How Materialists makes both the narrative events and the emotional structure work
By Heidi Hornbacher & Carlo Cavagna
The best scripts grab us with a propulsive narrative flow, usually with a central character in pursuit of an external goal. They also keep us engaged with a resonant unfolding of a character’s internal journey. Sometimes that internal arc is in response to the external events and sometimes it leads them. But the best stories have a well-crafted narrative for both the emotional growth and the external events.
At PageCraft we believe mastering both comes from solid foundational work in both story structure and character architecture. The external narrative can be organized around the seven-point structure we teach. The internal comes from what we call the “Character Arrow,” which describes the journey a character makes and provides the writer with everything that will push that character forward and hold them back in equal measure.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
In Celine Song’s 2025 film Materialists, matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) pursues professional success along a seven-point story structure, but the movie is led by her internal growth. Following the Character Arrow, Lucy grows from an outwardly successful but wounded character focused on the transactional nature of love to someone who believes real love is worth more than money. In Materialists, the Character Arrow and the seven-point structure are cohesive and inseparable, with the Character Arrow primarily driving the narrative.
Here is how we mapped out the seven points working in concert with the Character Arrow (attributes noted in CAPS).
1. Ordinary World: Lucy is a successful New York matchmaker (MASK) who holds the record at her firm, Adore, for most pairings resulting in marriages (STRONG SUIT).
2. Inciting Incidents: At the wedding of her most recent successful pairing, Lucy is approached by the groom’s brother Henry Castillo (Pedro Pascal), who wants to date her. At the same event, Lucy encounters her ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans), there working as a caterer and still pursuing an acting career. In a flashback, we learn that Lucy left John because he is perpetually penniless—an understandable motivation but suggesting a concern for material things (the TROUBLE TRAIT that gives the film its title), stemming from Lucy’s own modest beginnings and need to feel valued (her WOUND). The wound is only suggested, but the “value” of a person is a recurring theme in the movie.
3. Point of No Return: Lucy decides to date Harry because he checks all her professional matchmaking boxes. He is a “unicorn,” both wealthy and attractive, plus he makes an excellent argument why she checks all of his boxes. The science of matchmaking (Lucy’s STRONG SUIT) says they should be together. Lucy will ignore the feelings she still has for John.
4. Midpoint: Lucy sets up her client Sophie with Mark, a match who fulfills Sophie’s checklist, but Mark sexually assaults Sophie. Here Lucy’s Strong Suit (matchmaking ability) is undermined by her Trouble Trait (evaluating people by material measures), demonstrating that perfect-on-paper matches aren’t perfect and causing Lucy to doubt herself.
5. Low Point: With her career in question and after a disastrous effort to contact Sophie, Lucy realizes that she does not have feelings for Harry—and that he doesn’t have feelings for her. Marrying Harry would mean a perfect-on-paper life full of material comfort but devoid of love (DARK SIDE). Finally overcoming her Trouble Trait, facing her feelings of worthlessness (her Wound), and turning away from her Dark Side, Lucy ends things with Harry on the eve of their trip to Iceland. Now she is alone and doesn’t even have a place to live because she sublet her apartment for the trip.
6. Final Challenge: Achieving her TRUE SELF by embracing a life with real love despite financial challenges, Lucy seeks out John and reunites with him. This sequence is interrupted by Sophie frantically calling Lucy because Mark is trying to break into her apartment. Lucy rushes to help and mends fences with Sophie.
7. New Ordinary World: Having re-established her relationship with John, Lucy is offered a promotion to head Adore’s New York office, which would mean a life free of financial worries after all. Lucy is disinclined to accept, but the movie does not reveal her final decision. In the closing footage, Lucy and John obtain a marriage license at the unglamorous City Clerk’s office, underscoring Lucy’s rejection of her Dark Side.
Without both a powerful Character Arrow and clear seven points, Materialists would likely have failed to tell its story effectively. That they are both strong, without ever feeling forced or heavy handed, speaks to Song’s mastery as a writer and filmmaker.
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