An allegory is a narrative that has a hidden meaning, usually in the form of social commentary. Through the use of symbolism and personification, allegories often show abstract concepts through visual representation.
Allegories have been employed by writers for centuries as a narrative technique that conveys social or political commentary through visual representation. It proposes that multiple perspectives are needed to round out the truth, and what lies below the surface is usually far more complex and nuanced than the oversimplifications of form or genre.
In a way, philosophical allegories exist whenever a character learns from their situation and transform in the process. These allegories can subconsciously develop in the writing process and remain hidden until analyzed, but if you want your screenplay to really sink into a reader, consciously infuse them in every scene and line of dialogue that you can.
The philosophical concept goes back to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and has been used in popular literature and film ever since. 
The Allegory of the Cave is a philosophy about prisoners being chained together in the cave with a fire burning behind them. Their shadows cast images against the wall, representing their reality. Along with their shadows, they also see the shadows of animals and fantastical beasts and believe these things to be true, until they look back to see that the shadows are being cast by puppetry. 
If a prisoner sees this truth, that their reality is made up of illusions, they’d seek to break free from their chains to reach the outside world beyond the cave. Stepping into the sun for the first time, the free prisoner would be blinded and retreat back into the cave, where they were often  used as a cautionary tale of the outside world. 
So, imagine instead you’re sitting in a dark theater and you see images projected from behind you onto a screen. Of course, you don’t actually believe what you’re seeing is real — but you’re willing to suspend your disbelief for the runtime of the film. Nowadays, we pay to be deceived by the allegory in the cave.
Let’s take a look at some great series and films that work as the perfect allegories of the world around them.
<h3>Succession</h3>
Everything about the HBO series Succession is layered in subtext. The allegory presents itself when one looks beyond the glamorous facades of the characters to see the hideous truth behind their motives.
<div id="attachment_33411" style="width: 579px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33411" class=" wp-image-33411" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-6-1024x512.jpeg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="569" height="285" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-6-1024x512.jpeg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-6-150x75.jpeg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-6-250x125.jpeg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-6-768x384.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 569px) 100vw, 569px" />Main cast Of Succession. Photo courtesy HBO</div>
The series follows a super rich family as they grapple for control over their father’s company after he has a stroke. It’s a Shakespearean tragedy that upholds the notion that, “Where we are, there are daggers in men’s smiles.”
A reoccurring theme throughout the show is around the meaning of words. The dialogue is weighted with multiple meanings and the characters are trained in the art of gaslighting. Words often have temporary meaning in order to achieve or attain leverage over the other members of the family, then are rendered worthless. 
In the season one finale, Nobody is Ever Missing, every element of the script is rooted in this allegory. The wedding. The marriage of Shiv and Tom. None of it is real beyond face value. Everyone is distracted by fireworks while horrible things are happening in the shadows. 
Just like their rich lives, on the surface they’re pristine but if you look deeper you’ll find the dirt. 
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<h3>Parasite</h3>
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Written by Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won, Parasite is an allegory about economic inequality told through the lens of two families from starkly different worlds. The Kim family lives below ground in a cramped, chaotic basement whereas the Park family lives atop a hill in a minimalist mansion. When the eldest son Ki-woo pretends to be a university student and assumes a tutorship role in the luxurious home, he finds devious ways to change his family’s caste in life. 
Like the title suggests, the Kims scheme their way into working for the Parks and in order to leech off them in an attempt to lift themselves out of poverty. They’re parasitic to their wealthy counterparts. When the Parks leave for a vacation, the Kims make themselves at home, until they find out there’s an unwelcome guest living in the basement. 
The film is a commentary on ownership and the right to a space and the lengths humans will go when they are deprived of basic living standards. The invisibility of the impoverished and their ability to hide inside the home of their rich employers reveals layered real world connotations. The Kim family only achieves their status through deception and lying about their qualifications. 
When the veil of their forgery is ripped away in a violent act of vengeance, they’re left to live out their truth — while still chasing after the myth that rising above one’s place in a capitalist society is achievable. 
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<h3>Get Out</h3>
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Jordan Peele’s Get Out is an allegory of cultural appropriation and the horrors of racism in America. The white family and community that Chris is welcomed into uses hypnosis on their black guests, sending them into a mental Sunken Place, where they can then take control of and use their bodies.
