| Foreword | p. xiii |
| Preface | p. xv |
| Introduction | p. xix |
| History and Theory | p. 1 |
| Premises and Values | p. 3 |
| Uses of "Premise" | p. 3 |
| Lajos Egri's Premise | p. 4 |
| Message vs. Theme vs. Moral Premise | p. 6 |
| Conflict of Values | p. 8 |
| Identifying Values | p. 9 |
| Premise Genres and Conflict of Values | p. 14 |
| Exercises | p. 18 |
| What Socrates and Seinfeld Have in Common | p. 19 |
| Webster | p. 19 |
| The Bible | p. 20 |
| Aesop | p. 23 |
| Socrates | p. 25 |
| English Classics | p. 26 |
| Criticism | p. 28 |
| Modern Stories | p. 29 |
| Exercises | p. 31 |
| The Moral Premise in Modern Writing Guides | p. 33 |
| Robert McKee's Controlling Idea | p. 33 |
| Michael Tierno's The Action-Idea | p. 34 |
| Michael Hauge's Theme | p. 37 |
| Syd Field's Interior Life | p. 39 |
| Field's "Context" | p. 41 |
| Field vs. Egri | p. 43 |
| Other Authors | p. 44 |
| Exercises | p. 48 |
| Storytelling's Natural Law and Processes | p. 49 |
| A Natural Law | p. 49 |
| Natural Processes | p. 51 |
| Exercises | p. 60 |
| Structure of the Moral Premise | p. 61 |
| Form of the Moral Premise | p. 61 |
| Themes vs. Moral Premises | p. 61 |
| The Physical and Psychological Nature of Spines and Quests | p. 66 |
| Moment of Grace: A Movie's Fulcrum of Meaning | p. 68 |
| Comedy Arcs | p. 69 |
| Tragedy Arcs | p. 74 |
| More on the Moment of Grace | p. 77 |
| The Moral Premise in Multiple Story Lines | p. 81 |
| Exercises | p. 84 |
| Identification and the Moral Premsie | p. 85 |
| Suturing the Audience into the Story | p. 85 |
| Physical Suturing | p. 86 |
| Moral Suturing | p. 88 |
| Identification Patterns | p. 90 |
| Audience/Filmmaker Value Alignment | p. 93 |
| What the Movie is Really About | p. 95 |
| Exercises | p. 99 |
| Application | p. 101 |
| Strategic Processes | p. 103 |
| Begin with the End in Mind | p. 103 |
| Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind | p. 104 |
| Tactical Steps | p. 105 |
| Step 1. Determine the Controlling Virtue | p. 107 |
| The Story's Virtuous Theme | p. 107 |
| Step 2. Determine the Controlling Vice | p. 109 |
| The Virtue's Antagonist | p. 109 |
| Step 3. Determine the Moral Premise | p. 111 |
| The Story's Ultimate Message | p. 111 |
| Step 4. Determine the Movie's Genre | p. 113 |
| The Arc of Cultural Conflict and Resolution | p. 113 |
| Step 5. Determine the Protagonist's Physical Goal | p. 117 |
| The Movie's Physical Spine | p. 117 |
| Step 6. Determine the Protagonist's Physical Obstacles | p. 119 |
| The Movie's Physical Conflict | p. 119 |
| Arc Plots and Major Dramatic Beats | p. 121 |
| The Major Plot and Turning Points | p. 121 |
| A Character's Dramatic Arc | p. 121 |
| Character Arc Plots | p. 122 |
| Multiple Goals | p. 127 |
| Step 7. Determine the Major Dramatic Beats | p. 135 |
| Arc Depths | p. 136 |
| Keep It About One Thing | p. 136 |
| Later | p. 136 |
| Step 8. Sequence the Dramatic Beats | p. 137 |
| The Plot Timeline | p. 137 |
| Beginning, Middle, and End | p. 138 |
| Plotting Rules and Decisions | p. 139 |
| Virtual Card Tricks | p. 140 |
| Behavior Ramps | p. 141 |
| Turning Point Characteristics | p. 141 |
| Serendipitous Occurrences | p. 142 |
| Three-Act Element Discussion | p. 142 |
| Braveheart: A Capstone Example | p. 147 |
| Braveheart's Moral Premise | p. 147 |
| Braveheart's Arc Plots | p. 149 |
| Braveheart's Major Dramatic Beats | p. 152 |
| Conclusion | p. 159 |
| Epilogue | p. 161 |
| Research Abstract | p. 163 |
| Films Cited | p. 165 |
| Texts Cited | p. 171 |
| Index of Moral Premises and Themes | p. 175 |
| Topic Index | p. 179 |
| About the Author | p. 196 |
| List of Tables | |
| Benjamin Franklin's Virtues and Precepts | p. 10 |
| Franklin Quest's Survey of Governing Values | p. 12 |
| Laurie Beth Jones' Core Values | p. 14 |
| Movie Genres | p. 15 |
| George Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations | p. 16 |
| The Original Moral Messages: The Ten Commandments | p. 20 |
| Physical vs. Psychological Story Descriptors | p. 66 |
| Virtue-Vice Pairs | p. 110 |
| Good-Guy Arc Plots | p. 123 |
| Bad-Guy Arc Plots | p. 124 |
| Alternate Bad-Guy Arc Plot | p. 125 |
| Bruce Nolan's Arc Plots | p. 128 |
| The Incredibles Good-Guy Arc Plots | p. 130 |
| The Incredibles Bad-Guy Arc Plots | p. 133 |
| Braveheart Protagonist Arc Plots | p. 150 |
| Braveheart Other-Guy Arc Plots | p. 151 |
| List of Figures | |
| Comedy Spines | p. 69 |
| Tragedy Spines | p. 74 |
| Nonaligned Moral Realities: Invalid Audience Identification | p. 94 |
| Aligned Moral Realities: Valid Audience Identification | p. 95 |
| Three-Act Structural Parts | p. 138 |
| Three-Act Structural Parts | p. 142 |
| Three-Act Structural Parts | p. 152 |
| Film Validity Equation | p. 164 |
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