How YOU’RE finding The Unknown Screenwriter…
I thought I would do the several hundred people out there performing specific searches and winding up at The Unknown Screenwriter a favor and try answer their questions or direct them to the right site…
Here’s the very top, most searched for phrase:
1) who is the unknown screenwriter
Answer? You keep forgetting to stick a “?” at the end of that search phrase! How in the hell do you expect the search engines to answer a question if you don’t put it in the form of a question? But seriously… Do you really think you’re gonna find that out by typing it into a search engine? Hmmm. So many people perform that search every day that I’m tempted to go ahead and answer it. Answer it on say, 15 or 20 web sites out there so that when the actual answer does finally get tossed in the hat one day, what the hell you gonna do then?
Yeah… I did this one on purpose… LOL. I wrote the post about the “Write Your Screenplay in 28 Days or Less” program and purposely used “28 Days Later” as the headline knowing that 28 WEEKS LATER was coming out in theaters pretty soon. It was simply a hunch on my part that it would drive a lot of traffic to the site so I played it and BAM! I do feel kinda bad though… Why? Because I keep making sales of that program… I keep hoping that someone will go ahead and send me an email with some kind of review but nope. Now here’s the kicker… You’d be surprised to know WHO ACTUALLY BOUGHT that program… LOL. You would immediately recognize a couple of the names that bought it. I imagine they bought it to find out what the competition is doing; so in a way… I feel kinda redeemed by knowing that screenwriting gurus are purchasing “Write Your Screenplay in 28 Days or Less” — I guess that’s the ONE PART of the puzzle they haven’t quite figured out… LOL. By the way, I don’t have the screenplay…
3) unk arc
Getting lots and lots of traffic on The Transformational Character Arc series of which I still have a ways to go. Who would have thought that this kind of information would be important to a bunch of screenwriters? Glad to help… As a matter of fact, as soon as the series is over, it’ll be available on the download page in a PDF file.
Even though I never posted about this little PDF file, it gets downloaded like crazy every day… Available on the Download page — I created this file so I could print out a bunch of photo-blue forms that would allow me to write pages by hand if I need to and sometimes, I do. I keep a stack of these pages printed on both sides on a clipboard and inside my backpack just in case.
Are you trying to get to Scribosphere.org?
Cool… I’m in some good company here so I can’t complain.
Same here.
Third time’s a charm…
Again… In good company here but are you looking for MaryAnita over at FENCING WITH THE FOG?
Oops… The MOVIE IN A MONTH post comes right back up… LOL. Sorry about that.
That’s kinda cool… Gotta be screenwriters making this search, right?
12) The Secrets of Action Screenwriting
Geez. I come up number one on this but no… You can’t find this book here… Head on over to Bill Martell’s site and pick it up. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! *EDIT: In less than a half-hour after this post, I am no longer number one… LOL.
13) high concept screenwriting
Keep searching once you get here… I’m sure you’ll find something on this… LOL.
14) unk spit
I don’t know if these people are actually looking for me or not… LOL.
There’s a hell of a lot more but I think this one pretty much sums it all up…
More transformational character arc coming up…
Unk
Why I don’t smoke…
So yesterday, I read an article about how the Motion Picture Association of America is now going to consider the use of smoking as a factor in rating movies.
Are you fuckin’ kidding me?
Actually, I’m fuckin’ GLAD the MPAA is taking it upon themselves to become THE MOVIE POLICE albeit because of the myriad of organizations PUSHING them to do so…
Why?
Because this is the kinda SHIT that makes some of US go “Hmmmm.â€
And why do we go, “Hmmmm†—? Because it’s this kind of big brother bullshit that gets others out there thinking they can do things better and I for one LOVE THAT KIND OF THINKING. That’s the kind of thinking that makes things HAPPEN and I like people that make things happen.