Through the conventions of horror, Peele is able to tap into terrifying truths the industry was too afraid to confront for too many years. From the moment that the protagonist Chris arrives at his girlfriend’s family’s home, he feels that something is off. The family’s black handyman and housekeeper are painfully eerie and subdued, and his girlfriend’s parents are overbearing in their need to appear not racist. 
As with the above mentioned examples, the true nature of Chris’s descent into the allegory of the cave is revealed piece by piece. From an awkward fist bump to his forced hypnosis. Get Out’s allegory is prevalent and at play in every scene. There’s the way things seem, then the way they actually are. This duality is one of many reasons why Get Out resonated so much with audiences. 
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<h3>The Matrix</h3>
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The Matrix is akin to the Allegory of the Cave in that the protagonist, Neo, is trapped in a false reality presented through a computer program. After breaking free from the Matrix, Neo finds that the real world has been destroyed by machines that mine humans for their energy. The humans exist as catatonic batteries and only really live through the programmed reality of the Matrix.
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<div id="attachment_33412" style="width: 592px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33412" class=" wp-image-33412" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-2-2-1024x576.jpeg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="582" height="327" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-2-2-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-2-2-150x84.jpeg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-2-2-250x141.jpeg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/iu-2-2-768x432.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 582px) 100vw, 582px" />Main cast of The Matrix 4. Photo courtesy Warner Bros.</div>
 Lilly Wachowski has recently spoken about The Matrix as being a trans metaphor that the world wasn’t ready for yet. There was a character, Switch, who the siblings planned on being a man in the real world and a woman in the Matrix. The overall story was very much about that of transformation and the filmmaker says that she was unaware of, “How present my transness was in the background of my brain as we were writing.” 
Like the allegory presented to Neo, viewers walked away from The Matrix looking at the world differently. The themes and symbolism of being wholly reliant on a digital reality had people leaving the theater feeling like they took the red pill.
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<h3>The Truman Show</h3>
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The Truman Show is another film that follows the narrative of the Allegory of the Cave closely. Truman is born under the watchful eyes of a worldwide audience in a new form of reality television. He’s raised and comes into adulthood in a fake town built on a soundstage. A healthy dose of fear of water prevents him from venturing too far out of town, since they live on an island. Inside this false reality, he’s completely content. 
That is, until a light falls from the sky and he starts questioning his reality. He begins to notice that things aren’t what they seem. He sets off to overcome his fear of the water and sail away from the town, which has now become claustrophobic. Surviving a storm, he reaches the end of the earth when he runs into a wall of the soundstage. He sees a set of stairs and an exit where Christof, the producer of The Truman Show, try to persuade him to stay in that there’s no more truth in the real world than in his fake one. 
Truman ultimately chooses freedom from the cave, and we’re left with an ambiguous yet hopeful ending.

Writing the Perfect Allegory

Drama. 
An excitable word that conjures a heightened state of emotion. For some, it means losing their cool. For others, every conversation ends in a shouting match and phones are thrown. Some might even go for the nuclear option when they should just walk away. We love… No, we lust for drama. We crave it — need it. Hell, we thrive on it. 
Even the earliest cave people gathered around their newly minted fire to pour steaming hot tea over the coals, “Can you believe what Karl did today at the watering hole? What an idiot!”
Yes, we love drama — but that’s not really how life works. We’re bombarded daily by a thousand micro-aggressions passively spitting in our faces with a smile. It could be how your mother-in-law sneers at you, or when the bartender serves everyone around you despite making repeated eye contact, or even the lady who cuts you off in line because clearly you weren’t standing there.
For actors to transform into their characters, they need to think like them, embody them. Filmmaking is a collaborative endeavor. Every member of the cast and crew should be entrusted to deliver expertise to their role on set. They’re professionals who have studied and practiced their craft for years — there’s a reason why they were hired.
Just as the Director of Photography is trusted to know how to light a shot, the actor needs space to do their thing. I asked an actor once what he looks for in a screenplay. He told me that he appreciates when it’s clear that the writer trusts the actors to make creative decisions without feeling dictated by the page. This is especially the case when it comes to conveying a character’s emotional state through descriptions, rather than actions.
