We get to experience things from both of their subjective perspectives, going back and forth between them, throughout the movie. (Not unlike Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.) Lady Gaga’s character meets this man and has a whirlwind rise to fame and romance with him, but it’s all tenuous and filled with problems that make it hard to enjoy in a sustained way. (Note that if it didn’t cause such problems he had to deal with, and was only internal, it wouldn’t work as well.) Meeting Lady Gaga gives him some fresh hope but also new challenges around all of that. Bradley Cooper’s character has demons and an addiction that isn’t resolved, which causes problems and conflicts in his life and relationships. If you look at the latest remake of A Star is Born, for example, each of the two leads has a story we pursue from their perspective. It might be about the relationship, or about something else going on in their lives. ![]() Each has their own problem with a beginning, middle and end. They might feel like “A” and “A minus,” almost equal in weight, instead of one main character getting both A and B Story. In movies with romantic A Stories, each of the two people in the potential couple typically get a story. ![]() So classically the A and B Story in a movie have the same main character. It will then build and complicate, like all good stories do, as its main character attempts to resolve it, or deals with its difficulties. Or you could say its “catalyst” or “Inciting incident” happens there - the thing that rocks the main character’s world and begins the story. Save the Cat’s “ Beat Sheet” positions “B Story” after the Break into Act Two and before the “ Fun and Games section.” Meaning the B Story begins there. And we audiences get bored by positive developments. That’s a positive development for the main character. If two people fall for each other and get together and have a lot of sex, etc., without some looming threat to the relationship, that’s not a story. It has to be focused on a conflict, and not going well. If the B Story is a romantic relationship, something has to be in the way of it. ![]() They will have one last chance to try to solve both in the final act. So if the B Story is about a relationship, it’s usually broken and over at that point, as are the main character’s hopes for their A Story goal. But even then, the hero usually doesn’t really change until some key moment in the final act where they (usually) snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.īut first, both A and B Story usually reach a rock bottom “All is Lost” moment. Typically the pressures of both the A and B Story problems combine to do that. No, characters (like real people) tend to avoid change, until really significant external problems force them into it. But as with most such internal growth, the character doesn’t engage in it willingly, with “growth” as the goal. The potential romantic partner often pressures the main character, intentionally or not, to deal with their “stuff,” and consider changing. The classic use of B Story in a movie is a romantic relationship that is secondary to a non-romantic A Story.
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