Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Hero's Journey

I was having drinks with a very smart Development Exec for a major network last night and she told me that she can always tell when a writer is coming from a place of autobiography in their scripts; which is:

THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING TOO STRENUOUS TO THEIR MAIN CHARACTER/S.

Remember:  A HERO needs to overcome something. 

We need to be able to root for them.

Solving and resolving on screen is essential.  Otherwise, it's a boring narrative and nobody gives a rat's ass.

So...allow your imagination to soar.  It's just words on a page after all.  It won't hurt you.  You won't die.  And you might just come out with some KICK A** moments that could make the difference between getting greenlit or not.

Comprende?


Characters need to grow on screen. 

That is the crux of any story:  Something happened to somebody.

A good story is about something significant and life changing happening to someone we CARE about.

And we care about them because we've watched them go through something horrible.

So be a HERO and write a HERO.

It's explained well in the video below.  Enjoy!







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