When a writer gets bogged down in describing every single facial expression or gesture, it can become exhausting to read. That is to say, unless you have a reason for it. Does your character have a nervous tic? Do they habitually chew their nails when they’re anxious? Details like this can add depth to your character, so don’t avoid them entirely. Every detail needs a purpose.
How you achieve that is entirely up to your style as a writer. As you’ll see in the examples below, these action lines and descriptions strike at the heart of the character’s internal emotional state without getting snagged on unnecessary physical expressions or traits. Some flow subtly, others strike a defining chord, and yet others are pure poetry.
Let’s take a look at how some incredible screenwriters were able to tell an entire story with a single expression.
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<h3>Gone Girl &#8211; Gillian Flynn </h3>
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<img class="aligncenter wp-image-32859" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn-1024x247.png" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="660" height="159" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn-1024x247.png 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn-150x36.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn-250x60.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn-768x185.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn.png 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px" />
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In this scene, Nick has just spoken to the media about the disappearance of his wife. The detectives, the public, and the audience are all studying Nick’s every move — waiting for him to slip up. That’s why this little smile carries so much weight. 
The word choice of smarmy elicits such a visceral response from the reader in the same way the screech of nails on a chalkboard sends a shiver down our collective spines. It’s a word that perfectly embodies its intent. You can visualize that smile. Add that he’s overly charming and oily — not only does the media eat it up, but so does the reader. 
These kind of descriptions lead the reader towards the bait. They want to believe Nick. They want him to be a good person, but all the evidence is proving otherwise. He’s annoyed, not devastated like the Elliots. He smiles when he shouldn’t. Isn’t helpful to investigators. A collection of small little tells can add up and flip a person’s mind from believing someone’s innocent to a suspect. 
Sometimes all it takes is a single word.
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<h3>Mare of Easttown &#8211; Brad Ingelsby </h3>
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<img class="aligncenter wp-image-32860" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Brad-Ingelsby-1024x790.png" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="634" height="489" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Brad-Ingelsby-1024x790.png 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Brad-Ingelsby-150x116.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Brad-Ingelsby-250x193.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Brad-Ingelsby-768x593.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Brad-Ingelsby.png 1244w" sizes="(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px" />
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This scene is a perfect example of how a writer can layer backstory into the action while heightening drama instead of slowing the action down in order to explain it. 
The women are about to be honored for their high school endeavors — a seemingly pinnacle moment in all these women’s lives. They’re far from their primes, and in the midst of what is supposed to be a joyous occasion, we see years of private tension and pain nearly boil over into a very public arena. As an audience, we’re teetering along the edge of sheer catastrophe. 
The very sight of Dawn springs Mare into action. When Lori glances over to Mare, Ingelsby interrupts both the action and dialogue lines with her movement. When Dawn acknowledges Mare with only her eyes, you’re given a glimpse into her thought process. 
The added, “She doesn’t want a fight. Not here, not now,” makes you think she wants to avoid a blow up in front of the whole town, but she’s not ready to back down from her fight to find her daughter. That last line builds audience anticipation by promising more, and we’re ready for it.
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<h3>Nomadland &#8211; Chloé Zhao </h3>
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<img class="aligncenter wp-image-32861" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Chloé-Zhao-781x1024.png" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="712" height="934" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Chloé-Zhao-781x1024.png 781w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Chloé-Zhao-114x150.png 114w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Chloé-Zhao-229x300.png 229w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Chloé-Zhao-768x1007.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Chloé-Zhao-150x197.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Chloé-Zhao.png 961w" sizes="(max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px" />
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At this point of the screenplay, Fern’s dear friend has just left for greener pastures, so she’s dealing with grief the only way she knows how — keeping busy. She’s a proud and stubborn woman deep in a personal task when Dave visits. He offers her an alternative to smoking, which she begrudgingly accepts just to rid her of him. Honestly, she just wants to be left alone to sort through her things. 
But Dave persists, and we see Fern’s patience wane until he inserts himself into his affairs and ends up breaking a precious heirloom. Fern doesn’t have many possessions, so she holds dear the things she does have. 
Losing her temper goes against her nature, she holds her friends in high esteem. Zhao does an incredible job of showing the duality of one’s emotional turmoil when she notes that Fern, “regrets shouting right away, but her mind is on the broken plates.”
