Hi Nate, If you have time, I'm struggling with two questions... 1) Can a character's want be super simple? Like Barry wants a glass of water. But the antagonistic forces (i.e. being stuck in the desert and not having survival skills) make it engaging? 2) Can a character's want be one thing but change when the story gets going? Like in your Alien script, Maddie wants to find the guy who impregnated her? But then this changes to survival once Dectar shows up to kill her? Thanks for your time.
Hi, happy to answer your questions. 1) Absolutely. It can be very simple, provided it is absolutely, critically important to your character and we empathize with that desire. And the antagonistic forces at play can certainly help amp up the dramatic tension around it. 2) Goals can and do change throughout the scripts. Usually, the want/need thing remains consistent until the character sees their flaw. For instance, in CIAA, Madde's want is all about wanting to return to normal without having to make any tough choices. She felt stuck in her crappy job, but she was also somewhat comfortable in that place. The baby puts her in a place of frustrating and frightening indecision, and a big part of why she wants so badly to find Jake is because part of her hopes that will just solve everything for her. What she *needs* is to step outside her comfort zone and choose to take charge of her life, once and for all. The baby instantly pushes her outside that comfort zone, but she's not ready to make decisions yet. For that, something more drastic has to happen -- enter Dectar and the aliens. Because of her want, her goal is, as you said, survival. If she can survive, she hopes things will somehow return to normal. But by the end of the second act, she realizes that won't be enough -- she needs to *choose* to risk it all and fight back. She does, which means her goal changes -- now it's to attack these guys at ALN, get in front of the world, and spur an uprising. And as a result, she gets the guy and ends up going back to school after the dust settles. Many stories can be broken down in a similar way, though it may take a bit of work to really dig into them. Does that help at all?
@@cavelice Not exactly what you mean at all, but amusing nonetheless, there was an '80s comedy called "Real Men" involving aliens and government conspiracies. At the end, it is revealed the alien just wanted a glass of water.
Great class. Thank you.
Really glad you enjoyed it, Cory. Thanks!
Hi Nate,
If you have time, I'm struggling with two questions...
1) Can a character's want be super simple? Like Barry wants a glass of water. But the antagonistic forces (i.e. being stuck in the desert and not having survival skills) make it engaging?
2) Can a character's want be one thing but change when the story gets going?
Like in your Alien script, Maddie wants to find the guy who impregnated her? But then this changes to survival once Dectar shows up to kill her?
Thanks for your time.
Hi, happy to answer your questions.
1) Absolutely. It can be very simple, provided it is absolutely, critically important to your character and we empathize with that desire. And the antagonistic forces at play can certainly help amp up the dramatic tension around it.
2) Goals can and do change throughout the scripts. Usually, the want/need thing remains consistent until the character sees their flaw.
For instance, in CIAA, Madde's want is all about wanting to return to normal without having to make any tough choices. She felt stuck in her crappy job, but she was also somewhat comfortable in that place. The baby puts her in a place of frustrating and frightening indecision, and a big part of why she wants so badly to find Jake is because part of her hopes that will just solve everything for her.
What she *needs* is to step outside her comfort zone and choose to take charge of her life, once and for all. The baby instantly pushes her outside that comfort zone, but she's not ready to make decisions yet. For that, something more drastic has to happen -- enter Dectar and the aliens. Because of her want, her goal is, as you said, survival. If she can survive, she hopes things will somehow return to normal. But by the end of the second act, she realizes that won't be enough -- she needs to *choose* to risk it all and fight back. She does, which means her goal changes -- now it's to attack these guys at ALN, get in front of the world, and spur an uprising. And as a result, she gets the guy and ends up going back to school after the dust settles.
Many stories can be broken down in a similar way, though it may take a bit of work to really dig into them.
Does that help at all?
Yes. Thank you. 😄@@NGDwrites
@@cavelice Not exactly what you mean at all, but amusing nonetheless, there was an '80s comedy called "Real Men" involving aliens and government conspiracies. At the end, it is revealed the alien just wanted a glass of water.
lol@@senecaflowers
Great class! As usual, no notes.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thanks!