Writing Tip: The Importance of Subplots

A five-part series on a movie’s many mini-stories.

Subplots are a writer’s friends. These little mini-plots contribute to a screenplay in multiple ways which we explore in this five-part series:

Part 1: What’s a Subplot?

Part 2: Analysis of Subplots in Casablanca, Die Hard, and The Shawshank Redemption

Part 3: How to Use Subplots

Part 4: Back to the Future — A Masterclass in Subplots

Part 5: Subplots in the Pixar movie Up

Takeaway: Think of Subplot = Relationship, a mini-story involving two characters, where the writer tracks the Beginning → Middle → End of that relationship. This concept puts a human face on a clinical subject and makes it easier to track the specifics and thematic significance of subplots.