A good way to raise the stakes might be to read a few scripts in your genre and look for what belief, attitude, feeling, the main character has, that is set up in the first act. Then look to see how the goal, obstacles, and other characters conflict with it.

Sometimes it's not in the dialog too.

One example - Gladiator - Maximus values honor, he wants to go home - Commudus opposes both value and goal. When he demands maximus honor him and stay on the job...the stakes get raised.

I wrote a short film in which two couples played a board game that descended into a fight. The actor I wanted said he loved the dialogue but suggested I raise the stakes, so I made it a board game they were playing to pass the time during a kidnapping. It made the story so much better and was an excellent lesson to learn.

[…] [Originally posted March 30, 2010 on Go Into the Story] […]