Theme and Premise
Theme is almost always an ideal: an abstract noun.
An abstract noun is the name of a quality, state, action or emotion. The thing named cannot be seen, heard, tasted, or touched in the real or everyday sense, though you do experience its effects on your life.
Theme
• wisdom, truth, justice
• love, belief, faith
• envy, courage, dignity
• beauty, compassion
• hunger, joy, responsibility
• wealth, poverty, nobility
Some examples are:
Theme ExampleWhat are the themes of the following holidays?
The underlying theme of Thanksgiving is...
The underlying theme of July Fourth is...
The underlying theme of Valentine's Day is...
How to Develop the Premise
• What is the specific message attached to the theme?
• What kind of gratitude, independence, and love are we talking about in each case?
• What value judgment do people make about the themes being illuminated?
• Author James N. Frey explains premise this way in
How to Write A Damn Good Novel
• “The premise of a story is simply a statement of what happens to the characters as a result of the core conflict of the story.”
• A story’s premise can be written in one simple, declarative sentence
• “Something (main character trait) leads to something (a universal truth realized by the character)”
Character Conflict Resolution
The three elements of a premise (character, conflict and resolution) are like the three parts of a simple sentence.
Subject Verb Object
Greed leads to destruction
Honesty defeats duplicity
The premise should include the basic facts about the character, conflict, and resolution
The first part of the premise can represent character.
The underlying theme of Thanksgiving is gratitude for __________.
The second part of the premise should indicate where the dramatic conflict will come from.
“Being grateful for(same word as before)...
...leads to (effect).”
The third part of the premise should indicate the resolution of the story.
• The theme for Thanksgiving is BLANK.
• BLANK leads to BLANK.
A premise is a declaration of belief. It usually says or at least implies that one specific thing leads to or causes another specific thing:
Faith can work miracles.
With love, anything is possible.
Trust in yourself and you're sure to succeed.
• Theme: Pride
• Premise: Pride comes before a fall.
• Theme: Honesty
• Premise: Honesty is the best policy.
• Theme: Wealth
• Premise: Wealth spoils the character.
Premises can also take the form of sayings.
• In figuring out a one sentence expression of the premise for a movie, think about the protagonist’s character and his or her goal and what stands in the way of that goal.
Great love defies even death.
Theme and Premise in Film
• The theme is the underlying idea.
• The premise is the statement of the filmmaker’s argument.
• The film is the individual expression of that idea and proof of validity of that argument.
“No idea, and no situation, was ever strong enough to carry you through to its logical conclusion without a clear-cut premise.”
• Blind trust leads to destruction.
• Jealousy destroys itself and the object of its love.
“The investigation of a publishing tycoon's dying words reveals conflicting stories about his scandalous life.”
That’s a logline.
What’s the theme? What’s the premise?
Sources• Understanding Theme and Premise
by Susan J. Letham http://www.anthologiesonline.com/Articles/theme_and_premise.htm
• Lajos N. Egri - Author of The Art of Dramatic Writing, highly regarded as one of the best works on the subject of playwriting
