Why Stakes (and Sacrifice) Make Us Care
If you’ve ever gotten the “Why do we care?” note on your screenplay, this one’s for you.
That question usually points to one key issue: unclear or underperforming stakes. In other words, the audience doesn’t know what’s truly on the line.
And it’s not just about the outcome. It’s also about the meaning behind it. When the audience understands what’s at risk and why it matters to the protagonist, they get emotionally invested.
What are story stakes?
At their core, stakes are whatever the main character stands to gain or lose, pending the outcome of the story.
We often think of stakes as the negative consequences if the protagonist fails, like death, disgrace, or the end of the world. But stakes can also be positive outcomes, like winning a coveted award, mending a relationship, or achieving long-sought validation.
We talk about stakes in terms of what's "at stake" in the story. The protagonist’s life might be at stake, or their child’s safety, or their happiness if their team doesn’t win the big game.
Whatever it is, the outcome matters — and that’s the key.
Why Do Stakes Matter?
Stakes create emotional investment.
A compelling character may hook the audience at first, but it’s the stakes that keep us on board. Stakes are what get us to care about what happens next. When we understand what’s at risk and why it matters, we feel tension — hoping for the best, dreading the worst — and that’s what keeps us watching or turning pages.
“My story has stakes, so why don’t you care?”
In many cases, the writer has thought about stakes, but finds they’re not landing with the audience.
Because it’s not enough to tell us, “If the hero fails, X will happen.” We need to see how the main character, some specific community, or society at large will be affected, should the stakes come to bear.
We need to feel the impact of that potential outcome. We need to understand what it would mean.
It’s not enough for the audience to know what’s at stake. We also have to understand why it matters.
This is a textbook “show, don’t tell” situation. If we can see how much the outcome matters — how it would affect the protagonist — we’re more likely to care.
That emotional context is your job as the screenwriter. You have to dramatize it. Stakes only resonate when we experience them through the characters in the story.
And importantly: stakes are only effective when they’re a direct consequence of the story goal. We need to see the clear cause-and-effect relationship: If the protagonist succeeds, this happens. If they fail, that happens. Stakes should be definite, not vague or theoretical.
Stakes are what happen. Story is why it matters.
Good stories show us the stakes in two parts:
WHAT will happen (the consequence), and
WHY it matters (to the protagonist).
Many scripts establish the “what” just fine. But if the “why” is missing, the story can feel thin. The audience might intellectually understand the stakes, but they won’t feel them.
Think of it this way:
The WHAT is plot.
The WHY is story.
The biggest mistake I see writers make with their story stakes – perhaps after not including stakes at all – is not making the stakes meaningful.
The “why” gives meaning to the goal. It personalizes the stakes. It shows us why this matters to this character, right now. That’s what activates the audience’s empathy and emotional investment.
A great example of stakes at work
Want to see stakes done well? Watch an episode (or five) of Chopped.
Seriously. The cooking competition show is a masterclass in conveying stakes quickly and emotionally.
Each episode introduces four new chefs competing for a $10,000 prize. That’s the what — a title and a cash reward. But Chopped knows that’s not enough to make us care.
So they give us the why — what winning means to each chef. For one, it’s proving to their parents they were right to pursue a career in cooking. For another, it’s the chance to buy a ring so they can propose to their partner. For someone else, it’s a shot at redemption after a business failure.
By the time the appetizer round ends, we’re emotionally invested. It’s not about the prize money or the title. It’s about what the win represents to the competitor.
That’s stakes done right.
The difference between stakes and sacrifice
To thoroughly understand stakes, it’s helpful to look at the difference between stakes and sacrifice.
Stakes = what the character stands to gain or lose depending on the outcome of the story.
Sacrifice = what the character risks or gives up in pursuit of the story goal.
I’ve also called sacrifice the “cost of participation”—because that’s what it is: what the character is willing to put on the line to go after what they want.
Quick Example: Die Hard
Stakes: The lives of the hostages. The hostages will die if John McClane fails to stop the terrorists. And one of those hostages is his wife, so the stakes are very personal.
Sacrifice: John risks his personal safety, and ultimately his life. He walks on glass, crawls through vents, and puts himself in harm’s way. He’s willing to die to save the hostages.
Why sacrifice matters
Sacrifice shows us how much the stakes matter to the protagonist.
Stakes tell us what’s important. Sacrifice tells us how important. If a character risks nothing to achieve their goal, we’ll question whether they truly care. And if they don’t seem to care… why should we?
Let’s go back to Die Hard. If John McClane refused to take any risks — if he never engaged with the terrorists, never put himself in danger — we’d doubt his commitment. The stakes would feel hollow, and the story would lose power.
But because we see what he’s willing to suffer in pursuit of his goal, we understand just how valuable those stakes are to him. That deepens our emotional connection.
Sacrifice makes the stakes feel higher, even when the stakes themselves don’t change.
Raising the stakes (and the sacrifice)
“Raise the stakes!” is something you’ve probably heard before. But what does that really mean?
It means keeping the audience engaged by deepening their emotional investment in the outcome. Getting them to continually re-invest.
How do you get the reader or audience to re-invest? With escalating stakes and sacrifice.
Back to Die Hard:
If John McClane finds out the terrorists have taken hostages — that’s bad. The lives of those hostages are at stake. If John McClane then learns his wife is among those hostages — that’s worse. He’s gone from a cop with a duty to help those whose lives are in danger, to a husband with a desire to save his own wife. That’s an escalation in stakes.
And as the stakes rise, we see that his level of sacrifice does, too.
As screenwriter Doug Eboch puts it:
“The key to raising the dramatic stakes is to increase how much the character cares about the outcome of the situation.”
That’s a helpful lens for thinking about escalation. It’s not just about more explosions — it’s about more emotional weight.
Don’t let sacrifice outweigh the stakes
It’s important to remember: sacrifice only works if it’s justified by the stakes. If the protagonist is sacrificing more than what’s at stake, the audience will stop rooting for them — and might even tune out.
Imagine if, in Die Hard, McClane’s wife wasn’t being held by terrorists. Let’s say she’s being detained by a mall security guard who wants to check her purse. And in response, McClane smashes through windows, kills the guard’s partner, and crawls through air ducts to “save” her.
We’d think McClane was unhinged. The sacrifice wouldn’t match the stakes — and the audience would check out.
So while raising sacrifice can increase audience engagement, it only works when it feels warranted by what’s at stake. The audience has to agree: Yes, this is worth it.
If they don’t… they’ll mentally walk away, even if the character doesn’t.
Use both stakes and sacrifice to your advantage
Now that you understand the difference between stakes and sacrifice, and how they work together, you can start watching for them in every movie you see.
Better yet, apply that lens to your own screenplay.
Make sure the stakes are clear, specific, and personal. And show us what your protagonist is willing to risk in pursuit of their goal. That’s what makes us care.
Here are a few questions to help you analyze the stakes in your story (or in any movie that’s stuck with you):
What’s the protagonist’s main goal?
What are the consequences if they fail?
Why do those consequences matter personally to the protagonist?
How does the story show us that meaning?
What is the character willing to sacrifice in pursuit of the goal, and what does that tell us?
Getting great at stakes takes practice. But the more fluent you get, the more compelling your stories will be.