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<h3>Beasts of the Southern Wild &#8211; Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin </h3>
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<img class="aligncenter wp-image-32862" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Beasts-of-the-Southern-Wild-Lucy-Alibar-and-Benh-Zeitlin.png" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="672" height="703" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Beasts-of-the-Southern-Wild-Lucy-Alibar-and-Benh-Zeitlin.png 960w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Beasts-of-the-Southern-Wild-Lucy-Alibar-and-Benh-Zeitlin-143x150.png 143w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Beasts-of-the-Southern-Wild-Lucy-Alibar-and-Benh-Zeitlin-250x261.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Beasts-of-the-Southern-Wild-Lucy-Alibar-and-Benh-Zeitlin-768x803.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Beasts-of-the-Southern-Wild-Lucy-Alibar-and-Benh-Zeitlin-150x157.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px" />
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In this scene from Beasts of the Southern Wild, Wink has just returned from a stint in the hospital. From his description it’s clear that he checked out himself. His daughter, Hushpuppy, has been surviving on her own. Happy upon his arrival, Hushpuppy is dismissed as if he were never gone. She lashes out by turning up the stove, causing a gas explosion.
Wink nearly dies trying to save Hushpuppy, who runs out of the burning trailer on her own accord. He had just chased her down. In an attempt to control her, he hits her. When she punches him in the heart, we see and hear the effects — an earth shattering event that’ll transform her world.
It’s never explicitly stated that Wink has a heart attack and dies. We see it unfold on the page step by step, with just enough description to clearly illustrate what is happening.
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<h3>Moonlight &#8211; Barry Jenkins </h3>
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<img class="aligncenter wp-image-32863" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Barry-Jenkins-1-705x1024.png" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="630" height="915" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Barry-Jenkins-1-705x1024.png 705w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Barry-Jenkins-1-103x150.png 103w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Barry-Jenkins-1-206x300.png 206w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Barry-Jenkins-1-768x1116.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Barry-Jenkins-1-150x218.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Barry-Jenkins-1.png 881w" sizes="(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />
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Barry Jenkins delivers this beautiful scene in a way that only he can. An unrequited love rekindled at first sight. We see Kevin through Chiron/Black’s point of view — what parts of his body Black focuses on. When Kevin walks by and makes eye contact with the audience, it puts us in that booth. We’re experiencing this from his perspective.
Jenkins doesn’t flat out say that Black is nervous. He writes, “something lodged in Black’s throat, without thinking places his hand there: Am I breathing?”
He uses italics to highlight a quick internal reflection, as if a thought passing as dialogue. When Kevin returns and they make eye contact, that lingering beat suspends time for Black, and thus the audience. The moment of recognition smoothly falls into place and the reader settles into the moment like an awkward hug that feels like home once you settle into it.
As you can see from the examples above, how you convey a character’s emotional state wholly depends on how your writing style hits the page. You don’t have to slow down the flow with exposition or physical descriptions. There are ways to put a character’s thoughts on the page without dictating an actor’s every choice. 
Leave room for the other professionals to play in the white space.

If Looks Could Kill – Drama Without the Dialogue

Your protagonist is exhausted, having fought through an entire feature screenplay of obstacles and hardships. The difficult road’s led them to a cavernous warehouse with a hole in the ceiling, the moon shining down like a spotlight. Standing before the flames creeping up the walls is the character responsible for disrupting the protagonist’s tranquil world. Their journey has led them here, to this moment — to the final showdown with their antagonist!
The two characters maintain a relatively safe distance, circling each other while delivering witty one liners. The time for talk is over. They each feint an attack, psyching each other out. It’s then that they simultaneously realize neither of them has actually been in a real fight — and one of them will have to swing first. 
How should you approach a fight scene if you don’t have practical experience? How can you translate the art of hand to hand combat to the page? Let’s take a look at some examples from writers who can really pack a punch (I had to).
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<h3>The Fighting Style</h3>
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Your writing style should match your character’s fighting style, which in turn should match the tone of your script. 
During your rewrites, do a thesaurus pass and replace common words to better fit your fighting style. Punch up (I really can’t help it) your words with replacements that phonetically illustrate the intensity you want to exhibit. 
