Many stories are organized around stereotypical sequences of
events, scripts, such as trips to a restaurant or a dentist's
office
Each script is characterized by a sets of characters and props
and a sequence of actions.
Script-based story understanding involves
Identifying candidate scripts on the basis of keywords or
semantic parses of sentences early in the story
Filling the character and prop slots in the script with
individuals from the story
Using the script to infer events which have not yet appeared or
which do not appear explicitly at all in the story.
Scripts may branch when there is more than one possible sequence
Stories may deviate from a script; this is often what makes them
interesting. Script-based story understanding must be flexible enough
to permit deviations.
When scripts do not apply, a similar approach makes of
schemas for goals and plans of characters