The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue & Vice for Box Office Success

by Stanley D. Williams

The Moral Premise reveals the foundational concept at the heart of all storytelling and successful box office movies. In concrete terms it explains how you can create your own success and, in the process, entertain, delight, challenge, and uplift this generation and the ones to come.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Film, Crafts, Research

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Stan Williams is a writer and filmmaker, based in Michigan with occasional forays to Los Angeles and Europe. He is known in the film industry as a story & screenplay consultant and workshop leader due to his book: The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success that Will Smith calls: “The most powerful tool in my new tool box.” The Wizard Clip story came to him from an ex-pat Filipino and emigrant to Australia who thought the Wizard Clip would make a good movie. Stan agreed, but figured he better write the book first. In their free time, Stan and his wife, Pam, enjoy sailing on the Great Lakes aboard their 41’ ketch, Family Ties. Stan and Pam have three children, and ten grandchildren. Stan holds degrees in Physics (BA), Mass Communications (MA), and Film Studies/Narrative Theory (PhD).

Reviews

[K.M. Weiland · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to identify just one thing I like about stories (an impossible task!) it would be that they *mean* something. I adore stories that challenge me emotionally, intellectually, and morally. Those that don't may occasionally be fun, but they're ultimately just fluff. The Moral Premise is a wonderfully on-point discussion of *how* to create fundamental meaning within a story without resorting to didactic "the moral is."

Williams does a beautiful job of tying theme in with the engine that makes it run: character arc. He further builds that into the foundation of structure to create the complete package. His writing can be a little academic at times, but any complexities are well worth the time and brainpower to work through.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I thought there was some good information and examples in the book, I was quickly put off by Williams's roundabout terminology and awkward organizational choices. Instead, he delves too quickly into paragraph after paragraph of other writers' definitions of what premise means and I found it a little irritating and indirect. I wouldn't recommend it for the novice writer as might be intimidated or confused right away. The gist of what Williams is saying can found online for free. Really most important chapters in the book are 1, 5, 14, and 16. If someone chose to read those chapters and no others, I don't think they'd miss anything.

[Spellbind Consensus]

* Every successful story is built on a **moral premise**: a universal truth expressed as a cause-and-effect statement about virtue and vice.
* The moral premise is the **hidden engine** that links plot, theme, and character arc.
* Films and novels that lack a clear moral premise feel disjointed or unsatisfying; those with one resonate deeply with audiences.

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### Key Techniques

* **Formulating the Moral Premise**

* Expressed as a duality: negative path vs. positive path.
* Structure: *\[Vice] leads to \[bad outcome]; \[Virtue] leads to \[good outcome].*
* Example: *Greed leads to isolation; generosity leads to connection.*

* **Application Across Story Structure**

* **Act I**: Introduce the premise and the protagonist’s flaw.
* **Act II**: Test the protagonist against the premise through escalating conflicts.
* **Act III**: The climax forces the protagonist to choose between vice and virtue.

* **Character Arc Alignment**

* Protagonist embodies the struggle between virtue and vice.
* Supporting characters dramatize sides of the premise (mentors as virtue, antagonists as vice).

* **Scene-Level Implementation**

* Every scene must reflect or test the moral premise.
* If a scene does not engage with the premise, it risks weakening the story.

* **Universality & Commercial Success**

* Audiences connect because the premise addresses universal human truths.
* Williams argues that box office success correlates with how clearly and consistently a film dramatizes its moral premise.

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### Examples from the Book

* *Spider-Man 2*: *Irresponsibility leads to chaos; responsibility leads to balance.*
* *Seabiscuit*: *Hopelessness leads to failure; hope leads to triumph.*
* *It’s a Wonderful Life*: *Self-centeredness leads to despair; self-sacrifice leads to fulfillment.*
* *The Incredibles*: *Selfishness leads to family breakdown; selflessness leads to family unity.*

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### Tone and Writing Style

* **Clear, instructional, and didactic.**
* Relies heavily on examples from popular films to ground abstract ideas.
* Accessible to both writers and filmmakers, blending theory with actionable steps.
* The tone mirrors the content: structured and methodical, reinforcing the idea that moral premise is a reliable “formula” for coherence and success.

