Though it’s importance is paramount, you probably won’t spend much time learning about theme –unless reading Story, which has a pretty extensive explanation.

The most common problem I encounter with theme while reading isn’t the complete lack of it, but rather the mere mention of the “theme” during the beginning and end of the screenplay. Keep in mind when working with theme that your opinion is of the utmost importance.

First of all, be careful not to confuse theme with the “message” of the story. Adding a mere scene of your characters talking about what they’ve learned over the course of the screenplay and what the message of the story was is like pulling your own guillotine lever. Not only are these scenes usually contrived, but they actually harm your screenplay’s theme by going over the top and becoming on the nose; and if there’s anything you’ve learned from ScriptXRay, it’s that you should avoid being obvious at all costs — the rule of page one (not a guideline).

Instead of merely treating theme as the message of the story by adding these bookend scenes to your screenplay, consider treating theme like a well from which everything else spawns. Everything in your screenplay, including characters, dialogue, conflict, and more, needs to be related to this well. For Star Wars fans out there — which should be all of you — consider theme the same thing of which the force is made. That special, unseen element “between me, you, the tree, the rock,” as Yoda put it. Theme informs everything in your screenplay. It inspires everything as little as sounds, props, and dramatic beats, to everything as large as setting, dialogue, and character action. If you’re telling a story involving the theme “crime doesn’t pay,” for example, then you might include the finest wines, the best company, wealth — a sense of the good life … ecstasy even, because as this theme goes, everyone knows crime doesn’t pay. If were to flip the theme a bit and go for a story about how “crime pays, and pays damn well,” then you might include a lost hope, arrest, punishment — a heightened sense of insecurity, suspense, and consequence (this might be another article, but the key to theme is to strive to disprove it — this way the climax and resolution comes full-circle to your specific theme and opinion that inspired you to write the story in the first place).

Before you can even start writing a story you need to have a clear, defined opinion regarding your theme. Do you believe crime doesn’t pay, or do you believe it pays big? Your opinion will inform your theme, which in turn will inform everything else in your work. I’ve seen what happens oh so many times when screenwriters not only start writing without knowing their theme, or opinion on the matter, but actually submit their completed screenplay without an understanding; they end up with a script without voice — if you’re anyone trying to get into Hollywood, then you know it’s all about voice.

This is what agents call “writing from the heart;” This is what writing instructors call “writing what you know.”

It’s your opinion, and it’s damn important. Let it be heard, subtly of course, or go home. Like any form of storytelling (with the exception of journalism), whether it’s poetry, flash fiction, a novel, a play, or even a blog, a screenplay must breath the voice of it’s writer and their opinion. If it doesn’t, it’s stale, formulaic, nothing special, or as agents might put it, “not for us.”

Theme is important — it informs not only the world of story, your characters, action, backstory, and everything in-between, — but it’s your opinion that informs theme. As the heated 2008 presidential election unfolds, it’s clear that the voices of all of us are passionate and informed. Most of us have a clear opinion regarding the issues being debated, and some might even be inspired to explore the issues as themes in their next screenplay. Regardless of what you’re opinionated about, whether it’s politics, religion, science, humanity, crime, family, or even Hollywood, it’s important to let your voice be heard. So tackle a theme you feel passionate about, form your opinion, and get out there and share your story, whether that entails writing your screenplay or casting your vote.

Remember, a great way to avoid sounding preachy is to strive to disprove your opinion of the theme throughout the story. This way, your story and characters prove your opinion of the theme in crescendo. Without opinion, there is no theme; without theme, there is no character; without character, there is no drama; and without drama, there is no story; without story, there’s no screenplay.

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