Too many obstacles (1)

A perfectly legitimate wish to confront a protagonist with a series of strong obstacles and to place him in extreme situations can in some cases lead to an excess of obstacles. Four possible problems may result.

DEUS EX MACHINA

i) the writer is obliged to resort to a deus ex machina (see below) to save the protagonist from his predicament.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

ii) the problem is inherently insoluble, and the spectator realises this early on.

This is the case with Uncontrollable Circumstances. In this movie, the protagonists are two young men (Patrick Bruel, François Cluzet) who have returned to France from an unnamed Asian country not unlike Malaysia or Thailand where they have left their stash of hashish with a friend who has stayed behind. They then learn that their friend has been arrested and faces a possible death sentence because he was carrying a certain amount of drugs.

drama is not real life, it is not God or chance
who intervenes to save the situation

They are faced with this dilemma: should they return to the country in question to tell the authorities there that two-thirds of the quantity of drugs found on their friend belonged to them, and thus face the prospect of several years in prison, or should they simply leave their friend to meet his fate? Clearly in either case they face a significant degree of conflict. There can be no happy outcome to the situation.

No wonder that the film ends with a cop-out, a frustrating deus ex machina: just as they are preparing to fly back to Asia, they learn that their friend has died in jail—an extremely convenient death. True, it can happen in real life that a timely event occurs and solves our problems at a stroke. But drama is not real life, it is not God or chance who intervenes to save the situation but the writer, and the spectator knows this.

a solution can always be envisaged as coming from the protagonist

Obviously the problems are only insoluble because of the external obstacles that have created them (in this case, the harsh Asian anti-drugs legislation). When the problems are internal, peculiar to the protagonist—a Cornelian choice, so to speak—a solution can always be envisaged as coming from the protagonist and we are no longer faced with an insurmountable obstacle.

ANTICIPATED FAILURE

iii) the spectator realises too soon that the protagonist is not going to achieve his objective.

This is what happens in In the Eyes of the World in which the protagonist (Yvan Attal) is determined to impress his girlfriend (Charlotte Gainsbourg). To achieve this objective he decides to hijack a school bus. We soon see that this is an entirely unsuitable means, and that the objective simply cannot be achieved this way. This is so not because the hijacking is doomed to failure but because his girlfriend is more appalled than won over by the hijacking. Note too that this is not the only problem the film raises. As I shall show later, it also lacks an inciting incident (see page 159).

Jake La Motta is so odious and jealous
that it is difficult to empathise with him.

For some spectators a similar problem arises with Raging Bull. The boxer Jake La Motta (Robert de Niro) is so odious and jealous that it is difficult to empathise with him. This is because his jealousy is too strong, too pathological. We sense from the start that he will never overcome it. In other words that he will never achieve his objective, or at least that part of it which is related to his jealousy.

For a spectator to be interested in a character, he has to be able to look forward to a positive outcome. We come back to that balancing act between fear and hope. In Othello, the protagonist’s jealousy is extreme too, but it is caused in part by Iago, and Othello does not know this. If he were only to realise what was happening, he could break out of his jealous frenzy. The situation leaves grounds for hope. Thus the obstacle is not too strong.

a spectator [...] interested in a character [...] has to be able
to look forward to a positive outcome.

The case of Raging Bull, like that of The Lost Weekend, in which the protagonist (Ray Milland) is an alcoholic, is admittedly borderline. The issue is not clearcut and each spectator will respond differently.

Those who cannot believe that La Motta or Don Birnam (in The Lost Weekend) will ever overcome their problems will lose interest (without necessarily realising it, as the phenomenon is often unconscious); others may find much to appreciate in these works.

Next week: (iv) Ever greater obstacles

-Yves Lavandier

If this excerpt has whetted your appetite and you would like to own this book, don’t fork out the $150 or so Amazon is charging.

Instead, send an email to the publisher contact@clown-enfant.com with subject ‘the story department referral’ and you will be eligible for the super-discounted price of 30 Euros (i.e. only $37 at the time of writing). This saves you $113 (or 75%) off the Amazon cost.

