Peter Boyle dead at 71…

Peter BoyleOne of my favorite actors in the world died yesterday… To me, Peter Boyle made it look easy. I rarely watch regular television but I admit to tuning in to EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND once in a while, just to watch his genius:

Peter Boyle R.I.P.

Peter Boyle Dies, 71

US Actor Peter Boyle Dies Aged 71

I really hate it when this happens.

Unk

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Honesty is the best policy…

Character exercise...No, I don’t base this on the one chance meeting with Guy Pearce… Not at all. His comment simply reiterated what I was pretty sure I already knew. Well… Reiterated probably isn’t the right way to put it… What he told me that night back in Albuquerque was like the one and only time I ever talked back to my Dad when I was a kid. He didn’t hesitate to backhand my ass into the air where I promptly fell on my ass i.e., I talked back – got backhanded. Lesson learned? DON’T DO THAT. LOL.

The infomercial statement had the exact same effect on me… It was just like getting knocked on my ass… It made such an impression on me that I have never hesitated to bring this up to other actors I’ve managed to ask the question to and wow… The overwhelming majority seem to pretty much have the same attitude.

But this post isn’t just about writing a character that a star will love… No. A post like that would only be telling part of the story…

So let’s get going.

Many writers seem to be on one side or another i.e., PLOT vs. CHARACTER. This has always fascinated me because as a writer, what really makes writing fun for ME are the characters that I’ve created. Sure, plot is cool. I would never say that it isn’t but for the life of me, I can’t understand writers that say PLOT drives CHARACTER.

Imagine that. You write a story and screenplay where your plot forces your character to go this way or that way. I’ve read screenplays like that.

They suck.

Why do they suck? Because in these types of screenplays, it’s always about the ACTION. I’ve even read screenplays that had some outstanding action sequences in them. Very unique. Original. Amazing. But the action sequences didn’t work because the characters were like those little Army men you used to play with when you were a kid i.e., they were simply being moved along the plotline as action took place.

They were merely there. They showed up.

You can, almost immediately, recognize that screenwriters that write these kinds of screenplays either follow the mindset that PLOT drives CHARACTER or, they simply don’t know enough about their characters to make them multidimensional.

This is one of the reasons I really like writing that first draft from my gut which is in fact, from my characters’ guts. Yeah, I take the time and effort to create a character on paper before I ever start writing a damn thing. I might even already possess what I KNOW is a great high concept but to me, without a great character to carry out that high concept, I got nothin’.

Don’t get me wrong… I believe in outlines. I also take the time and effort to create a good outline. I use a structure that I’ve managed to tweak that suits my own beliefs but more importantly, SUITS the characters. You can try to say that your story is about the overall incident that takes place but really… That’s not what an audience is going to respond to. Nope. They’re going to respond to your characters. An audience doesn’t sit back in their seat and root for action to take place. The audience doesn’t sit there and root for a twist or turn in the story.

Nope.

They root for your characters. They want to see something in your characters that they can get on board with. They want to see the DECISIONS your characters make when the story twists and turns. Whether you like it or not, the audience sits there and predicts each move that your character is going to make when the plot gets in his or her way. Sometimes they’re right – sometimes they’re wrong. It’s this right and wrong guesswork that helps get the audience on board with your characters unless of course, your characters are simply cardboard cutouts and do things uncharacteristic of themselves. Do that and you’ll probably lose the audience.

So back to plot, outline, and structure…

No matter what your plot, outline, or structure, if you’ve done the necessary character development, your characters should be coming ALIVE right there as you make them do one thing and then the other. If they’re not coming alive, you might want to develop them a little more. You want your characters to come alive and make decisions on their own. Of course this is a bit of a misnomer because of course, YOU are the GOD of your screenplay and you make the characters do what you want…

Right?

Hmmm. Do WE mere earthlings do exactly what GOD wants us to do?

I doubt it. No… We fuck up all the time. We puposely make decisions based on our own predictions of what will happen or what WE WANT to happen.

Your characters shouldn’t be any different than WE ARE.

Let’s face it… If we sat around and did everything we’ve been taught that God wants us to do, WE’D BE BORING. I contend that like us, if your characters do exactly what you want them to do WHEN YOU WANT THEM TO DO IT, they’ll be boring too.

Give them a life. Make them real. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating… You’ve got to know your characters as well as you know the people in your life… Maybe even better. That means doing the work and making up backstory that may never ever even make it into your screenplay.

When you’re writing your screenplay, don’t let your plot get in the way of your characters… i.e., don’t force a square peg into a round hole. Let your character figure out how to round themselves out to fit… i.e., the character arc.

Ahhh. That brings us back to characters that actors will love.

Write a plot or action driven screenplay and you just might create characters that are flat and do not learn anything. They simply react. A character that simply reacts to their ever-changing environment is almost as boring as characters that do whatever God wants them to do. And before I get any God-fearing screenwriters sending me email about my blasphemy, please… We’re flesh and blood. We are bound to this earth by our flesh and blood therefore, we aren’t boring.

And neither should your characters be boring.

The decisions your characters make concerning your plot need to be honest decisions that the character would make regardless. It’s okay if they make a decision we might not make but just make sure that you’ve sufficiently developed the character so that we believe that they could in fact make such a decision.

Have your characters make a decision that they would never make to begin with and you take us right out of your story and if you take us right out of your story – you take potential actors right out of your story as well.

Making your characters slaves to your plot, robs them of the multidimensionality you want them to possess.

Are you a complex person? Of course you are. Then why aren’t your characters at least as complex as you?