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### Author Qualifications

* **Stanley D. Williams, Ph.D.** is a story consultant, filmmaker, and teacher.
* He has worked with Hollywood studios and independent filmmakers, applying the moral premise framework to scripts and productions.
* His dual background in film production and philosophy enables him to articulate **universal moral truths** while offering practical tools for screenwriters and novelists.

[Josiah DeGraaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is perhaps one of the best books to offer a clear, step-by-step plan for developing a theme throughout a story after Weiland's Crafting Character Arcs. While Weiland delves more into each plot point than Williams does, Williams does spend more time explaining how themes work to impact audiences and he goes more beyond the character arc than Weiland does.

My main critique of the book is that Williams argues that writers should start with the message they want to deliver. I would posit, however, that starting with a question often creates more meaningful themes since they encourage the writer and the reader to explore a given issue instead of coming to a pre-decided conclusion. Combined with that, Williams also focused a lot on crafting messages that will resonate with the audience. To a certain extent, his argument that themes lead to greater box office success was helpful and interesting; the danger, however, is that if you hyper-focus on an audience's moral preferences in the messages you decide to include in a story, you can too easily just end up preaching to the choir as opposed to coming up with a deeper and more meaningful truth to help them see.

As a result, I worry that some of Williams' methods would lead to simple themes. But he does give a lot of valuable advice on how to develop even simple themes well in a way that moves the audience.

Rating: 3.5-4 Stars (Good).

[Eric Bumpus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give Part I only one star. The book is sloppy in organization and chapters referenced aren't always the right numbers. The book's premise, ironically, is not sequentially or logically laid out. There are three separate chapters that stand isolated from the flow of the book, and are in between other chapters. The author digresses from the flow of his argument frequently.

Part II, however, has some worthwhile substance and I can glean much from its pages. I don't fully accept the author's philosophy or premise as holding true to all stories (X-Files breaks this mold in many aspects, as just one example), but his thoughts do fit a good number of stories and it is a stable structure. This is, perhaps, because it is actually just the Hero's Journey repackaged and given some moral/religious wrapping paper ("every story must have a lesson and propose an absolute moral answer to the story's problem"). Still, the advice for preplanning a story and laying it out is worded in a way that simplifies the method, compared to other authors who write in a more 'verbose, recursive, and erudite' manner (i.e.: McKee, Vogler, Snyder, etc.).

For Part II, I give five stars. Thus, the rating I give the book is an averaged 3 stars.

[Blake Addison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super helpful method. I've read several other books on screenwriting, but the more I learn about it, the more I realize the need to dig deep and find the "first principle" of writing cohesive stories. This is as close as I've gotten (so far) to understanding the most basic building block of a story, the moral premise. The art of dramatic writing is on my reading list as well, so we will see what kind of information the author has distilled from it, as it appears as a cited source for this fantastic novel.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was nearly useless to me. I nearly gave up reading it, but it was the only book I could find on the subject, and reading it did help me to think about my writing. But then I got to part II which is where this book really proved its usefulness. I actually got from it exactly what I needed.

[Janet Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

very helpful for writers crafting novels

[James Shrimpton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely helpful book for any fiction writer

[Marliss Bombardier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book to read if you want to write a successful book, play, or screen play. It is interesting, easy to understand, and a quick read. It filled in some areas for me where I did not quite understand the importance of conflict, the moral premise, and the three-act structure. Most importantly, the book helped me to understand that the moral premise must be a valid, eternal principle and that every character in the work has to act under the moral premise (the vice or the virtue) for the audience to identify with it.

The examples that Stanley Williams used really brought home what he was explaining. I will never look at Die Hard, Brave Heart, The Terminator, or even Married with Children (yes, even that show has a moral premise) the same way again.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is primarily written for screenplay writers, but I found that it had a lot to offer the rest of us as well. As a fiction writer, the most difficult part for me has been the plot. I have no trouble imagining characters, dialogue or even setting. I can write scenes all day long, but placing those scenes in a logical and escalating plot line has been my downfall. Part of my trouble is that I don't care for plot driven fiction, and don't want to write it. The novels that I love to read are all about emotional and moral peril, not about physical peril. Stanley Williams' short treatise on writing moral fiction was just what I needed to pull my plot together. His emphasis on the moral side assured me that I would accomplish what I desired from my plot, but the mechanics of planning out that plot were also there to help me assemble a plot worth writing.

