The Idea Quotes

“Theme emerges by examining competing priorities in life through the specifics of a story, which ultimately reflects a point of view about the best way to be in the world, and the most effective way—at least in a situation like the one at hand. I’m not talking about facile, obvious arguments, like whether racism is good or bad or whether one should be selfish or giving. A good theme weighs competing goods or competing evils against each other, and dramatizes why it’s so difficult to make a choice sometimes, or to change. It doesn’t offer easy answers. Any thematic outcome or judgment in the end is earned, gradually, over the course of the story. It’s not just thrown out there in a quick and easy way. Theme”
― Erik Bork, The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction

“In a series idea, I look for that one central thing that each important character is most haunted and challenged by—that one way in which they don’t have the life they want, and never will. Because they don’t have this, the characters—as in other types of stories—are generally not happy. They may have moments of satisfaction and resolution, but mostly they suffer and struggle. And they are consistently focused on how life is not giving them what they want in some specific area that obsesses and frustrates them. Their “stakes” are all about that. But”
― Erik Bork, The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction

“Usually this “fantasy” is a character’s primary wish for their life, which has something to do with the way others treat them, their place in the world, and their basic life situation. It’s usually bigger than any one job, relationship, or measurable goal—although a specific episode might focus on something smaller like that. Usually it connects to love, belonging, respect, freedom, and/or the ability to succeed in one’s chosen best life. It’s about what life could be like, and what they wish it were like—if they were seen how they want to be seen and got to live the life they most want to live.”
― Erik Bork, The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction

“In stories focused on romantic relationships, we tend to become one of the characters, emotionally. We relate to what they’re going through. Romances elicit strong emotions of connection with another person, of being seen, understood, supported, and wanted—of bonding with someone we really want to bond with. In romantic stories, we generally have to strongly identify with the main character’s desire for their chosen partner. Of course, something has to get in the way of that desire for there to be conflict, but living vicariously through the emotions of love is a highly attractive and appealing experience for most people.”
― Erik Bork, The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction

“The legendary Broadway writer/producer/performer George M. Cohan is supposed to have once said: “In the first act, you get your main character up a tree. In the second act, you throw rocks at them. In the third act, you get them down.” The nature of what that tree is, and what those rocks are, is key. You could even say that “story = main character + tree + rocks.”
― Erik Bork, The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction