Stake

When we do something, there is often - if not always – something at stake. If nothing is at stake, why react? Why do something if there is no consequence? To understand what the stakes are exactly, ask yourself the following question: What is there to loose, or to gain? The answer can be something concrete or abstract and of varying importance. In any case, the audience must understand what the hero has to win or loose.

Example Isabelle knocks on her boss’s door. She looks nervous. She wants to go to a seminar that will soon take place in Lyon (aim). Her boss doesn’t think it is necessary, yet she insists. What she doesn’t mention is that this seminar will be an opportunity for her to see handsome Jeremy again, who she has had a crush on for ages (motivation); she recently heard he split up from his girlfriend and Isabelle is still unattached (stake).

EXERCISE 17 According to the previously defined aim and motivation, create stakes of varying intensity and importance. Increase the stakes to make the aim more crucial. The higher the stakes, the more captivating your story will be.

Then choose the stake that seems most interesting to you.

HELP There are different types of stakes. Some are fundamental and we understand them easily. Take prehistoric men, whose stakes were those all human beings share: to survive, and protect and preserve the clan in a hostile environment.

Certain stakes concern relationships, jobs, or society. They are easy to understand, but you must be careful, when you tell a story, to explain them properly. Take football for instance. A footballer plays because he/she has something to win or to loose, depending on whether or not he/she scores a goal. But what exactly does he/she win or lose? What is at stake? A cup for the team, a medal, the supporters’ gratitude, or is it a promise the player made him-/herself, a reputation or position to protect, or a bonus? A lot of things can be at stake. You must define what exactly.

Other stakes are more personal, emotional or intellectual. Those of our inner life. If you want to tell a story based on this kind of stake, you must be very careful to make it clear for your audience and imagine ways to have the viewers follow your hero’s inner path. Voice off is very appropriate for this kind of screenplay.