Here's one takeaway from the script and movie: The story drives home the point that action without a character's personal connection to what's going on is meaningless. This is particularly true of the Protagonist because by extension, *their* emotional involvement in what transpires in the plot is a script reader and audience member's emotional conduit into the story. We live vicariously through them. It's something screenwriters often call 'audience identification.'

Co-writers Hart and Horowitz go to great lengths to create a compelling character in I'm Your Woman's Protagonist (Jean). She begins in effect as a sheltered woman. Then she gets a baby dumped in her arms, something she has always wanted (to have a child, but physically she is unable to do so), but not necessarily the way her husband (Eddie) arranges it, a complete surprise. She is unprepared for instant motherhood. Right there, two dynamics combine we can relate to: not being prepared for a big change.

Then the action begins: She and the baby (Harry) are hustled away by Cal with hardly any explanation, only that she and the baby's lives are in danger. This ups our emotional connection to Jean because... well, she's in mortal danger. We may never have experienced that, but we can relate to being in situations where we don't know what's going on and can identify with that feeling of emotional instability.

We also see her rising to the occasion in her maternal responsibilities, even though ill-prepared to be a mother so unexpectedly. Here again, we can relate because we've had the experience of doing what needs to be done in adverse conditions. Plus, we can't help but be moved by the loving care she shows Harry.

This all takes place in Act One. Yes, there is some action in the first twenty to thirty pages, but nothing like what happens in Act Two and way less than in Act Three. But by the time the narrative keeps increasing the action, we are already connected with Jean on her journey. Thus, the action and violence is not gratuitous, rather it is steeped in meaning and significance because we identify with Jean and care about her character's struggle to survive.

Or as filmmaker Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-e) succinctly says: "Make me care." Make the script reader care about your characters, especially your Protagonist. If the script can evoke that sense of care in Act One, then it is likely they will care about them going through the entire rest of their journey.