What makes a compelling story?
There are two ingredients that are crucial to a good story and in this Fireside episode, Cole shares some insights he noticed while attending the premiere of Port Side Production's latest feature documentary film with Athletic Brewing Company. Check out the film "Inches to Miles"
Show Transcript:
(0:00)
Welcome back to episode number five of the fireside chats. All right. Today we're going to be talking about what makes a compelling story. Now, this is a pretty simple topic. It's a really simple idea. But like everything, execution is everything. Why are we talking about what makes a compelling story? Well, just this last week, we finished Port -Side Productions finished our latest documentary film project. We worked with Athletic Brewing Company to make a 70 minute documentary film about three team athletic ambassadors as they were training, preparing for the Lake Placid, for the 2023 Lake Placid Ironman. And we finished it and we premiered the film in Oceanside, California at Ironman 70 .3 this last weekend.
I was sitting in the theater surrounded by a bunch of people, some people I knew, some people I did know. And there are some moments in the film that are emotional. They're very emotional. And people were crying. And I was thinking, you know, after the theater experience, I was thinking, what makes a story compelling? What makes someone, an audience member, you know, cry? What makes them laugh? What makes them excited? What makes them joyful?
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when they're watching or listening to a story. And so it got me thinking about what are those elements? Now we've talked a lot about storytelling on this podcast before, and storytelling has so many different elements and themes and ideas that make up what a good story is. But today I wanted to share two of them with you that I think are the most important to consider, the most important to take with you as you're telling your own stories or as you're considering what stories do we tell? So number one, I think one of the most important things that you need is you need a strong character. Characters take many shapes and sizes. In this film, we happen to be following three individuals and we are telling the story of their lives. Now, these were some pretty amazing stories, some pretty awe -inspiring stories ranging from homelessness, drug addictions, paralysis, an internal battle with oneself about, you know, what is my value in the world and what am I capable of accomplishing? Each of these individuals that we cast in for this film were chosen very specifically for a very specific reason. And it's because they were likable. It's because they were relatable. They all had clear motivations. They were well -developed. But they had an interesting perspective and they had an interesting story that they could share with our audience. Viewers are drawn to characters who face challenges, who grow and change over the course of the story. And I think that's one of the reasons why our film was so successful is because that's what happens. That is what happens over the course of training and getting ready for this Iron Man, these individuals were challenged. They grew a lot. And coming from the backgrounds that they've come from with their backstories, it pushed them in ways that was frankly interesting. And as the audience, we became invested.
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What is the second point? The second point is conflict. Now, conflict is the heart of drama. And drama makes it sound like this conflict is the type of drama you find on a reality TV show. It feels disingenuine or surface level or fake. But conflict can be internal, it can be external, it can be both, but it's what makes the story interesting. Conflict, it introduces stakes, it creates tension, it drives the plot forwards.
And it's the obstacle that the characters must overcome to keep viewers engaged. Each of our characters in this film had their own conflict, external and internal. But unanimously, they were all working towards the conflict of overcoming the Iron Man, of overcoming this grueling 17 -hour day race. And it's because we liked the characters and it's because...
there was a strong conflict that had to be overcome that made the audience invested, that made the audience care about the outcome of the story. And so I think those two points, strong characters and conflict are some of the most critical ingredients you need in order to tell a good story. Just remember that a good story starts with strong characters and it starts with conflict. And if you have those two ingredients, everything else will fall into place