A quick perusal of the MPAA website:
Parents Rate the Movies
The ratings are decided by a full-time Rating Board located in Los Angeles. There are 10-13 members of the Board who serve for periods of varying length. They work for the Classification and Rating Administration, which is funded by fees charged to producers/distributors for the rating of their films. The MPAA Chairman chooses the Chairman of the Rating Board, thereby insulating the Board from industry or other group pressure. No one in the movie industry has the authority or power to push the Board in any direction or otherwise influence it. One of the highest accolades to be conferred on the rating system is that from its birth in 1968 to this day, there has never been even the slightest jot of evidence that the rating system has deliberately fudged a decision or bowed to pressure. The Rating Board has always conducted itself at the highest level of integrity. That is a large, honorable, and valuable asset. There are no special qualifications for Board membership, except that the members must have a shared parenthood experience, must be possessed of an intelligent maturity, and most of all, have the capacity to put themselves in the role of most American parents so they can view a film and apply a rating that most parents would find suitable and helpful in aiding their decisions about their children and what movies they see.
Holy shit! 10 to 13 members??? I’m CONVINCED! Fuck you, MPAA — I’ll take care of my own children, thank you very much. Let’s take a look at the rest of the above paragraph shall we?
There are 10-13 members of the Board who serve for periods of varying length. They work for the Classification and Rating Administration, which is funded by fees charged to producers/distributors for the rating of their films. The MPAA Chairman chooses the Chairman of the Rating Board, thereby insulating the Board from industry or other group pressure.
Hmmm. Hard for me to believe that this new factor in rating movies didn’t come as a result from OTHER GROUP PRESSURE but who am I to argue with the MPAA? Fuck yeah… Whatever they want to do is okay with me because I only write and produce “R†rated movies anyway.
No one in the movie industry has the authority or power to push the Board in any direction or otherwise influence it.
Whew… You almost had me worried, MPAA. I guess you just pulled this new rating factor right out of your ass… I applaud you for your diligence in keeping the children of America safe from not smoking! I’m relieved to know that NOBODY IN THE INDUSTRY has the authority to push the RATING BOARD in any direction or otherwise influence it. I will sleep easy tonight (maybe tomorrow night) from knowing that.
One of the highest accolades to be conferred on the rating system is that from its birth in 1968 to this day, there has never been even the slightest jot of evidence that the rating system has deliberately fudged a decision or bowed to pressure.
Hmmm. So YOU say, MPAA. How about we start some kind of investigation into this statement? Why then, do YOU, MPAA seem to be so motherfucking inconsistent when it comes to giving some movies a particular rating over others?
I’ll tell you why…
Because nobody gives enough of a shit to do anything about it. Movie theaters have been brow-beaten into believing that unless a movie has a fucking rating administered by the MPAA, nobody’s gonna come spend their demographic ticket buying money…
BULLSHIT.
But that’s okay, MPAA… It’s exactly these kinds of fucking IDIOTIC MOVES that makes SOME OF US lurking in the shadows want to come out and eat you alive… i.e., start our own ratings system. It wouldn’t be that hard either… Besides, there’s always room for one more hat to be thrown into the fire, right? Look for it to happen within the next ten years…
From a Boston.com article:
“That means there’s not a great amount of films in the unrestricted category as it stands,” said Joan Graves, who heads the ratings board. “We’re not saying we’re ignoring the issue. We’re trying the best way possible according to what we’ve learned from parents to give them information about what’s in a film.”
I assume Ms. Graves is talking about the parents on the ratings board she heads, right? Sure… That HAS TO BE “THE PARENTS†SHE’S TALKING ABOUT because the MPAA certainly wouldn’t CAVE IN to other kind of “group pressure,†right?
