# Individual Theme Examples

**Purpose**: Specific examples demonstrating how to apply each theme from the rules directory.

---

## Ambition Theme Example

### Logline
A young chef sacrifices relationships and health to earn a Michelin star, only to discover the achievement feels hollow.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 1: Make the Goal Appealing** - Michelin star represents culinary excellence
- **Rule 3: Force Choice Between Ambition and Values** - Chef chooses restaurant over dying father
- **Rule 5: Question Whether Achievement Brings Fulfillment** - Star achieved but chef feels empty

**Key Scene**: The Michelin Announcement

```
INT. RESTAURANT KITCHEN - NIGHT

The Michelin inspector's letter sits on the counter. 
One star. Everything Alex wanted.

Alex picks up his phone. Seventeen missed calls from 
his sister. His father's in the hospital.

He looks at the letter. Then at the phone.

Then at the empty kitchen. No one to celebrate with.

He crumples the letter.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: Ambition achieved, but at the cost of everything that mattered.

**Visual Motifs**:
- Empty kitchen (isolation from success)
- Crumpled letter (hollow victory)
- Missed calls (sacrificed relationships)

---

## Betrayal Theme Example

### Logline
A soldier discovers his commanding officer sold intelligence to the enemy, forcing him to choose between loyalty and duty.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 1: Establish Trust Before Breaking It** - Opening shows deep bond between soldier and CO
- **Rule 2: Make Betrayal Personal** - Betrayal gets soldier's squad killed
- **Rule 4: Show the Betrayer's Justification** - CO explains his reasons

**Key Scene**: The Confrontation

```
INT. COMMAND TENT - NIGHT

Lieutenant Hayes holds the evidence. Colonel Morrison 
sits calmly.

HAYES
You sold them our position.

MORRISON
I saved lives. The war is unwinnable. 
Every day we fight, more boys die.

HAYES
You killed my squad!

MORRISON
I ended a battle that would have 
killed hundreds. Sometimes betrayal 
is the moral choice.

Hayes's hand moves to his sidearm.

MORRISON (CONT'D)
You going to shoot me? Or are you 
going to think about what I'm saying?
```

**Thematic Payoff**: Betrayal is never simple; even wrong actions can have understandable motivations.

**Subtext**:
- Morrison's calm = confidence in his justification
- Hayes's gun = desire for simple justice
- Moral complexity = no easy answer

---

## Environment Theme Example

### Logline
A corporate lawyer defending a polluting company has a change of heart when her daughter develops cancer from contaminated water.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 2: Make Environmental Damage Personal** - Daughter's illness directly caused by pollution
- **Rule 4: Show Systemic Nature** - Not one villain, but entire system
- **Rule 6: Demonstrate Interconnection** - Company's actions affect entire community

**Key Scene**: The Hospital Room

```
INT. CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - DAY

Rachel sits beside her daughter Emma's bed. Emma sleeps, 
bald from chemo.

Rachel reviews case files. Maps showing contamination 
zones. Her house is in the red zone.

She pulls out her phone. Scrolls to her boss's number.

Looks at Emma.

Deletes the number.

Opens her laptop. Begins typing her resignation.

Then keeps typing. A new brief. For the plaintiffs.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: Environmental destruction isn't abstract—it's personal, immediate, and demands action.

**Visual Elements**:
- Contamination maps (systemic problem)
- Sick child (personal cost)
- Deleted number (severing complicity)
- New brief (active choice to fight)

---

## Fate Theme Example

### Logline
A woman who believes in destiny discovers her "fated" relationship is actually the result of manipulation, forcing her to choose her own path.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 1: Establish Belief in Fate** - Protagonist believes in soulmates, destiny
- **Rule 3: Create Tension Between Fate and Choice** - Discovers "destiny" was engineered
- **Rule 5: Question Whether Fate Exists** - Must decide if anything is truly fated

**Key Scene**: The Revelation

```
INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT

Maya finds the journal. Her boyfriend's handwriting.

"Phase 1: Engineer 'chance' meeting at coffee shop.
Phase 2: Create shared interests (research her social media).
Phase 3: Introduce 'fate' language..."

Every "coincidence" was planned. Every "sign" was manufactured.

She hears keys in the door. He's home.

She has a choice. Confront him? Leave? Pretend she 
doesn't know?

For the first time in her life, she's not waiting for 
a sign. She's choosing.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: Fate is what we make it; choice is the only real destiny.

**Thematic Irony**: Believing in fate made her passive; discovering it was fake made her active.

---

## Friendship Theme Example

### Logline
Two childhood friends drift apart as one becomes successful and the other struggles, testing whether their bond can survive inequality.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 1: Establish Deep Bond** - Opening shows years of friendship
- **Rule 3: Test Friendship Through Conflict** - Success creates resentment
- **Rule 5: Show Friendship Requiring Effort** - Maintaining bond takes work

**Key Scene**: The Argument

```
INT. DIVE BAR - NIGHT

Jake (successful) and Chris (struggling) sit in silence.

