7
u/TheLadyEve Jul 11 '15
Holy crap, best copy pasta ever:
I don't want to write you off. I've done enough of that in my life (again, shitty people skills). I certainly don't want to surround myself with people who tell me I'm great.
What I would like to do is talk. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know. If we're both right, I'd like to learn what I can from you to become better at screenwriting. We're both English-speaking redditors who are passionate about screenwriting. We probably have more in common than we don't.
So, rather than go to my usual quill of unhelpful sarcasm that has made me feel good in the moment, but has robbed me of dozens if not hundreds of potential friends, I'm telling you a little about myself. I posted the image because I thought it would be fun and amusing, feedback from the thread suggests that it's not, and I will adjust my posts accordingly.
→ More replies (2)2
u/PortlandoCalrissian Jul 11 '15
Man, that could be like, a line in a movie or something, right?
Right?
3
4
3
Jul 11 '15
I just rifled through that person's r/screenwriting post history. It's either incoherent or hilariously sophomoric. S/he is way into the idea of character archetypes. You could write one helluva boring screenplay listening to their advice.
1
u/cynicallad Jul 20 '15
Ah, thanks. How could I do better?
2
Jul 20 '15
Wow, 8 days. That is indeed something to behold.
And I don't really remember all the details, but to be frank your understanding of character is a bit facile. I guess that's cool if you're only looking to write relatively uncomplex screenplays. But if you're really interested in craft you should probably go deeper.
A character is not a equation of motivation x + situation y + quirk z. Archetypes, while handy and populist, lock you into a rigid system of cause and effect. The best characters are organic. You build them by feeling them out as people, by letting them be contradictory and frail. Attributes should not only dictate actions, but modes of thought, emotional truths, madness, evil, absurdity.
Thomas Hardy said that, compared to the dullest human being actually walking about on the face of the earth and casting his shadow there, the most brilliantly drawn character in a novel is but a bag of bones. He meant this in terms of his transition from writing novels to writing poetry. To him, the poetic vision was the true grasp of character - elusive, and not internally consistent all the time.
You might want to watch some movies other than the ones you seem to cite. It might be helpful to get deep into film criticism and/or craft writing. There are a lot of semi-critical works, generally by writers themselves, talking about the art of the novel. You're not writing novels, but there are lessons to be had still.
→ More replies (11)
13
u/SuperSamSucks Jul 11 '15
i've written a good handful of scripts and i hate subs like r/screenwriting. subs like that are full of people that think they're way of doing stuff is the only right way, there's lots of right ways to do stuff like that. it's also full of people that need their hands held through everything. like, try some stuff out, trial and error.
i hate r/filmmakers for the same reasons, i still read it tho because i hate myself