The Hero’s Journey There has been tons and tons of great material written about Joseph Campbell and his Hero’s Journey. Here’s my take on his incredible work. It’s my attempt to simplify it down to its core ideas in “snackable” bites that are easy to comprehend. Joseph Campbell According to Me The hero’s story is … More Joseph Campbell: The Hero’s Journey (Part 2)
There are lots of ways for dialogue to be less effective than it should be. Let’s examine a few: Show, Don’t Tell Characters in a scene are trying to resolve a problem. If you’ve done your job well, the audience is right there trying to solve the problem with the characters. Rather than spoon-feed your … More Dialogue: The Do, the Don’t and the Out Loud
A person cannot speak unless he or she has had a thought. A person does not have a thought unless he or she has a need. That is never more true than in all dramatic writing. Characters in a script speak because they want something. Another way to think of it: the average person speaks … More Dialogue: Subtext
The reason we write scripts is to see them made into movies. The reason movies get made is because an actor or actress wants to be in your movie. So how do we breathe “life” into our characters to make them appealing to both actors and non-actors alike? Give your character signature traits As we … More Make Your Audience and Your Actors Love Your Characters
In the 1920, Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic. He was mainly interested in narrative Folk tales as he believe that Folk tales were about the same basic struggles, therefore had the same characters. According with the Propp theory, characters have a narrative function as they provide a structure for the text. Let’s examine how … More Character Functions: Types of Characters
Creating a character usually starts with one defining trait. It can be a look, an attitude, an emotion or an action. S/he can be based on someone you know or know of, or the character can be made up from whole cloth. The goal is to create a character who feels real. What makes a … More Creating Compelling Characters
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