CHRIS
You don't get it. You never have to 
worry about rent. About food. About—

JAKE
So I'm supposed to apologize for 
working hard?

CHRIS
You're supposed to remember where 
you came from. Who helped you get there.

JAKE
I offered you a job.

CHRIS
I don't want your charity.

Jake stands to leave.

CHRIS (CONT'D)
That's it? Fifteen years of friendship, 
and you just walk away?

Jake stops.

JAKE
I'm not walking away. I'm waiting for 
you to stop pushing me away.

Silence.

CHRIS
I don't know how to be your friend 
when our lives are so different.

JAKE
(sitting back down)
Then we figure it out. Together.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: True friendship survives inequality through honest communication and effort.

**Character Dynamics**:
- Chris's resentment (understandable but destructive)
- Jake's frustration (wants to help but doesn't know how)
- Both willing to work (friendship requires mutual effort)

---

## Growth Theme Example

### Logline
A perfectionist teacher learns to embrace failure after a student's suicide forces her to question her methods.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 1: Establish Need for Growth** - Perfectionism is harming students
- **Rule 2: Make Growth Painful** - Student's death is traumatic catalyst
- **Rule 4: Show Resistance to Change** - Teacher initially defends her methods
- **Rule 6: Demonstrate Transformation Through Action** - Changes teaching approach

**Key Scene**: The Memorial

```
INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM - DAY

Ms. Peterson stands at the podium. Students and parents 
fill the seats. A photo of David, the student who died, 
on an easel.

MS. PETERSON
David was... brilliant. Talented. 
And I failed him.

Murmurs in the crowd.

MS. PETERSON (CONT'D)
I told him B's weren't good enough. 
That he needed to be perfect. That 
anything less was failure.

She looks at David's photo.

MS. PETERSON (CONT'D)
I was wrong. And I'm sorry.

She steps down from the podium. Walks to David's parents.

MS. PETERSON (CONT'D)
I'm so sorry.

David's mother embraces her. Both crying.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: Growth requires acknowledging failure and changing behavior, not just feeling regret.

**Transformation Arc**:
- Before: Perfectionism is strength
- Catalyst: Student's suicide
- Resistance: Defends methods
- Acceptance: Admits fault publicly
- Change: New teaching approach (shown in later scenes)

---

## Identity Theme Example

### Logline
An adopted Korean woman raised by white parents travels to Korea to find her birth mother, discovering identity is more complex than blood.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 1: Establish Identity Conflict** - Feels neither Korean nor American
- **Rule 3: Create External Pressure** - Both cultures have expectations
- **Rule 5: Show Identity as Constructed** - Realizes she can define herself

**Key Scene**: Meeting Birth Mother

```
INT. SEOUL APARTMENT - DAY

Ji-Yeon sits across from her birth mother, Mrs. Kim. 
A translator between them.

MRS. KIM
(in Korean, translated)
You look like your father.

JI-YEON
I don't speak Korean. I don't... 
I don't know anything about being Korean.

MRS. KIM
(in Korean, translated)
You are Korean. It's in your blood.

JI-YEON
But I don't feel Korean. I grew up 
in Iowa. I eat casseroles. I don't—

She stops. Realizes.

JI-YEON (CONT'D)
I came here thinking you'd tell me 
who I am. But you can't. Because 
I'm the only one who can decide that.

Mrs. Kim doesn't need translation to understand.

MRS. KIM
(in English, heavily accented)
Yes. You decide.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: Identity isn't given by blood or culture—it's chosen and created.

