Recently KM Weiland posted an article¹ on the importance of Premise. She talks of various things a premise does for a story, and it's remarkably relevant to screenwriting and this series of interesting questions.
She points out it indicates the structural conflict, characters, pursuit, genre, and expectation, and a tool to question and tune your composition. All that I think, is as applicable to screenwriting as to her primarily novel/story audience.
As conplete as it looks, it was a surprise in how much it impacts. Considering premise from her world pretty much maps to the logline functionally, what else does a premise/logline do, for screenplay?
¹ https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/the-only-reason-your-storys-...
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Absolutely Robert Clark , glad you phrased it that way!
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No two words in english the exact same meaning. So Premise, theme and central dramatic question are all subtle difference if the same idea. I tend to pose a larger question that I then examine.
Are we our memories? If we are, is it okay to punish someone for something they don’t remember. This could be a bank robbery or having an affair. This question a can be answered in numerous ways.
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Also perhaps enough detail evokes preliminary emotional resonance i.e. "will I like this type of story?" a bit beyond just genre or title ... and for us as the writer requires us to continue to refine and commit ... "will I enjoy writing this type of story sufficiently to see it through to completion?"
Craig D Griffiths thanks, you are right re words having different connotations. Premise and theme e.g., meant the same thing to Lajos Egri in the '30s.compared to what it does to modern authors who also need to communicate one or the other or both in a different marketing world of loglines, blurbs and genres. Often it is easier to go to a fundamental prior / deeper truth and context of the author instead of insisting on one definition. Similarly you are right, CDQ can be the theme or imply a theme. Your second paragraph, the larger question that you refer to seems quite non sequitur. Care to explain if you have examined its premise?
Daniel Stuelpnagel yeah, good point. Emotional Resonance — good to have a truth that can resonate, or else it is chattel chatter.
The second paragraph is a question I would pose to write a story. Which is a story I am working on. If someone has no memory of an incident, are they guilty of it? If we say they are. Then a victims wanting to get revenge is valid, even though we are punishing someone for doing something they know nothing about.
If we say that they person isn’t guilty because they have no knowledge of the incident. The victim wanting revenge is the victim committing a brand new crime. Are they more guilty as they remember their crime, which was motivated to get revenge on a person that is unaware of the motive.
These are the questions I pose and then explore. So I have a central dramatic question I guess, which may also be called a them, told using a particular premise. But they are all legs on the same animal.
Let's return to what else we can think a premise does, if we haven't exhausted the perspectives and its function.
Fascinating Craig D Griffiths But it took off on a tangent there, right? I'd also have questions for those who were supposed to watch / invesigate it ab init. Regardless, here is why I said fascinating — your CDQ conjures multiple premises and themes. Can you unravel this within a feature and find a satisfying answer? Ambitious, albeit intriguing. Question for you : can this add to our understanding of the function of a premise?
I know there is a great deal of academic thinking, writing and discussion on these topics. But I don’t think in those terms. I think in terms people and understanding them.
Premise, then… and then… to reach catharsis. But I don’t have any of this in my head. I don’t think of these things in such academic terms. Not that I am not capable. I just don’t.
The way I choose to answer my question may be my premise. Perhaps the question is the theme and the manifestation of the them is the CDQ. But I like to have several POVs answer the question in the affirmative as well as the negative. So I don’t know about how I use Premise or the impact it has on my writing.
Nah. Practical function / implications. Theoretical elegance ok but not necessary. Screenwriting, not critiquing.