Every time someone reads your script there’s a question lingering in the back of their mind. You need to answer that question at the beginning of your script, but unfortunately the reader will probably forget the answer, so you’ll have to provide it again and again as the script goes on. What is this question the reader will be asking?

Why do I care?

The reason that you as the writer should care about answering this question, is that life is short and your reader is busy. If they don’t care about your protagonist’s story the reader is going to stop reading your script and do what they really want to do: mindlessly scroll social media.

Luckily it is within your power to make the reader care. One of the ways you can do that is by using stakes.

What are stakes?

We aren’t talking about filet mignon or sharp wooden sticks used to kill vampires. We are talking about stakes in the sense of the question, “What’s at stake?” To give a simple definition, the stakes of your story are what your protagonist stands to gain if they achieve their goal and what they stand to lose if they fail to achiever their goal.

For example, let’s say your protagonist is up for a promotion at work. What they stand to gain if they get the promotion is obvious: more money! But that’s not enough. To really make the stakes sizzle they should have something to lose as well. Going back to our example, we can add to the scenario that their department is getting downsized, and if they don’t get the promotion they’re going to get laid off.

There are now two possible outcomes, one is better than their current situation (a promotion) and the other is worse than their current situation (getting laid off). Notice that there is no option for things to go back to the way they were at the start. If there was an option for things to stay the same, then the promotion wouldn’t be that important because the worst outcome is that they keep their old job. That’s not very compelling, is it? But take away that safety net by adding the risk of getting laid off and you can feel things getting more interesting. If they lose their job how will they pay their rent or mortgage? How will they afford their sick kid’s expensive medical treatment? How will they deal with the feeling they’re a failure as a parent and spouse?

Why are stakes important?

As we felt in the example above, raising the stakes creates more dramatic tension and piques your interest. This is one of the first benefits of having strong stakes in your script. It’s more exciting! It also gives the reader an answer to that all-important question, why do I care? The stakes have made the reader become emotionally invested in the outcome.

That outcome is also important to your protagonist, because they have to succeed or else they lose something. In turn this is beneficial for your story, because it forces the protagonist to be active. When they face an obstacle they have to no choice but to face it. They have to get creative, take risks, and reveal who they really are underneath. If they don't, their life suffers.

What kinds of stakes are there?

In general the higher the stakes the better, but that doesn’t mean that every script has to be about the end of the world or the potential death of a loved one. Obviously those are legitimate stakes that have been used time and time again, but the exact stakes will depend on what kind of script you’re writing.

Some stakes can be external or relational, like money, a potential romantic partner, or bodily harm. These ones are very easy to grasp and are sometimes referred to as “plot stakes” because they’re what the main plot is about (e.g. a kidnapped child, an asteroid heading toward the planet, getting evicted, getting divorced, falling in love…).

You might notice that some of the things I mentioned above as external or relational also have a personal component, and that’s because stakes exist at the internal level as well. They affect the emotional or psychological state of your protagonist. Maybe they’re at risk of losing their mind, or as I mentioned in the example above they’re at risk of seeing themselves as a failure.

Finally, there is a higher level of stakes known as “philosophical stakes.” This refers to your protagonist’s worldview. How is their understanding of the world in jeopardy?

How do you build the stakes?

You don’t need to just choose one kind of stakes in your script. The best stakes generally have multiple levels to them. You can create a sense of external stakes that will affect your character emotionally and challenge their worldview.

To start with your character needs to want something. This goal is what’s driving them forward. If they succeed in attaining their goal they’ll gain something valuable, like money, self-respect, love, saving the world, etc. What they want is specific to this character. It's what they really want.

Next, there should be obstacles in their way. Don’t make it easy to achieve their goal or there is no point in your story. The majority of your script will be your protagonist dealing with these obstacles. Some will be small obstacles, and some will be bigger. In general, you want the obstacles to grow as your script continues. Make the problems more difficult, more personal, and potentially more devastating.

This brings us to the final ingredient, the consequences of failure. Some of these consequences might be known from the start, but you can add bigger ones as you go. Let’s look back at the example I started this post with of the protagonist up for a promotion. You could start with the idea that if they get the promotion they’ll be able to afford something important for their family. This means a consequence of failure is not getting that thing for their family. That’s pretty good, but later on you can add the twist that if they don’t get the promotion they’ll actually get laid off, which means their family loses everything.

When trying to think of what in particular your protagonist is at risk of losing, think about what they value most and what their biggest fear is. Those will guide you toward their specific consequences for failure. Make them at risk of losing what they value most, and make their biggest fears be at risk of coming true.

The ending

What happens in the end is up to you. Do they succeed or fail? There are happy endings and sad endings in stories, but even happy endings often have some kind of cost and sad endings have some kind of growth. Your character might not have got what they wanted, but there is a good chance they ended up getting what they needed. To go back to our example of the potential job promotion, they could not get the promotion but grow as a person, or they could get the promotion but alienate their friends and family.