It’s nice to know that the 10 to 13 members of the MPAA RATING BOARD don’t give in to OTHER GROUP PRESSURE… Whew! I count on them to keep my children from smoking… Oops. Shit. I really can’t say that since my children are no longer children… They’re all growed up now but one has been smoking since age 15… Yeah… The residual effects of a broken home don’tcha know. Where was the MPAA back then? Oh, that’s right… They didn’t give a shit about smoking back then… They only give a shit about it now. Cool. Well, if I have anymore children, it’s nice to know they’ll be protected. Whew.
More from the Boston.com article:
While Titus’ group wants tougher ratings restrictions, the MPAA released statements of support for its plan from John Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden and filmmaker Rob Reiner, among others.
Hmmm. According to the article, Titus is in fact, Kori Titus, spokeswoman for Breathe California. Never heard of it and I’m from California. Hell of an impact you’re having, Ms. Titus. LOL. But back to the above quote… What’s it mean? Does it mean that the MPAA supports some plan created by the American Cancer Society? U.S. Senator, Joe Biden? Filmmaker, Rob Reiner? I don’t get it… Support? I guess support isn’t the same thing as being influenced… Whew.
Okay… A quick click on over to Cancer.org but no front page story of the MPAA’s decision… Hmmm. A little deeper look into their archives brings up the following article:
Smoking in Movies Lures Teens to Use Tobacco
“Most parents think of violence when they think of movies, but lots of other behaviors we would not want our children to take up are depicted in a glamorous context within movies,” said lead author James D. Sargent, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Rate Movies R for Violence, Sexual Content, and Smoking
The link between kids watching smoking in movies and actually trying it is so strong, Sargent said, that he would one day like to see the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which rates movies, consider smoking just as they do strong language.
Sargent said he worries much more about a young child or adolescent seeing smokers than hearing actors swear. “That’s not going to make him die before he turns 60,” Sargent said.
Movie ratings don’t list “smoking,” nor do film critics. But Sargent and his co-authors found that R-rated movies were more likely to show smoking.
Did I mention that this article was written back on January 8, 2002? I can only imagine how just a little more digging on my part would bring up quite a few more similar articles but it’s certainly NICE TO KNOW that the MPAA doesn’t CAVE IN from this kind of PASSIVE INFLUENCE. LOL. It’s nice to know that the 10 to 13 members of the MPAA rating board GOT MY BACK… I mean YOUR CHILDREN’S BACK.
So what they’re really saying here is that it’s okay for Mom and Dad to smoke in front of their children but God forbid we show anyone smoking in a fuckin’ movie… LOL. What they’re really saying here is that CHILDREN are influenced MORE by MOVIES than by their own parents and peers… Whew. I’m glad that’s clear to me now because all this fucking time, I blamed parents for letting their kids smoke. Whew! I am once again, left OFF THE HOOK by such solid organizations as the MPAA and the American Cancer Society. I no longer have to blame my inadequacies as an estranged parent as the reason one of my children has been smoking for the last six years… Whew! I am really glad to finally know that my ex-wife, who gave my then 15 year old son his first cigarette and proceeded to share the experience with him by of course lighting up WITH HIM has absolutely NOTHING to do with my son smoking his ass off now.
Thanks MPAA! Thanks AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY! My conscious is clear now. Maybe I will sleep better TONIGHT!
So a couple of more clicks based on this story, and I end up here:
An interesting site to be sure… Spawned once again by ACADEMIA… LOL. You gotta love them ACADEMICS… I love how they watch out for US, keeping US safe from all the boogymen out there.
So I dig around a little more on the SMOKE FREE MOVIES site and guess what I find? A letter to the late MPAA President, Jack Valenti from the following state’s attorney generals:
Arkansas – California – Colorado – Connecticut – Hawaii – Illinois – Maine – Maryland – Massachusetts – Minnesota – Mississippi – Northern Mariana Islands – New Hampshire – New Jersey – New Mexico – New York – Ohio – Oklahoma – Oregon – Pennsylvania – Tennessee – Utah – Vermont – Washington – West Virginia
The letter (in PDF format) is dated: August 26, 2003 — Again, it’s nice to know that those 10 to 13 members of the MPAA RATING BOARD have STOOD STRONG and TALL and NOT BOWED TO PRESSURE.
