How a Fortune Cookie Explains Theme скачать в хорошем качестве

How a Fortune Cookie Explains Theme

Theme has always been one of those slippery concepts in storytelling. In school, teachers would ask, “What is the author trying to say? What’s the theme?” and I’d sit there thinking, I don’t know — ask the author. Theme felt vague, abstract, like something you only understood after the story was already written. But that changed when I was hired to write for DreamWorks Animation Studios. One of the first things they wanted to know wasn’t my plot, or my characters, or even the world. They wanted to know my theme — upfront. What was the story about beneath the surface? What truth was it trying to express? And that flipped everything for me. Because when you know your theme before you write, you can actually build the entire story around it. Your character arc, your conflict, your story problems — all of it becomes intentional. Theme becomes the compass. The best way I’ve found to explain this is with something simple: a fortune cookie. A fortune cookie is basically a theme in edible form. You crack it open, and inside is this tiny sentence that captures a universal truth about being human. That’s what theme is — a distilled idea that guides everything else. So I decided to test the theory. I bought a whole box of fortune cookies and opened them on camera to see what kind of themes they might give me. The entire arc grows from that one sentence inside the cookie. And that’s the point: When you know your theme upfront, you’re not guessing your way through a story. You’re crafting it with intention, clarity, and purpose — one tiny fortune at a time. ♡ If you received value, please subscribe. Get insider info ONLY for Engleversians, subscribe here: www.JaimieEngle.com/Engleverse 📖 Need writing tips? (Amazon Affiliate links) Write a Book That Doesn't Suck ♡ https://amzn.to/48jCkO0 Write a Script That Doesn't Suck ♡ https://amzn.to/4aIw6cd Plotting Profits ♡ https://amzn.to/3wRVNYJ Curious about my published works? https://amzn.to/3vqMeio https://www.JaimieEngle.com/books 👩🏻‍💻 My Socials insta:   / jaimieenglewrites   goodreads:   / jaimieenglewrites   linkdedin:   / jaimieenglewrites   🎬 business inquiries email: jaimie@jaimieengle.com** Timestamps: 00:00 What is theme in screenwriting? 00:35 Introduction 01:07 What is the purpose of theme in a script? 03:27 How is theme in books different from movies? 04:40 How to use fortune cookies to create theme