What Happens After the Characters Have Their Goals?

What happens after the character learns what their goal is (which can happen anytime in a movie); the key thing is to know when it happens. This can happen 5 minutes into the movie, 15 minutes into a movie, and even a half hour into the movie, since the story is always working to set the stage for the goal as it is moving along.
I will use Mona Lisa Smile directed by Mike Newell for the example.
The goal comes in the scene where Katherine Ann Watson is sitting with Bill Dunbar at the bar which leads to the scene in Katherine's office with Joan Brandwyn. This movie has a combined goal. This deals with the trials and tribulations of fitting in and what women want out of life. In fact that is what the character Katherine has to learn to do at Wellesley College as traditional verses progressive thought come head to head in 1953 at one of the top women's college in the country at that time.
Usually how the goal is worked out is that questions are asked and steps are taken. Katherine asks those questions, as does Joan and Betty Warren, Giselle Levy and Connie Baker. In this movie they are all working to answer the same question as Katherine. None of them arrive at the same answers, and for a lot of the characters, they become very uncomfortable when looking at Amanda Armstrong. This story is very true to life so the characters are always looking for truth.
After a character discovers their goal they have to look for direction. What way is the best way to go about getting to this goal? Depending on the story the answers are either internal or external. In this movie most of the answers are internal, they are man verses himself. Actually this movie represents man verses man, and man verses his environment. In this story at one point Katherine is facing off with Betty Warren, who also had confrontations with Giselle, Joan, and Connie. Betty Warren is the nemesis. I mean, how else are you going to create a good story without one?
After the characters have their goal it is time for the character to ask questions. What does the character need to make what they are striving after to work? If the character is a detective he is looking to find the clues. Just as Velvet (played by Elizabeth Taylor) wanted to compete in the Nationals in National Velvet, she had to learn what was needed so she could compete to make that dream come true. In asking the questions the character can develop a plan after what happens next.

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