If you’re going for a more gritty atmosphere like Netflix’s The Punisher or Oldboy, then your writing should reflect that with brutal imagery and harsh word choice. 
Check out the brutal hammer scene in the American remake of Oldboy written by Mark Protosevich and his word choice: 
<img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32163" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-4.27.05-AM-1024x414.png" alt="" width="1024" height="414" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-4.27.05-AM-1024x414.png 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-4.27.05-AM-150x61.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-4.27.05-AM-250x101.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-4.27.05-AM-768x311.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-4.27.05-AM.png 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Words like brutes, lashes, and pummel really accentuate the brutality of this reimagining of this legendary scene.
If you have a more stylized world in mind like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, then your language should be as lofty and acrobatic as your fighters. 
The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way &amp; Gabriel Ba is a comic book adaptation that maintains the original source material’s sense of humor and flair, so it’s only right that the fight scenes mirror that tone. 
<img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32164" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-5.52.01-AM-873x1024.png" alt="" width="873" height="1024" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-5.52.01-AM-873x1024.png 873w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-5.52.01-AM-128x150.png 128w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-5.52.01-AM-250x293.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-5.52.01-AM-768x901.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-5.52.01-AM-150x176.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-06-26-at-5.52.01-AM.png 960w" sizes="(max-width: 873px) 100vw, 873px" />
 
<h3>The Placement</h3>
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Different kinds of fights occur at different points in a story. When and where they occur will tell you a lot about the type of fight, the outcome, the stakes, and the ramifications for your protagonist.
Generally speaking, fights that occur early in the script are often one sided at the hands of the antagonist. The protagonist isn’t equipped with the skills or training to defeat them, or perhaps they are absent to defend their loved ones. Either way, their world is changed and they are called to action. 
This first fight is usually a chance to show the strength and formidability of the antagonist as an almost unbeatable foe. It’s up to the protagonist and her/his supporting characters to learn how to defeat them, but that often comes after several failed attempts.
The second showdown often occurs in the second act as a series of lesser tests to help prepare the protagonist for the final showdown. This is a great time for the protagonist to face off against the antagonist’s henchmen in an effort of offense, or a failed attempt to protect a MacGuffin that the antagonist is after in order to attain god-like power. 
The antagonist secures the MacGuffin, and the protagonist fails to stop them, but they succeed in learning a valuable lesson that they can use later on.
A third fight often knocks the protagonist down for the count and they reach their lowest point. They then have to recover, learn to turn their flaw into a strength by embracing a new skill or knowledge, and train for their final showdown. Think of Bane breaking Batman’s back on a bent knee. Bruce Wayne then must face his darkest moment and literally lift himself out of a deep, dark hole.
The final fight is usually a combination of everything attained and lost in the previous fights. A protagonist and his supporting characters will have to get through the antagonist’s henchman in order to foil their evil plot. The supporting characters can take on the henchman, giving the protagonist enough time for a one on one battle against the antagonist. 
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<h3>The Stage</h3>
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Tony Gilroy stresses the importance of knowing the physical location in action sequences, and the same is true for fight scenes. Map out the characters’ surroundings before they enter the ring. 
What are the rules of their world? Are weapons available in the background? Can they use any part of the terrain to their advantage or disadvantage? Is there a root that will trip them and nearly cost them their head? Does the protagonist have their back against a cliff?
Fully flesh out and set the stage for the fight in order to optimize the location and make it a part of the action. The characters shouldn’t simply react to their opponent’s strikes, but the environment around them as well. 
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<h3>The Stakes</h3>
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A fight in a film isn’t just something that randomly happens. Every fight is intricately linked to the main character’s main motivation, flaw, and story engine.
If you look at this example from Taken written by Luc Besson &amp; Robert Mark Kamen, you’ll see the desperation in Bryan’s fight. He’s finally found the location of his kidnapped daughter and nothing is going to stop him from getting to her.  