**Cultural Complexity**:
- Not Korean enough for Korea
- Not American enough for America
- Resolution: Creating her own identity

---

## Isolation Theme Example

### Logline
A lighthouse keeper who chose solitude to escape trauma discovers a shipwreck survivor, forcing him to confront whether isolation is healing or hiding.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 1: Establish Isolation as Choice** - Protagonist chose lighthouse
- **Rule 3: Show Psychological Effects** - Isolation has changed him
- **Rule 5: Create Opportunity for Connection** - Survivor offers connection
- **Rule 7: Make Connection Difficult** - Years of isolation make it hard

**Key Scene**: The Conversation

```
INT. LIGHTHOUSE - NIGHT

Thomas and the survivor, Anna, sit by the fire. First 
real conversation in three years for Thomas.

ANNA
Why here? Why alone?

Long silence. Thomas struggles to speak.

THOMAS
Out there... people expect things. 
Want things. Here, it's just... quiet.

ANNA
Quiet or empty?

Thomas doesn't answer.

ANNA (CONT'D)
I was alone in the water for two days. 
Thought I wanted silence. But when it 
came... it was terrifying.

THOMAS
You get used to it.

ANNA
Should you?

Thomas looks at her. First real eye contact.

THOMAS
I don't know anymore.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: Isolation can be both refuge and prison; connection is frightening but necessary.

**Behavioral Details**:
- Thomas struggles to speak (isolation affecting communication)
- Avoids eye contact (difficulty with connection)
- Anna's questions (challenging his isolation)
- Final eye contact (first step toward connection)

---

## Justice Theme Example

### Logline
A public defender discovers evidence proving her client's innocence but must break attorney-client privilege to use it, forcing her to choose between legal and moral justice.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 2: Create Conflict Between Legal and Moral Justice** - Law prevents using evidence
- **Rule 4: Show Systemic Problems** - System protects procedure over truth
- **Rule 6: Make Justice Require Sacrifice** - Using evidence ends her career

**Key Scene**: The Decision

```
INT. COURTHOUSE BATHROOM - DAY

Sarah stares at herself in the mirror. The evidence 
folder in her hands.

Her phone rings. Her boss.

BOSS (V.O.)
Use that evidence, you're disbarred. 
You know that, right?

SARAH
I know.

BOSS (V.O.)
Your client will get a new trial 
eventually. The system works.

SARAH
He's been in prison for eight years 
for a crime he didn't commit. How 
long should he wait for the system 
to work?

BOSS (V.O.)
Sarah—

She hangs up. Looks at the folder.

Then at her reflection.

SARAH
(to herself)
What's the point of being a lawyer 
if I can't fight for justice?

She walks out, folder in hand, toward the courtroom.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: True justice sometimes requires breaking unjust rules, even at personal cost.

**Moral Complexity**:
- Legal system has reasons for rules
- But rules can prevent justice
- No easy answer, only difficult choice

---

## Power Theme Example

### Logline
A newly elected mayor discovers the previous administration's corruption but must decide whether to expose it and lose political capital or use it for leverage.

### Thematic Application

**Core Rules Applied**:
- **Rule 1: Show Power's Appeal** - Mayor can accomplish good with power
- **Rule 3: Create Moral Costs** - Using corruption for leverage is itself corrupt
- **Rule 4: Explore Power's Isolation** - Power separates from principles
- **Rule 7: Show Effect on Others** - Decision affects entire city

**Key Scene**: The Choice

```
INT. MAYOR'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Mayor Chen reviews the files. Decades of corruption. 
Her chief of staff, Rodriguez, waits.

RODRIGUEZ
You expose this, the city council 
turns against you. Your agenda dies.

CHEN
And if I don't?

RODRIGUEZ
You use it. Leverage. Get your policies 
passed. Actually help people.

CHEN
By becoming what I ran against?

RODRIGUEZ
By being pragmatic. You can't help 
anyone without power.

Chen looks at the files. Then at the campaign poster 
on her wall. "Integrity First."

CHEN
I didn't run for power. I ran for change.

RODRIGUEZ
You can't have change without power.

CHEN
Then I'll find another way.

She picks up the phone. Calls the press.

RODRIGUEZ
You're making a mistake.

CHEN
Maybe. But it's the right mistake.
```

**Thematic Payoff**: Power corrupts when we compromise principles to maintain it; integrity matters more than effectiveness.

**Power Dynamics**:
- Rodriguez represents pragmatic power
- Chen represents principled power
- Tension between effectiveness and integrity
- Choice defines what kind of leader she'll be

---

**Next Steps**: See theme-integration-across-acts.md for how to develop these themes across full screenplay structure.