If you’ve taken the time to develop your characters so that they make decisions based on their quirkiness, habits, routines, idiosyncrasies, etc., you’ll go a long way toward creating a character and screenplay that will be original. You’ll go a long way toward creating a character and screenplay that an actor will want to be involved with.

If you’re still not sure how to go about that… Here’s a fairly simple little exercise I learned a long time ago that just might make it a little easier…

Take a memorable character from one of your favorite movies and stick that character into one of your favorite scenes from a totally different movie…

Write it out and see what you get.

One of my early exercises consisted of Hannibal Lecter playing James Caan’s character in THIEF. Picked several scenes and simply replaced Frank with Hannibal.

Think the scenes played differently? You bet your ass they did.

Give it a try.

Unk

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It’s in the stars…

It's in the stars...Back to it… Whether you agree or not, high concept pretty much rules the industry and, whether we like it or not, I think we can all pretty much agree on that.

So you’ve busted your ass and wrote a top-notch spec worthy of production… Everyone you give it to agrees…

You’re on your way…

But nothing happens.

Why?

Because there are no actors that want to play any of your characters.

There, I said it.

Let me take you back a couple of years ago to a seminar held in Albuquerque… I happened to be in Santa Fe at the time and caught a blurb on the NMFilm.com web site. The director of the upcoming film, was going to be on stage talking about making the film in New Mexico, working with the New Mexico Film Commission, working with New Mexico film crews, etc.

Hmmm. What the fuck? “Sounds like it could be interesting,” I thought.

It was.

First of all, I had never even heard of FIRST SNOW. I had never heard of the director (also one of the screenwriters). I didn’t even know who was in the damn thing but since I knew I was going to be working with the New Mexico Film Commission, I thought this could be interesting.

Did I say that already?

It was.

First of all, they had plenty of fresh hot coffee. Outstanding. I’m in. They even had huge chocolate chip cookies but I hadn’t eaten dinner yet so I declined.

I ALWAYS like to sit in the very back of the class… Been doing it all my life so why stop now? Besides, the fresh hot coffee was sitting right next to me.

Think RAPID REFILLS.

Ah… The show begins… A very nice lady who then worked at the film commission who no longer works for the film commission handed out New Mexico Film Directories to everyone… Very cool.

They had some local actor acting as the host, asking the director and half of the screenwriting team about the filmmaking adventures of First Snow… I watched. I listened. It was okay but I was a little disappointed because it seemed to be more focused as entertainment than information but what the hell… The coffee was FREE and HOT.

So there I am… Sitting in the back, listening to the show… Two rows ahead of me is some guy with fairly long hair… Not a big guy… Kinda small. No big deal. I’m sitting there and then this guy leans back in his chair with his hands behind his head – interlocking fingers.

What caught my eye here was this guy’s fingernails…

They were green. Not a flaming, grassy, or leafy green… A dark, gothic, almost black green. His nails were short – not bitten. Neatly cut but almost black. Gothic Green? Is that a color?

Those fucking fingernails wouldn’t let me concentrate on the Q & A that was going on… Something about those fucking nails stabbed at my conscious…

Then I remembered.

Ahhh. Several months earlier, I had seen in an interview on television and he seemed perfectly normal until he waved his hand and I immediately noticed what looked like black fingernail polish.

Not to say that a guy wearing very dark fingernail polish is NOT normal… I guess a better choice of words would be to say, OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

Because I like Guy Pearce… I love his work – think he’s an outstanding actor.

But back to the fingernails…

Could it be? I was sitting two rows behind this guy… I kept trying to get a glimpse of his profile but wasn’t successful… All I could tell was that this guy was wearing glasses.

Shit… I didn’t hear anything for the next half hour… I just kept watching this guy… I kept wondering if anyone was watching ME watch this guy but I don’t think anyone caught on.

More coffee. More scrutinizing. Nothing.

The show ends. People stand. Some of the audience obviously knew each other and immediately gathered into several small groups…

I stand… I stealthily move into the aisle so once and for all I can see this guy.

Is it?

Is it?

He stands. He turns toward me and sure enough… Guy Pearce in the flesh.

I stand there about ten seconds… Reasonably sure that Guy’s going to be surrounded by everyone in a hurry.

Nope. Nobody noticed. Nobody cared.

I slide up – extend my hand and say, “Really love your work.”

He smiled, shook my hand, and very humbly replied, “Thank you very much.”

Now what the fuck is the importance of this?

I’m gonna tell ya…

So I immediately ask him, “What made you get involved with this project?”

His reply?

Hold on to your hats…

“Because I could see that this would be a Guy Pearce infomercial.”

I say, “Really?” He says, “Absolutely. I’m in every scene.”

So eventually, and meander over and we all chat for a few minutes. Nothing special but certainly enlightening and quite possibly, contact information was exchanged. LOL.

But there you have it… On top of your high concept, you’ve got to pay attention to your characters. Are you giving them memorable lines? Does your dialogue contain subtext? Are your characters unique? Are they in a lot of scenes? Are they making decisions? Do they have goals? Character arcs? Are your characters memorable? Would an actor read a page or two of your characters, slap the script shut and say, “I’m IN!” - ???

I don’t know… To me, it was like getting struck by lightning. I immediately went back to my hotel and went through the script I am almost finished rewriting and asked myself if THIS screenplay could also be an infomercial for some actor.

Kinda. Sorta. Hmmm. Maybe not.

I then made a couple of passes with INFOMERCIAL in mind…

We happy now.

Unk

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