Williams Stanley D - The moral premise : harnessing virtue & vice for box office success

The Moral Premise is insightful, thought-provoking, and unique. I wish more people were writing the kinds of things Stan is writing. Its a much-needed, fresh approach to the art and craft of writing.

Ed Solomon, Screenwriter-Director
Levity, Men in Black, Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure

Really good stuff! Stan Williams has created a new bible for screenwriters. Should be required reading, retroactively, for every working Hollywood screenwriter, and the primer on which every aspiring new scribe cuts his teeth. Cause and effect motive behind every action the apple in Eves hand the basic elements in the giant continuing narrative that is the universe.

Brian Bird, Screenwriter/Producer
Bopha!, Call Me Claus, Touched by an Angel

The Moral Premise theme, spiritual spine, controlling idea, hidden (universal) truth, emotional through-line, informing vision call it what you will! All effective stories have it. Williams helps film writers and critics alike understand the heart of a story. Given its strong blend of theory, illustration, and practical suggestion, Williams book is important reading for screenwriters, filmmakers, and even film critics.

Robert Johnston, Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary;
Co-Director, Reel Spirituality Institute

A well-argued, well-researched tool (and fuel!) for creating vital screenplays. Stan Williams connects box office success to enduring human virtues. The Moral Premise provides a guiding principle to drive you from Fade In to the closing credits.

Craig Detweiler, Screenwriter/Author: A Matrix of Meanings; Chair:
Film/TV/Radio, Biola University

The Moral Premise is an elegant explanation for why our best stories are often so much wiser and nobler than are we, the storytellers. I cant help but wonder what the phenomenon Stan Williams so masterfully expounds is trying to tell us about our truest selves.

Christopher Riley, Screenwriter,
Author of The Hollywood Standard

This is terrific! Stan Williams book does what an undergrad and graduate education in film could not: distill what makes a movie good into a concise, workable theory that guides every scene. Ive read all the major screenwriting texts and their methods are all based on the script containing a solid moral premise. I wish I had this book back in film school. It would have saved me untold hours of agony trying to salvage scripts that had one simple, yet fatal flaw: they lacked a moral premise.

Jim Rossow, Screenwriter, Hijacking Hollywood

Stan Williams has hit the nail on the head films with wide appeal that stand the test of time all have a moral center. If only more writers would learn that sooner. The Moral Premise cant come out soon enough!

Jonathan Bock, President, Grace Hill Media

The Moral Premise is a real gift to teachers and students of storytelling in any medium. It positions the modern writer into the history of storytelling and narrative theory. Most significantly, The Moral Premise focuses on the importance of a valid premise and the consistency with which that premise appears in the storys spine, in each of its characters arcs, and in each and every scene and act.

Jackie Byars, Ph.D., Author, All That Hollywood Allows;
Director, Media Arts and Studies, Wayne State University

Exceedingly helpful for any storyteller of screen or stage. Filled with examples. Impressively well-researched. His argument stabs the reader with the strikingly simple, but unsettling notion that the moral premise is central to a storys resonating power. This should be part of the working knowledge of any storyteller, and I will plan to use it in my courses on playwriting and screenwriting.

Paul Patton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of
Communication & Theater, Spring Arbor University

A very interesting look at story writing for the screen or novel, and a great overview of how to structure a story.

Howard Kazanjian, Producer, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,
Raiders of the Lost Ark

In The Moral Premise, Dr. Williams does for content what Syd Field did for structure. The books premise is quite simply that behind every successful film there is a formula. For those who claim that a predictable hit is an oxymoron, The Moral Premise proves them wrong. The Moral Premise could very well be the holy grail of screenwriting. To crack the code I strongly advise you read this book. The Moral Premise is an important and purposeful text that every one of tomorrows filmmakers needs today!

Douglas Schulze, Founder, Motion Picture Institute Film School;
Director of The Rain, Dark Heaven, Hellmaster

If you get this book, you will never look at movies the same way again. Not only will you have greater appreciation for good movies and less tolerance for superficial ones, but you will be able to tell the difference between the two in detail. I will warn you: Do not read this book if you dont want to change your outlook on movies.

Kari Ann Morgan, Microfilmmaker Magazine
(www.microfilmmaker.com)

Stan Williams does an outstanding job of cutting through what you think your screenplay is about and getting to the heart of what your screenplay is really about. A must read for any screenwriter.

Matthew Terry, Screenwriter/Teacher/Columnist
for www.hollywoodlitsales.com

Dont let the Ph.D. throw you Williams has created an accessible, functional overview of classic and contemporary theories of dramatic writing. Screenwriters who strive to present the higher ideal of what mankind can achieve will appreciate his analysis of films that have succeeded on both moral and commercial levels. This is exactly whats needed in a post-9/11 society encouragement for screenwriters and filmmakers to touch the minds and hearts of a global marketplace with positive inspiration for the collective good.

Catherine Clinch, Associate Publisher, Creative Screenwriting Magazine

Each of us has a need to make our lives matter. We strive to lead better lives through the positive examples of others. Their struggles inspire us to live out of our highest aspirations. Stans Moral Premise causes us to ponder our own principles, and realize that the pursuit of virtue not only leads to hope, but to a life that matters.

Jim Lichtman, Ethics Specialist and Author of What Do You Stand For?

The Moral Premise is a thought-provoking tool for storytellers in every medium, a cogent authority for the understanding of affective storytelling, and is a goldmine of foundational materials with valuable nuggets for teachers and students alike.

Fred G. Thorne, Writer/Producer/Director, Professor and Chair,
Writing Division, Broadcast Education Association

Insightful, clear, concise and enriched with many examples, The Moral Premise analyzes the structure of successful screen plays and shows the reader how to do it yourself act by bloody act. Read it. With its help, vanquish fear, stoke your hope and write your story.

Rev. Bob Bonnot, Sr. V.P., Programming, Hallmark Channel

HARNESSING VIRTUE & VICE
FOR BOX OFFICE SUCCESS

S TANLEY D. W ILLIAMS , P H .D.

Published by Michael Wiese Productions

12400 Ventura Blvd. #1111

Studio City, CA 91604

tel. (818) 379-8799

fax (818) 986-3408

mw@mwp.com

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Cover Design: MWP

Book Layout: Gina Mansfield

Editor: Paul Norlen

Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., Saline, Michigan

Manufactured in the United States of America

2006 Stanley D. Williams

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.