Screenwriting 101: Neil LaBute

“I don’t mind happy people at all. In fact, I like them. And I prefer to be happy as well. But dramatically, they’re usually not as interesting to write about. Nice people don’t say anything that’s harsh or off-color or questionable. Everything is overt. You go, “It’s nice day,” and they say, “Yeah, it really is.” And you’re like, “I was kidding.” “Oh. Okay…well, I think it’s a nice day.” There’s just no engagement. You can have a hell of a conversation with a contrarian because they’re going to disagree with everything you say! So that fuels more interesting dialogue for me — to have people who are at odds with one another.

I’m looking for a situation that’s already potentially volatile. When you look at the stories I’ve written, the situations are already ripe for trouble. It’s in the air. It’s electric enough that you don’t need to turn on the gas to make fire. And I also often write about people who know each other fairly well, because those people who turn on each other are far more interesting. They know their insecurities. They have a common language. If you watch people who have just met, you see that they go through that dance of, “You know, I don’t really know you. Maybe I misunderstood what you just said.” Look at Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Death of a Salesman, or The Glass Menagerie. These people know each other. You can’t believe that they’ve been together for how many years, and this is what a day is like with them?! You’re like, “Holy hell! How do they do it? I’m exhausted by act one!” For my taste I love people who know each other and turn on one another. The results are much stronger.”

— Neil LaBute (Your Friends & Neighbors, The Wicker Man), Creative Screenwriting magazine, VOLUME 8, #1 (JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2001) & VOLUME 10, #3 (MAY/JUNE 2003)