Are You Rotten Enough to be a Screenwriter?

Tuesday 12/1/09

Just how mean can you be to your hero? In order to be a really good screenwriter you're going to have to be a monster! I mean it. It's not good enough to create a nice girl who wants something really bad and has to work super hard for it. That's not a movie. That's a shampoo commercial.

Make a hero who wants something so much, she's willing to do anything to get it. Then (and this part is important) make that "something" that she wants, really hard to get.

This is where you play the big brother and your hero plays the baby sister. Like a big brother, you dangle the desired goal tantalizingly close to your hero. And every time your hero goes to grab it, you snatch it away. And then you laugh! Bwa-hah-hah!

If your hero is about to get outfoxed, don't make it with a sleazy con-man. Make it with the nicest, sweetest person he's ever met.  Hah!

If your hero decides he has to go to France, don't let him "find" the ticket. Make him crawl through hell to get it. Hah!