[Sarah Yoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept that Williams introduces is really important and I know that it will shape how I approach storytelling, but the sad irony is that, as he discusses plot arcs, his own argument is so roundabout that he wastes paragraph after paragraph explaining "I'll discuss that later and I'll discuss this now." Your argument should be clear enough that your reader won't need those directives, but will naturally follow your train of thought.

Okay. I've never been so frustrated by a book on writing, but I have vented enough. I won't even talk about his redundancy, which is just a sad side effect of mangled organization.

If I ever return to this book, I'll skim.

[Steven Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, and was pleased to find that I’d already read most of the books the author references. Although what he is saying is not new, I feel he does an excellent job of synthesizing the work of others, presenting those ideas in a cohesive way that brings clarity to storytelling, and more importantly provides specific guidance on how to create a solid piece of writing—whether screenplay or novel.

This is one of those books that should be in every writer’s library next to Egri’s The Art of Dramatic Writing.

[Ann Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my humble opinion The Moral Premise came across too academic for a lay person's enjoyment, even for a BA in creative writing who "gets" the concept of premise. Granted, I'm not the brightest bulb in the four-pack, and I never did soldier through to the end--even after paying full price. In fact, I just rescued The Moral Premise from the give-away pile to write this review. I recommend the book for writers of above average intelligence who want to master this essential concept for a successful story. I appreciated the plethora of examples Williams included.

[Ron Estrada · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now one of my top 5 novel writing books, even though it's written primarily for screenwriters. The elements of story are identical. The addition of a "moral premise" allows writers to keep maintain a focal point while determining every major and minor plot line. Nice helpful graphics on his website, too. If you can make it to one of his workshops, by all means do it! He lives in the Detroit area so we're privileged to hear him more often than most. You can borrow him, but he's ours to keep!

[Emre Poyraz · Rating 4 out of 5]

my opinion of the book is rather mixed.

on one hand, it covers an issue that has not been covered in storytelling: where the moral of the story comes from and how to construct a story accordingly. on the other hand, the book talks about the moral of the story as its deeper meaning. well, the deeper meaning of the story is not always in its moral. yes, the moral aspect is important, but its not the only thing.

my suggestion is, read this book, but take it with a grain of salt.

[John Mountford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for authors who enjoy writing fiction with heart! This book helps you to be specific about the moral to your story, and also helps you in implementing it in a systematic way throughout.
I found the methodology for implementing this moral structure to a novel enlightening, and it has already paid dividends on the first draft of my current work. A great aid for authors who like to use both sides of their brain in the creative process.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A practical update of Lajos Egri's The Art Of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives. The author discusses the theory of the moral premise, then gives a procedure for how to structure your own screenplay using this powerful approach.

[Clint Morey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my third time reading this book. The first time, the concept of the book resonated with me. The last two times, I've used it as a manual for developing some of my stories around a moral premise. If you're a writer, this book is worth reading.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book on theme with a different approach, explaining that themes should come in two parts, one about vice and one about the corresponding virtue. Very helpful and clarifying for those struggling with theme.

[Peggy Stirling · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Moral Premise

Excellent tool for any type of writing. Examples from well known movies demonstrate the importance of incorporating a moral premise into your work. Highly recommend!

[Ann McFarland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful resource for all story writers! Book's target audience is filmmakers/screenwriters, but any fiction author will benefit from this, "how a story works" summary, which explains how to use the push and pull of a character's virtues and vices.

[Javier Badillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and clear, it explains how stories don't need to depend on traditional act structures as long as the main character's moral premise leads all design elements in a film.

[T.M. Gaouette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually, I'm always reading this book. As I write I use it both for technique and motivation. It's a great resource and definitely one that all writers should have in their collection.

[Johnnie Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was difficult to read. It took me a long time to get through it. But it was worth the time and effort. I plan to use its instruction while revising my current WIP's messy draft.

[T.L. Blankenburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great work. Every aspiring author should read this.

[Marie Sontag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blew the socks off of what I thought I knew about the relationship between character and plot. I highly recommend this book for writers who want to improve their craft!