One of the highest accolades to be conferred on the rating system is that from its birth in 1968 to this day, there has never been even the slightest jot of evidence that the rating system has deliberately fudged a decision or bowed to pressure.
I just wanna know one thing… Who conferred those ACCOLADES?
There are no special qualifications for Board membership, except that the members must have a shared parenthood experience, must be possessed of an intelligent maturity, and most of all, have the capacity to put themselves in the role of most American parents so they can view a film and apply a rating that most parents would find suitable and helpful in aiding their decisions about their children and what movies they see.
Whew… That just about says it all, doesn’t it?
Why don’t I smoke?
One day long, long ago, my brother and I were left at home by our parents and on this particular day, we found a half-empty (or half-full if you’re a smoker) pack of Camel cigarettes. Hmmm, we thought. Mom and Dad do it so it must be awesome, right?
Sure enough, said brother and I pulled out a couple of these non-filtered beauties and LIT THE FUCK UP. MMMM. Smooth. Just don’t fucking inhale… LOL. Did I mention that we were all of ages 11 and 12? So we huffed and we puffed and we inhaled. Fuck that. It sucked. We both thought so and we destroyed the evidence i.e., flushed the remains down the toilet. We were ever so careful to put the pack of Camels back where we got it but the one thing we just had no fucking clue about was that our Mom knew EXACTLY how many cigarettes were left in that pack. In fact, to this day, I think it was entrapment on her part… LOL.
She comes home, checks the pack — takes a whiff of me and my brother and commences to pull two more cigarettes out of the pack and hands us each a cigarette. My brother and I look at each other — knowing our Mom, we fuckin’ KNOW what’s about to happen…
You two like smoking so much, we can all three have a cigarette together…
Interesting concept since this is apparently how one of my sons started smoking… LOL. So my brother and I light up and we give it the old fake-smoking try… i.e., pull in some smoke and let it out… Hey, we’re smokin’! Unfortunately, Mom wasn’t buyin’ it.
No… She wanted us to experience the real pleasure of smoking so she made us inhale every bit of those cigarettes until nothing was left except the extra-small butt. LOL. This was the first and last time I had ever seen my brother turn GREEN and it wasn’t with envy…
Actually, I think my brother got the better deal… He went on to puke his guts out and seemed to feel a lot better after having done so. I on the other hand, suffered through the rest of the day feeling like SHIT. Not being able to sleep. Headaches. Woke up the next morning feeling dirty.
But neither one of us ever smoked again. EVER. And, we often talk about that particular day… Sometimes it’s with disdain for our Mom and sometimes it’s with praise. LOL. Was she right? I prefer to think that she was. It was a different time back then and a parent could get away with something like that. Try that today and your kid goes to school, tells his or her teacher, and that parent is going to jail.
Different times…
On the other hand, my 21 year old Son now smokes like a chimney and according to HIM, it’s because his Mom and his Grandma smoke and all his friends smoke and that alone was simply too much pressure on him so when that fateful day came when Mom pulled out one of her cigarettes and offered one to him, he took it.
The difference being that this time around, he was taught how to smoke properly… LOL. And shit… Now he’s a fuckin’ expert! Thanks Mom! Wow… And it’s close to being Mother’s Day!
Gonna have to get them both something nice… They both still smoke.
What’s this got to do with screenwriting?
GUESS.
Unk
Tags: MPAA American Cancer Society Smoking in Movies Smoke Free Movies
The Transformational Character Arc… Part 11: The Protagonist’s Fatal Flaw
That’s right… Part 11 — we still have a ways to go so let’s go…
The Protagonist’s Fatal Flaw… First let’s talk about the fatal flaw. If you do some research on it, you’ll find that it comes up a lot in “tragic hero” discussions i.e., the fatal flaw of the Protagonist ultimately leads to his or her demise… So while this is obviously true, let’s take the fatal flaw a little further… If the fatal flaw can be used to lead your Protagonist to his or her ultimate demise then maybe… Just maybe, your Protagonist’s fatal flaw can lead your Protagonist (as well as other supporting characters) through the cycle of his or her character arc.
