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OK, so we’ve looked at how every scene in your screenplay should have a protagonist with a goal and an antagonist who wants to stop them achieving it.

Every scene should also have an overall and a specific goal. The overall goal is the protagonist’s intention throughout the script; the goal they want to achieve by its end. The specific goal is what they have to achieve in each individual scene in order to get one step closer to the overall goal.

As an example, let’s take a look at the Dog Resuscitation Scene in There’s Something About Mary.

This is the scene in which Healy (Matt Dillon) turns up at Mary’s place for a date.

Healy’s overall goal is clearly to win Mary. When the scene starts, it’s just been established in a conversation between Mary and Magda that Puffy will have a big say in Mary’s attitude towards Healy depending on its reaction. Healy then arrives at Mary’s door to find Puffy growling at him. This is a great set-up for the scene as it clearly establishes the following dynamics:

Protagonist—HEALY

Overall Goal—to impress Mary

Antagonist—PUFFY

Goal—to stop HEALY entering

Healy slips the dog some Valium, making it putty in his hands. Inside, Mary’s impressed, but then at the “Act One” turning point of the scene, Mary and Magda leave the room and the dog fails to wake up.

This is where Healy’s specific scene goal is established—to resuscitate Puffy. The conflict is driven by the fact that if he’s killed the dog, he’s also killed all hope of getting together with Mary.

In other words, it’s the overall goal that gives the scene its tension. If Healy and Mary were taking a walk in the park and he tries to revive a random dog in order to show off to her, they’d be less at stake and less tension. He’d still be trying to win Mary, but as it’s not her dog there would be no threat of failure and possible death of the relationship.

So, at the first turning point in the scene, the dynamic shifts to:

Protagonist—HEALY

Overall Goal—to resuscitate PUFFY

Antagonist—PUFFY

Goal—none

Re-read the scene and notice how Healy goes through a series of desperately escalating measures to try and revive the dog. At first he shakes it. Then he performs CPR. Then, finally, he tries electric shock treatment using the wires from a couple of table lamps. (The magic “number three” rule of comedy. More on this in a later post.)

The act two “All Is Lost” moment occurs when he sets Puffy on fire, but a vase of water thrown over the pooch brings it back from the dead.

So, at the scene’s climax, Healy has saved himself—Puffy’s OK again and his relationship with Mary is back on track. This is how all good scenes are constructed, and it’s only possible by establishing both a clear overall and specific goal for the scene’s protagonist.