Writer-Director David Michôd talks about his cinematic debut.

With thanks to Louise Lee Mei.

_____________________________________

Check out this video link…

_____________________________________

For more videos about screenwriting or filmmaking, look in the sidebar or click on the category link under the title of this post.

If you know of a great video on Screenwriting, let me know!

Just complete the form below and send me the link.

Thank you!

Karel

[contact-form]

Two of the short films I produced each have the exact same story problem.

I will explain it to you, so you have no excuse whatsoever to make this same mistake.

Aerosol (2005) is the story of a factory worker who has to deal with an ant that is perniciously keeping him from his work. At the end of this tether, the worker sprays aerosol into his machine and it explodes. Here is – from the film’s synopsis – what happens next:

The ant, feeling guilty, tries to help reconstruct the machine.
From this moment, the Worker begins to realize
that there is more to being human
than his life to that point has lead him to believe.

Tin Can Heart (TCH) tells the story of a robotic puppy. To become friends with a visiting android, the puppy offers his help when the droid starts disintegrating. The third act goes like this:

When the pup gives up his very own battery, his last hope comes
from a within mysterious spherical chamber…

… as a new droid appears from the chamber to rescue the pup.

Can you see what is happening here?

In both cases, there is a strong ‘all is lost’ moment signalling the end of Act Two, in which the hero redeems himself (Aerosol) or makes a sacrifice (TCH).

However, there is no third act for the Hero.

The main action in the final act is done by a different character. I am almost certain that this left audiences confused.

Although both films have had relatively good festival runs because of their outstanding production values, I believe they would have fared much better if there had been a consistency in who the hero character is throughout the film.

Whoever is your Hero at the beginning of the film, must stay the Hero.

And the final climactic action in the story’s third act must be initiated and completed by that same Hero.

These films are proof that you must always have someone with a professional understanding of story structure look over your story before you sign off on it. Even if you believe you know enough, you probably don’t. Spend some money and get a professional opinion. It will save you the disappointment afterwards.

Do you know other examples of a similar story issue?

Or have you seen successful movies that prove me wrong?

_______________________________

With thanks to Sol.

Enjoy!

Karel

At least you’re in some way intrigued by the movie industry or else you wouldn’t be here.

So, you’ve got imagination.

Now, dig if you will this picture…

Dear fellow story lovers…

If you think you’ve just read a manufactured tale, think again.

This story is true. Nothing has been changed – not names, plot, dialogue, not even the fashion. Jean Stevens is a real, rather ghoulish grandmother-type person, but she is alive in the world today.

And, since 1999, this unassuming nonagenarian kept the embalmed bodies of her husband and sister in her house.

This was one of those true stories I stumbled on in my daily cyber-pilgrimage to the Sydney Morning Herald website. And it was one of those moments when I said to myself,

You can’t write this stuff.

Everything in this story was movie-tastic. Even the setting was positively David Lynchian – Endless Mountains, Pennysylvania.

You can’t write this stuff.

And if the definition of ‘write’ in this case is dream up fanciful notions, scenarios and mysterious set-ups that involve a sweet little old lady who digs up her family’s corpses for a good ol’ chin wag well, wow – you’ve struck scribe gold.

But the truth is, you cannot possibly write this stuff – if you’ve done your job, this sort of narrative magic should ‘write itself’.

In other words you can’t always contrive fabulously quirky characters and hope they’ll enact nuts things for you in the course of your story without the results looking staged. Why?

Well, if your characters are as flimsy as the paper you write on, you won’t be able to conjure up some true storytelling magic – the kind that makes writers say, you can’t write that stuff.

The story only starts with you.

When you create a solid story populated with memorable, mutli-faceted characters, the quirks, the realities of these human beings seem to write themselves.

You just the start the ball rolling – sorry I can’t be more romantic about the writer’s mysterious craft here. But sometimes there ain’t no mystery, just precision thinking and a little clever contrivance.

