Scriptchat: Next Sunday, November 11 at 8PM Eastern

Yours truly will be doing a #ScriptChat conversation on Twitter next Sunday, November 11 at 8PM Eastern.

Subject: A character-based approach to screenwriting.

My sense is that there is far too much attention paid to screenplay structure [and by “structure,” most people mean plot] and not nearly enough focus on characters.

This is a problem.

When moviegoers walk out of a theater, they are not likely to say, “Wow, that movie had a really great structure.”

Instead they will recall this scene or that moment, all of which are inhabited by characters.

Moreover people in Hollywood who can take an aspiring writer and help them become a working writer complain about formulaic scripts, thin characters, and no emotional resonance with stories.

Starting with, developing and using characters to inform every choice you make in the story-crafting process can resolve each of these problems.

Much more next week.

If you are on Twitter, use the hashtag #scriptchat next Sunday at 8PM Eastern.

And if you aren’t a part of the ScriptChat community, you should be. You can find out more about them here.

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