Sound plausible?
Remember, a tragic hero story is one where the Protagonist usually dies or at least has pretty much of a downer ending but not all of us are writing screenplays with downer endings are we? And, if we’re not writing downer endings, we must be writing endings where the Protagonist wins SOMETHING at least on some level, correct?
So if that’s true, do you want a Protagonist that learns something about themselves and GROWS or do you just want a Protagonist that reacts to shit and wins because he or she was always just a really fucking cool character all the way through the story and never changed at all?
If you’re in the “really cool character that never changes” group, you may want to STOP reading now and get back to your really cool character. The rest of us will discuss the Protagonist’s fatal flaw.
If we take the premise of the Protagonist’s fatal flaw in a tragic hero story and know that his or her fatal flaw eventually leads to his or her ruination, then at some point, we want to flip the table on that premise and use the Protagonist’s fatal flaw to create his or her transformational character arc.
Your Protagonist’s fatal flaw is simply his or her way of doing things… i.e., their way of tackling the obstacles that you keep throwing in front of them throughout your story. Where we will now part ways with the tragic hero story is that at some point in YOUR story, YOUR Protagonist learns from his or her mistakes… Those mistakes are the residual effect of your Protagonist’s usual way of doing things i.e., tackling the obstacles that you keep throwing at them.
At some point, your Protagonist should begin to realize that his or her USUAL way of doing things just flat-ass doesn’t work anymore and because the usual way of doing things doesn’t work anymore, he or she needs to adopt a new way of doing things or they will surely perish in some way, shape, or form.
This is WHY I’ve added this discussion of the Protagonist’s fatal flaw AFTER the Protagonist’s Emotional Reaction to Action. In discussions of the Protagonist’s transformational character arc, I think it’s better to know that the Protagonist will at some point have to start considering the idea that their usual way of making decisions has been basically SUCKING for quite a while now and hence, begin to REALIZE that maybe a different strategy (emotional reaction to action) is NOW in order.
It’s this consideration that is the basis of growth for your Protagonist. It’s that seed that germinates and sinks its roots into the ground.
Going back to the tragic hero story…
It’s just the opposite. The Protagonist’s usual way of doing things never changes… They continuously fail to understand that their way of tackling the obstacles just sinks them DEEPER into shit mountain.
Which is why, in the tragic hero story, that the Protagonist ultimately encounters a tragic demise… i.e., they experience NEGATIVE GROWTH.
That brings up another good point… GROWTH. Let’s check out the definition…
–from Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
growth: [grohth] –noun
1. the act or process, or a manner of growing; development; gradual increase.
2. size or stage of development: It hasn’t yet reached its full growth.
3. completed development.
4. development from a simpler to a more complex stage: the growth of ritual forms.
5. development from another but related form or stage: the growth of the nation state.
6. something that has grown or developed by or as if by a natural process: a growth of stubborn weeds.
7. Pathology. an abnormal increase in a mass of tissue, as a tumor.
8. origin; source; production: onions of English growth.
-adjective
9. of or denoting a business, industry, or equity security that grows or is expected to grow in value over a long period of time: a growth industry; a growth stock.
–from The American Heritage Science Dictionary
growth: (grÅth)
An increase in the size of an organism or part of an organism, usually as a result of an increase in the number of cells. Growth of an organism may stop at maturity, as in the case of humans and other mammals, or it may continue throughout life, as in many plants. In humans, certain body parts, like hair and nails, continue to grow throughout life.
–from American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary
growth: (grÅth) –n.
