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A soldier. The king’s most loyal man. Three witches stop him on the road and tell him he’ll be king.

It’s in Story Space. Does he believe them, or does he only want to?

He wants to. His wife believes it for him.

Then she drives the first act. Here is the night of the murder as a first draft.

Macbeth

  • Your choiceThree witches tell a loyal general he will be king.
  • Your choiceHis wife believes it before he does.
  • A possibilityThe dagger is only in his mind.
  • Still openWould he have done it without her?

The night of the murder

  1. The prophecyThree witches hail him king on the heath.
  2. The letterLady Macbeth reads it and decides for them both.
  3. The daggerAlone before the murder, he sees what isn’t there.

17.

INT. INVERNESS CASTLE - COURTYARD - NIGHT

The household asleep. MACBETH alone, a torch burning low. He stops. Stares at the empty air in front of him.

MACBETH

Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?

He reaches. His fingers close on nothing.

MACBETH (CONT’D)

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Somewhere inside, a BELL rings.

An example built on Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The spoken lines on the page are his.

You don’t need to know your whole story. You need a place to find it.

Just start talking.

No blank page. No template. Say the one thing you know, even if it’s only a face or a line.

A personA soldier too loyal to want a crown.

Discover it as you go.

The Studio asks what happens next and keeps every answer. Your story gets clearer each time you talk.

Your choiceThree witches tell a loyal general he will be king.
Still openWould he have done it without her?
A possibilityThe dagger is only in his mind.

Find its shape.

Your ideas fall into beats, in order. Move one and its scenes follow.

The prophecyThree witches hail him king on the heath.
The letterLady Macbeth reads it and decides for them both.
The daggerAlone before the murder, he sees what isn’t there.

Then read your pages.

Each scene arrives in proper screenplay format. Read it. Change it. Make it yours.

INT. INVERNESS CASTLE - COURTYARD - NIGHT

The household asleep. MACBETH alone, a torch burning low. He stops. Stares at the empty air in front of him.

MACBETH

Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?

He reaches. His fingers close on nothing.

MACBETH (CONT’D)

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Six places. One story.

Everything a screenplay needs, in one app. Change something in one place and the rest already knows.

Macbeth

  • Premise 2
  • Characters 4
  • World 3
  • Plot 5
  • Moments 6
  • Questions 3

The story so far

A loyal general hears three witches promise him the throne. His wife believes it before he does, and the king is asleep under their roof tonight. Whether he would have done it without her is still open.

Story readiness

Level 4 of 9 · Argument

  • Premise
  • Protagonist
  • Opposition
  • Stakes
  • Theme
  • World
  • Shape
  • Scenes
  • Coherence
  • MMacbeth
  • LLady Macbeth
  • BBanquo
  • DDuncan

What the story says

The king’s most loyal soldier, until someone tells him he could be more.

With others

Lady Macbeth. She believes the prophecy before he does.

Banquo. He heard the witches too, and has not forgotten.

Macbeth’s hand

ArjunaSees only the target and makes the impossible shot.Shadow: sees the target so clearly he loses the reason to shoot.
DuryodhanaRefuses to bow, even when bowing would save everything.Shadow: would rather own the ruin than share the kingdom.

Cards from a deck of 152, drawn from the Mahabharata.

The night of the murder

Drawing your story. You can keep talking while it draws.

The night of the murder

The prophecyThree witches hail him king.
In the script
The letterShe reads it and decides for both.
Draft
What if she burns the letter before he comes home?
The daggerHe sees what isn’t there.
Spec
The knockingIt is done. Someone is at the gate.
No scene
No sceneStartedSpecDraftIn the script
Loose beats · 2 Banquo’s ghostShe walks in her sleep
SpecSceneSide by sideSpec · revision 2 → Draft 1 in the script
Comes in
Macbeth alone. The house is asleep.
Leaves
A bell rings. He goes to do it.
What changes
He stops arguing with himself.
Who wants what
He wants a reason not to. The dagger gives him none.
The turn
What he imagines points where he was already going.
Must not
Show the king.
Keep
“Is this a dagger which I see before me”

The household asleep. MACBETH alone, a torch burning low. He stops. Stares at the empty air in front of him.

MACBETH

Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?

Somewhere inside, a BELL rings.

Meets the spec

MACBETH

Written by
William Shakespeare

Export Script

  • PDFIndustry format: US Letter, Courier 12pt, numbered pages.
  • FountainPlain text that opens in any screenplay app.
  • Final Draft (.fdx)An .fdx document Final Draft opens as a script.

Unwritten beats appear as placeholders, so the script always reads whole.

Illustrations of the Studio’s screens, using Macbeth as the example.

Your story. Your call.

The Studio suggests. You decide. Nothing joins your story until you say yes.

  • Three witches tell him he will be king.
    Your choice

    You said it. It’s in.

  • A possibility

    A suggestion. Click the circle to take it.

  • Would he have done it without her?
    Still open

    Nobody knows yet. That’s fine.

See it work in four minutes.

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  • TheatrePut the script on a big screen and let it play, beat by beat.
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  • StructureEvery scene and sequence, named and one click away.
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