativity, save lives – or just save themselves – stakes are the anchors that remind the audience of why the story matters. And hopefully keeps them hooked to the end.