The Founder: Film & Story Structure
Looking at key story elements from the 2016 film 'The Founder'
Opening Scene
Ray Kroc delivers a convincing sales pitch, going through all the cliche sales tactics. When he finishes, the prospect, a restaurant owner, quickly declines. This scene sets the tone for the story quickly and efficiently, from the very first minute: our main character is a struggling salesman.
Dramatic Need
The dramatic need of the main character is introduced in act one. Ray’s dramatic need is to pursue success in business. This is what drives him and the story forward.
Inciting Incident
Ray receives an unusually large order from a restaurant in San Bernardino, California. He’s curious to learn how they generate so much business and what makes them so different from his usual customers. This leads him to drive from Illinois to California to meet the two McDonald brothers.
Act One Plot Point
Act one’s plot point is the climax of the first act and brings us into the second act. At this plot point, the McDonald brothers agree to let Ray franchise their business. Ray begins franchising locations in Chicagoland under strict standards set by the brothers (which he soon feels are too restrictive and shortsighted).
Midpoint
After Ray’s first couple franchisees fail to uphold certain operational standards, he begins to find people with more ambition and motivation to succeed and starts opening locations beyond Chicago’s suburbs.
Act Two Plot Point
This plot point is the climax of the second act and brings us into the third act. Ray agrees with Harry Sonneborn’s new strategy. He begins buying the land where McDonald’s locations will be built and leasing the property to the franchisee.
Climax
Ray has grown his business so large that he’s now able to break his contract with the McDonald brothers. The story’s climax is when Ray and the McDonald brothers agree to a buy out. Ray purchases the brothers’ stake in the company and becomes the sole owner of McDonald’s.
Resolution
In the film’s final scene, Ray recites the motivational speech about persistence (introduced at the beginning of the film), showing the completion of his transformation from unsuccessful businessman to successful businessman.
This scene perfectly illustrates Ray’s transformation. At the beginning, he is receiving the lesson about the keys to success. At the end, he is the one giving the lesson. He is living proof that persistence is the key to success in business (fittingly, he plagiarizes the speech verbatim and gives himself credit for “founding” McDonald’s.)
Theme
The film is really about persistence and ambition. And how they can be used to justify decisions.
Ray persistently argued that the McDonald brothers should franchise their business. His unrelenting ambition to grow leads him to defy his agreement with the brothers. He’s able to justify his morally questionable decisions throughout the story because he’s guided by his ambition to grow the business and be successful.
The theme of ambition is also present in the film’s B story. At the beginning, Ray’s home life suffers as he jumps from business to business, always looking for the next best thing. In act two, he meets Joan, the wife of one of his franchisees, who shows ambition to help grow the business. He finds he has more in common with Joan than his wife. In the last scene, we see Ray and Joan have married.
Conflict
The story creates conflict between “right vs. right”. This makes for interesting conflict and tension because you’re able to see and understand the plight of both sides. You may lean in one direction or sway back and forth, but it’s never entirely clear.
The McDonald brothers want to uphold their strict quality standards. They value quality over quantity (opening more locations). Ray sees opportunities to grow the business and believes the brothers are throwing money away by not seizing new opportunities. He values quantity over quality. Both are correct, they just perceive the situation with a different set of priorities.
Thanks for reading.
-Bryant