So, the moral of the story?

Research your characters. Know them inside out, back to front, enjoy their backstories, relish in their evil, angelic natures. Fall in love with them, ask them questions. Welcome them into your family.

Do all of this and there’s every chance you’ll write a Jean Stevens-esque story that’ll make corpses staying for tea read like an impotent fairytale.

-Phyllis Foundis

Writer, producer, presenter Phyllis Foundis has written and bellydanced her way to the tender age of 39-ish. She’s been writing stories, ads, one-woman shows and to-do lists forever. Not so much a budding screenwriter than a scribe that’s bloomin’ ready to see her stories up on the silver screen. Phyllis loves her boys and big, feelgood movies – that appeal to people not funding bodies.

To give you the opportunity to delve into Lavandier’s amazing knowledge and insight, we will be publishing a weekly excerpt from the book.

Justifying external obstacles

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,” sighs Rick (Humphrey Bogart) in Casablanca. It is indeed highly inconvenient for Rick, but if Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) were not to turn up in his gin joint, there would simply be no story.

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world,
she walks into mine

In The Great Escape, just as they are about to make good their escape, the protagonists notice that their tunnel has fallen 20 feet short of their objective. “How could that happen?” asks MacDonald (Gordon Jackson). He is right to ask the question since, given all detailed planning that has gone into the operation, it is indeed incredible that they could have made such a gross error of calculation. However it provides another obstacle for the would-be escapees to overcome. So Bartlett (Richard Attenborough) replies: “What the hell difference does it make? It’s happened!” and they get on with getting round it. We may wonder why the spectator is so prepared to accept these coincidences or strokes of misfortune. But there is no mystery.

anything that hinders the protagonist’s progress
is considered acceptable

As a rule, anything that hinders the protagonist’s progress is considered acceptable since the spectator is always pleased to see the conflict pile up. However this does not mean that the writer has a free hand to invent obstacles randomly and gratuitously.

Most obstacles require a minimum of justification.

Most obstacles require a minimum of justification. It is better that their appearance should appear probable rather than merely possible, though their preparation need not be overdone.

-Yves Lavandier

If this excerpt has whetted your appetite and you would like to own this book, don’t fork out the $150 or so Amazon is charging.

Instead, send an email to the publisher contact@clown-enfant.com with subject ‘the story department referral’ and you will be eligible for the super-discounted price of 30 Euros (i.e. only $37 at the time of writing). This saves you $113 (or 75%) off the Amazon cost.

_____________________________________

Check out this video link…

_____________________________________

For more videos about screenwriting or filmmaking, look in the sidebar or click on the category link under the title of this post.

If you know of a great video on Screenwriting, let me know!

Just complete the form below and send me the link.

Thank you!

Karel

[contact-form]

My first viewing of Inception was at the world’s largest IMAX screen in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. The experience was sensational but not perfect, because the projection was marred by an error in the IMAX print’s aspect ratio, resulting in a picture of which the height was about 9% squeezed.

I loved the movie enough to see it again in the same week at a standard theater (where the projection was flawless).  I watched it a third time and took detailed notes with a view to publishing this breakdown.

If my life hadn’t suddenly hit the accelerator over the past few weeks, I would have easily posted a breakdown in the first week of release.  The only real problem I still have is getting the last act right. It moves so fast it is virtually impossible to get every beat down accurately. So many things are paid off, so quickly.

Have a look for yourself and see if I have left out any major moment. I’d be grateful if you could let me know in the comments. Thank you!

Now enjoy!

Karel.

spoilers galore

PROLOGUE (FLASH FORWARD)

00.00    Warner and Legendary logos.
00.30    Cobb wakes up on a beach, sees his kids, is taken away at gunpoint.
01.30    With old man (Saito), who says: “I knew a man, possessed of some radical notions.”

