Conflict

In practice

Every scene needs some conflict, though not every scene needs a fight. A character wants something in the scene, even something small like a straight answer or a moment alone, and something resists. If nothing resists, nothing has to be decided, and the scene usually reads as information rather than drama.

The strongest stories layer internal conflict under external conflict. In Jaws, Chief Brody has to hunt a shark, and he is afraid of the water. The external problem forces him to face the internal one, so the climax resolves both at once. When the two kinds of conflict press on the same choice, the stakes feel personal.

Conflict has to escalate. If the obstacles in act two are no harder than the ones in act one, the story stalls even when a lot is happening. Each failure or partial victory should leave the character with less room and a harder choice, until the climax forces the decision the whole story has been building toward.

Conflict in a quiet scene

Nobody shouts, but the conflict is sharp. Daniel wants Mrs. Ortiz to accept a plea deal, she wants justice for her son, and Daniel's own doubt about the deal is the internal conflict under the scene. His silence is the turn: he loses the argument because he half agrees with her.

What conflict is in a story

Conflict is the opposition a character meets in pursuit of a goal. Syd Field put it simply in Screenplay: all drama is conflict. Without conflict there's no action, and without action there's no way to reveal character, because people show who they are by what they do under pressure. A story is a series of conflicts and the choices they force.

Conflict comes from three parts: a character who wants something, an obstacle that stands in the way, and stakes that make the outcome matter. Remove any one and the conflict collapses. A character with no clear want just reacts; an obstacle that's easy to remove creates no tension; and low stakes make even a big struggle feel weightless.

Conflict isn't the same as arguing. Two characters can disagree loudly about nothing that matters, and two characters can sit in polite silence while their whole relationship is on the line. What counts is opposition between goals. Many of the most memorable scenes in film are quiet ones where the conflict lives in what isn't said.

Types of conflict, with examples

External conflict sets a character against a force outside themselves. Character against character is the most common form, as with Clarice Starling and the killer she hunts in The Silence of the Lambs. Character against society pits a person against a system or a set of rules, like Katniss against the Capitol in The Hunger Games.

Other external forms include character against nature, as in Cast Away, where Chuck Noland survives on an island alone, and character against technology, as in 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the crew must outwit the ship's computer, HAL 9000. Some lists add character against fate or the supernatural, which covers many horror films.

Internal conflict is a struggle inside the character: between two desires, between a want and a need, or between a goal and a fear. In Good Will Hunting, Will's real opponent is his own fear of being abandoned. In The Godfather, Michael's external fight with rival families runs alongside his internal fight over who he's becoming.

How to write conflict in a screenplay

Start with a specific want. Before you write a scene, decide what each character in it wants by the end of the scene, and make those wants collide. The goals don't need to be dramatic. A son who wants to leave dinner early and a mother who wants him to stay can carry a whole scene if the stakes underneath are clear.

Make the obstacle active. An opponent who wants something too, and who adapts when the hero does, creates far more pressure than a locked door. Give your antagonist a plan and a reason, and let each side's move change the situation for the other. The best conflicts keep both characters making choices.

Escalate, then force a choice. Each round of conflict should cost the character something and narrow their options. By the climax, the external conflict should put the character in a position where only a resolution of the internal conflict, a change in who they are, will let them win. If a scene has no conflict at all, ask whether the story needs it.

Common questions