1. The process of growing.
2. Full development; maturity.
3. An increase, as in size, number, value, or strength.
4. Something that grows or has grown.
5. An abnormal mass of tissue, such as a tumor, growing in or on an organism.
Need we go on? The Transformational Character Arc is CHARACTER GROWTH. In a tragic hero story, there is no character growth as defined above; although you could say that there is “negative character growth.”
I guess we could also surmise from the above that:
CHARACTER GROWTH = LIFE and NEGATIVE CHARACTER GROWTH = DEATH.
Whereas LIFE or DEATH can be literal or symbolic.
Does that make sense?
So WHY would a character HOLD ON to a philosophy of doing things in a way where they cease to experience growth?
WHY DO YOU?
Why do people stay in abusive relationships? Why do people stay at a job until retirement? Why do people drink, gamble, and cheat on each other?
Because it’s SAFE. Because it’s what they know. Because it’s EASY. Because they think, feel, and or know that it’s the way to be thus, one ceases to GROW.
That’s not to say that one cannot grow in other ways but I point that out just to give you something to think about when it comes to WHY a character might hold on to their philosophy.
Basically speaking, people the world over are RESISTANT TO CHANGE.
So the Protagonist’s aversion to do things differently i.e., grow and change, is their fatal flaw but when writing a screenplay, you gotta go deeper… At some point during your multiple drafts, you’ve got to pinpoint that fatal flaw because by doing so, you also figure out your Protagonist’s transformational character arc.
The final stage of a character’s transformational character arc is usually diametrically opposite from that same character’s fatal flaw. Once you know your Protagonist’s fatal flaw and the final stage of his or her transformational character arc, you are now hopefully ARMED with enough knowledge to start tweaking the story so that it resonates the peeling back of your Protagonist’s layers of character traits.
By now you should have an idea of your Protagonist’s personality type. Take that personality type and figure out those character traits that make that personality type tick and be the quintessential type of character they are in your screenplay. It could very well be that one of those character traits ends up being your Protagonist’s fatal flaw but there’s no rule so you may come up with something new and different but consider making your Protagonist’s fatal flaw commensurate with the kind of personality type he or she is.
Once you know your Protagonists’s fatal flaw and assuming you are going to have your Protagonist TRANSFORM i.e., develop and grow, you are now armed with an END RESULT of CHARACTER.
When you know the end result of your Protagonist’s character (for your current screenplay) i.e., his or her transformational character arc, you can now go back to each and every obstacle that you’ve thrown in front of your Protagonist and tweak his or her emotional reaction to action so that as he or she tackles each obstacle, it peels back yet another layer of their growth.
By tweaking, we are of course talking about your Protagonist’s action and dialogue so that it results in the following:
1. Shows us your Protagonist’s ORIGINAL philosophy or how he or she handles the obstacles you throw at him or her i.e., his or her emotional reaction to action which is their decision making process in the beginning of your story.
2. Shows us how your Protagonist learns about himself or herself and how the above decision making process isn’t working for them in this particular story.
3. Shows us how your Protagonist takes what he or she has learned and BEGINS to reveal a slightly new philosophy i.e., his or her emotional reaction to action changes. The things your Protagonist valued BEFORE are becoming less valuable to him or her in your current story. He or she is beginning to shed that old skin and grow new skin.
4. Shows us how your Protagonist continues to develop and grow and in effect, the obstacles that you placed in front of him or her AND his or her emotional reaction to action are now tweaked so that when combined, they now BUILD and develop on his or her new philosophy.
5. Shows us how your Protagonist LEARNS from applying these new decisions (emotional reaction to action) even when he or she FAILS with these new decisions.
6. Shows us your Protagonist’s END RESULT of CHARACTER. A new person of some sort. Growth. Life. Transformation.
No… We’re STILL not done.
Unk
Tags: screenwriting characters transformational character arc emotional reaction to action character arc Protagonist