ACT ONE

Sequence A: Cobb at work. Extraction, dream w/in a dream. (15mins)

02.30    (Dream Level 2) Saito having dinner, Cobb explains extraction, sells services.
04.00    Arthur: He knows. The building shakes. “What’s going on up there?”
04.30    (DL1) Saito and Cobb’s team are asleep.
05.30    (DL2) Wife Mal shows up. Cobb climbs out of room, re-enters building.
07.00    (DL2) Kills a guard, goes in to take envelope out of the safe. Stopped by Saito & Mal.
08.00    (DL2) Saito knows they’re dreaming, they have Arthur, shoot his leg. Dream collapses.
09.30    (DL2) Saito has an empty envelope, Cobb has the documents from the safe.
10.00    (DL1) Cobb won’t wake up. Team decide to give him ‘the kick’ in bathtub.

11.00    (DL2) Cobb drowns in building, water shooting in through windows.

11.30    (DL1) Saito attacks Cobb, holds him at gunpoint. An audition. You failed.
12.30    (WAKE) Team sleeping in train, timer set, music plays, waking up.
13.00    (DL1) Cobb throws Saito on rug. Fake: still dreaming! I’m impressed!
14.30    (WAKE) Debrief in the train. Out in Kyoto. Every man for himself.
15.00    (WAKE) Saito wakes up and smiles.

The first sequence sets up Cobb’s thieving life (Ordinary World), as well as his character (the best dream extractor) and his flaw (Mal).

Rather than tagging an opening action sequence before the start of Cobb’s story (as we see in e.g. The Matrix), Nolan works the action hook into this story in a fascinating, intelligent and at the same time elegant way. After only fifteen minutes into the movie, we have learned a lot, without at any point having the feeling that we’re ticking off a list of expository items.

Sequence B: (all WAKE) Offered a job by Saito: Inception. (6mins)

15.30    Cobb at home, spins a top on the table. It topples. Phone call from his kids.
17.30    Arthur knocks: our ride is on the roof. Are you OK? Time we disappear. Buenos Aires.
18.30    Saito has offer: architect’s safety in return for a job.
19.00    Inception explained. Cobb: Do I have a choice? Yes. Then I choose to leave.
20.00    How would you like to go home? Can’t fix that. Just like inception.
20.30    Job brief. Arthur: we should walk away. Guarantee! Saito: Leap of faith or old man.
21.00    Assemble your team Mr. Cobb and choose your people more wisely.

This is a short Act One and some may argue that the Act doesn’t really end until the team is assembled, i.e. around 44:30, just before they actually enter the dream. Entering the dream is certainly a way of the crossing of the threshold into the ‘Special World’. However, Cobb had already mentally crossed the threshold by accepting Saito’s proposal, so the assembling of the team is part of the mission. In this respect, traveling to Paris is a first threshold scene and the ‘Ariadne’ sequence is an ‘Ally’ sequence, which typically belongs in the 2nd Act, even in the Hero’s Journey.

ACT TWO

Sequence C: Getting the architect – and losing her again.(13mins)

21.30    Cobb & Arthur on plane to Paris.
22.00    Meeting dad. Design yourself! -Mal won’t let me. Last job to get me home.
24.30    Testing Ariadne: draw maze that takes more than 2 minutes to solve.
25.30    The team briefed in workshop.
26.00    (DL1) Cobb & Ariadne: First lesson in shared dreaming: explosions.
28.00    Another 5 minutes gives you an hour in the dream.
29.00    (DL1) What happens if you start messing with physics? City folds.
31.00    Projections become aggressive – Ariadne does trick with mirror.
33.00    Mal appears. Ariadne: Wake me up! Mal attacks. She wakes up.
34.00    Cobb spins top. Ariadne: “Cobb has serious problems.” walks off.
34.30    I’m gonna go visit Eames. Mombasa! We need a forger.

