THE STORY CARE5

Level Forward and the Re-Scripting Gender, Work, Family, and Care initiative at New America’s have partnered to create THE STORY CARE5, a research-backed list of 5 key narrative elements audiences want you to include in your productions, reflecting a more authentic, contextually clear, and holistic approach to entertainment featuring working people and their families. Stories with these elements reflect a truer world by exploring characters’ experiences managing work, family, and personal lives, including seeking or providing care for themselves and loved ones.

Including references to the following, even if they take place off-screen, enhances storytelling that viewers report wanting to watch.

1

FAMILY:

What are the character’s key blood and chosen family relationships, whether in their homes, nearby, or beyond?

2

JOB TYPE:

What is your character’s job and the attributes of that work, or what has shaped their inability to work or barriers to work (e.g., flexibility or lack thereof)?

3

CARE ROLE:

CARE ROLE: What are your character’s care responsibilities, locations, and circumstances when children or adults around them need care, and how does your character address the tradeoffs of providing or paying for that care?

4

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:

How does your character’s gender, racial and ethnic background, cultural traditions,  income level, and/or disability or health status affect their job, family, and caregiving relationships and experiences? How have these elements shaped their backstory and their given circumstances?

5

POSSIBILITIES:

Are there actions these characters could reasonably undertake to shape their community, workplace, or state/local government?  Or, if fortunate to have support, does that come in the form of workplace policy, public policy, or cultural support, and what effect does it have on the characters?

LEARN MORE

Level Forward's productions incorporating The Story Care5.

Level Forward’s
storytelling workshops.

New America's
research on what audiences want to see

New America's
storytelling resources for creatives.