Dispatch From The Quest: Paul Wie

Over the course of the 24 weeks I am working with the writers in The Quest, each will write a weekly dispatch to share with the GITS community. There are several reasons for doing this, the main one educational: Hopefully you will learn something of value for your own understanding of the craft from the experiences of the Questers. I should also add they are a great group of people, so I expect you will enjoy getting to know them.

Today: Paul Wie contemplates the themeline work he did last week:

This week’s prep work allowed me to re-examine and reinforce my story’s themes. At first, the exercise of articulating our story’s four themeline movements seemed so much like a previous assignment from our Core weeks that I thought it’d be a re-tread of familiar ground. But as I delved deeper into the exercise, I found it more challenging and eye-opening than I expected. In great stories, themes are skillfully dramatized through plot and action. Ideas are seen and felt rather than stated. So the challenge was showing the transformation of a character through clear dramatic situations that would build to a powerful emotional meaning. I found it helpful to work out this arc within the framework of four big thematic movements (Disunity, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Unity), because doing so allowed me to see my script’s structure more clearly and figure out how to best weave in my subplots and sequences in order to enhance and enrich my character’s journey. And after painting my picture with these broad brushstrokes, I also discovered nuances and subtle colors I hadn’t notice before. So overall, this week was a wonderful lesson in ‘breaking’ my story — where a seemingly simple exercise became an amazing tool for storytelling.

One more week, then FADE IN.

Next week: More Dispatches From The Quest.

About Paul: Director + Writer. Loves Spielberg, Truffaut, Abrams, Kurosawa, Attack the Block, cinematic stories beautifully told. @paulhwie.

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