Sequence D: Team complete. Ariadne learns. Gathering info. (15mins)

35.00   Briefing Eames in Mombasa.
36.00   Eames: work on the relationship with the father.
36.30   Eames recommends chemist. First getting rid of Cobb’s ‘tail’. Fight & Chase.
39.00   Saved by Saito, protecting his investment.
39.30   Arthur is showing Ariadne around. Infinite staircase. Hide from the projections.
40.30   Safer if Cobb doesn’t know the layout. Mal is dead. Just his projection.
41.30    Chemist: 3 levels is possible. Need powerful sedative. Six team members: Saito.
43.00   For the sleepers, the dream has become their reality.
44.30   Saito briefs Cobb: The world needs Robert Fisher to change his mind.
47.00   Eames gathers information on the Fishers and Browning.
48.00   Ariadne finds Cobb ‘experimenting’. Mal’s totem.

49.30   You can’t keep her out. It’s getting worse… They think I killed her.

Sequence E: Ariadne joins Cobb’s secret memory dream. (10mins)

50.00   Cobb briefs the team in the workshop. Translate business strategy into an emotion.
51.00   Three levels of deams requires an extremly powerful sedative.
51.30   Lowest level: 10 years. Kick to get out.
53.00   We need 10 hours: Sydney – LA. Saito: I bought the airline. We have our 10 hours.
54.00   Ariadne finds Cobb dreaming. Joins in: Mal & Cobb. These are my dreams.

56.00   In my dreams we’re still together. These are memories I have to change.
57.00   Mal already gone. James and Philippa. All too late.
58.00   The Hotel suite. Anniversary. Mal attacks: you said we’d grow old together.
59.30   Ariadne: do you really think that’s gonna contain her? Ariadne is going.

Sequence F (MID): Things tougher than planned. (10mins)

60.00 Maurice died. Saito promises Cobb: No trouble with immigration if successful.
62.00 Take Off. Cobb has passport. Toasting to Maurice. Sleeping. Team gets ready.
64.00 L1 – Rain. Hijack cab. Pick up Robert. Attacked – under fire.
67.00 L1 – Not normal projections: trained! Saito bleeds. Cobb to Arthur: Your job.

67.30 L1 – Saito bleeding. When we die, we end up in limbo. Stuck in Fisher’s mind.
69.00 L1 – There’s a way out: continue as fast as possible. No other choice.

---

ACT IIb

Sequence G: Level 1 – Cobb’s secret revealed to Ariadne. (14mins)

70.00 L1 – The combination: tell us what it is. You’ve got an hour.
71.00 L1 – Browning ‘tortured’ for safe code. Maurice told me you’re the only one.
72.30 L1 – Down to the lower levels: the pain will be less intense.
74.00 L1 – Eames/Browning works on Robert. Maurice’s last word: disappointment.
75.00 L1 – Ar.: When were you in limbo? Deeper into Fisher… deeper into you.
75.30 L1 – C.: We lost sight of what was real. Limbo became her reality. for 50 years.
77.00 L1 – Obsessed: our world wasn’t real. To come back home, she had to kill herself.
77.30 FLASHBACK: Our anniversary. Mal jumps to her death.
79.30 L1 – I ran. I left my children behind.
81.00 L1 – Ar.: Your guild defines her. Not responsible, forgive yourself. Confront her.
81.30 L1 – Threatening Fisher: First 6 numbers that come to your mind, right now!!
82.30 L1 – We’re going for a ride. Into the van. Attacked by projections. Shootout.
83.00 L1 – Eames to Arthur: you mustn’t be afraid to dream of something bigger, darling.