<img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32165" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Taken-Luc-Besson-Robert-Mark-Kamen-1024x734.png" alt="" width="1024" height="734" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Taken-Luc-Besson-Robert-Mark-Kamen-1024x734.png 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Taken-Luc-Besson-Robert-Mark-Kamen-150x107.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Taken-Luc-Besson-Robert-Mark-Kamen-250x179.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Taken-Luc-Besson-Robert-Mark-Kamen-768x550.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Taken-Luc-Besson-Robert-Mark-Kamen.png 1262w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Prior to this, Bryan attained information on the location of his daughter through torture, he raced a car through busy city streets, and jumped off a bridge in order to land on this boat. Nothing is going to stop him. Here we also see Bryan use a prop from the location as a weapon. He’s honed in and focused on saving his daughter by all means.
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<h3>The Phases of a Fight</h3>
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Sometimes you have to throw a sucker punch in there to keep the audience on their toes, but for the most part there is a build up of tension before an otherwise good protagonist resorts to violence in order to defend themselves or others. A line has to be crossed. 
Building tension before the fight is a great way of sucking a viewer into the action. Think of the loudmouth egging on two reluctant school children after school, the greater the agitation the more an audience leans in expecting the first blow. 
A perfect example of great tension building prior to a fight is the scene in Raid 2: Berandal when Rama is locked in a bathroom stall. There is an angry horde of assailants on the other side of the door. Both Rama and the audience know that the flimsy lock won’t hold for long, so they both embrace for the inevitable. The impending doom prepares one for the dopamine rush on the other side of the door. 
Once the characters engage in physical combat, they’ll both deliver heavy blows at an equal rate. The protagonist will land some hits and also get hit in a seesaw exchange of jabs and hooks.
The protagonist usually gets the upper hand and victory seems in reach, until the antagonist uses a dirty trick or connects on a desperate Hail Mary swing. Check out this moment in Creed written by Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington when Adonis is knocked down in the final bout. 
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-32166" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Creed-Ryan-Coogler-and-Aaron-Covington-.png" alt="" width="961" height="964" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Creed-Ryan-Coogler-and-Aaron-Covington-.png 961w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Creed-Ryan-Coogler-and-Aaron-Covington--150x150.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Creed-Ryan-Coogler-and-Aaron-Covington--250x251.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Creed-Ryan-Coogler-and-Aaron-Covington--768x770.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Creed-Ryan-Coogler-and-Aaron-Covington--50x50.png 50w" sizes="(max-width: 961px) 100vw, 961px" />
This is where the protagonist must summon all their strength and make a glorious comeback. They summon their inner strength like Jean Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport, written by Sheldon Lettich and Christopher Cosby &amp; Mel Friedman. 
<img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32167" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Bloodsport-Sheldon-Lettich-and-Christopher-Cosby-Mel-Friedman-1024x719.png" alt="" width="1024" height="719" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Bloodsport-Sheldon-Lettich-and-Christopher-Cosby-Mel-Friedman-1024x719.png 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Bloodsport-Sheldon-Lettich-and-Christopher-Cosby-Mel-Friedman-150x105.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Bloodsport-Sheldon-Lettich-and-Christopher-Cosby-Mel-Friedman-250x176.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Bloodsport-Sheldon-Lettich-and-Christopher-Cosby-Mel-Friedman-768x539.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Bloodsport-Sheldon-Lettich-and-Christopher-Cosby-Mel-Friedman.png 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
The protagonist often uses something they’ve learned in training or through failure in order to overcome the one obstacle they’ve had trouble with since the first act.
This is also seen in The Karate Kid when Daniel LaRusso channels his inner strength through his training to deliver a crane kick to Johnny Lawrence’s jaw.
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<h3>Formatting a Fight Scene</h3>
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If you look at all of the examples shown above you’ll notice that for the most part they are comprised of blocks of action lines instead of quick one sentence paragraphs. 
Think of each block of action as a sequence of engagement like a boxing match. When the boxers come together, they become a single mass of jabs, hooks, and undercuts. Then they separate.
Use line spacing to indicate breaks in the fighting or a shift in focus. Separating the action is a good way to bring extra attention to a particular object or movement.
You can also capitalize key words for emphasis on important details so that the object or action doesn’t get lost in the scuffle. 
Writing fight scenes can be a whole lot of fun. Don’t worry about getting bogged down on the details in the first draft, just go wild and clean up the action on the rewrite. Even for those of us who never took a punch to the nose or stood up to our bullies, we have access to creating massive damage on the page with our imaginations. 
As with any martial art, practice, technique, and ritual will make you a stronger fighter — and a better writer.

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