84.30 L1 - Mr. Charles. Sweet Dreams. (into Level 2)

---

Sequence H: Level 2 – Mr. Charles, preparing ‘kick’ & Level 3 (12mins)

84.30 L2 – Robert Fisher in bar, stolen wallet. Mr Charles. Cobb offers security service.
85.30 L2 – Cobb: my people are on it as we speak. Fisher trusts him.  Strange weather.
88.30 L2 – Arth. kisses Ar. (L1: Van slides / shift in gravity.) Fisher concerned, believes Cobb.
89.30 L2 – Fisher: Can you get me out of here? Cobb: Rightaway. Leaving bar under gunfire.
90.30 L2 – Fisher holds gun to his own head: kill myself to wake up. Cobb: No! Sedated. Limbo.
91.00 L2 - Ariadne & Arthur: This room should be directly below 528.
92.00 L2 - Remember: hotel rooms… what was the number. 5th floor.
92.30 L2 - Arthur sets explosives for synchronized kick: when the van hits the water.
93.30 L2 – Cobb to Fisher: they’re putting you under, a dream within a dream.
94.00 L2 - Fisher’s projection of Browning. Let’s follow him to see how he behaves.
94.30 L2 - Browning & Fisher: the will is his last insult. Build a better company than he ever did.
95.00 L2 - Cobb: he’s lying. Going into Fisher’s dream, pretending it’s Browning’s. (into L3)

---

Sequence I: Level 3 – Into the Snow Fortress, All seems lost. (18mins)

96.30 L1 – Van attacked again. Van rolling.

99.30 L2 – Fight in hotel. Rotating gravity.

100.0 L3 – Cobb briefs team. To Fisher: break into Browning’s mind on your own.

100.3 L1 – Van on bridge, chased by projections. Being shot at.

101.3 L3 – Exit music plays – too soon. Move fast. 10 secs = 3 mins = 60 mins

103.0 L1 – Gunfight on bridge

103.3 L3 – Air duct system that can cut through the maze

104.0 L1 – Van goes through railing, off the bridge. Falling.

105.0 L3 – Missed kick. Finish job before next kick – when van hits the water. 20mins.

106.3 L2 – Floating – no gravity.

107.0 L3 – Entering the duct system, projections know.

107.3 L2 – Weightless fight between Arthur and guard in rotating gravity.

108.3 L3 – Approaching the central tower

109.3 L2 – Arthur is collecting everyone, for the kick.

110.0 L3 – Entire army coming their way. Robert Fisher is in stronghold.

111.0 L3 – Mal comes in. Ar.: She is not real. Fisher is real! Mal shoots Fisher.

111.3 L2 – Arthur moving the team, preparing for the kick.

112.3 L3 – Failed. Fisher’s mind already trapped. We failed.

112.3 L3 – Ar.: There’s still another way. Follow fisher down there. Use defibrillator.

---

Sequence J: Level 4 – Cobb’s cave, resolves guilt over Mal (14mins)

114.0 L4: Ocean and dead city.
115.0 L2: Arthur places team in elevator.
115.3 L4: Ar.: You built all this? C.: We built for years. All reconstructed from memory.
118.8 L2: Arthur placing charges.
118.3 L4: C.: An idea is a virus. Mal: your world is not real. Choose me.
120.0 L4: Mal: Our children are here. C.: I want to see them up above, Mal.
120.3 L3: Saito bleeding / L1: Van falling.
121.3 L4: C.: The reason I knew Inception was possible. I did it to her first.
123.3 L4: C.: Idea grew like a cancer. Death was the only escape. FB: Mal’s suicide.
124.3 L3: Projections enter. / Saito dies.
125.0 L2: Exit music plays. Ar.: We need to get Fisher. C.: Go check he’s alive.
126.0 L3: Ar. checks if Fisher is alive. It’s time. Come now! You can’t stay.
126.3 L4: I can’t stay … she doesn’t exist. You’re just a shade. Sorry, not good enough.
127.0 L3: Mal attacks with knife. Ar. shoots.  Need to get Saito back.
127.3 L2: The elevator moves.

---

This sequence is where Cobb comes clean with himself. It is the end of his Inner Journey, his redemption. Only after this can he achieve the Outer Goal, i.e. the successful inception, which happens in the next sequence.

The end of Act Two is a Crisis or Ordeal in the traditional sense as we see Saito killed  (a character who has both Mentor and Herald qualities), as well as Mal (representing Cobb’s flaw or Inner Conflict). It is interesting that it is not Cobb,  but Ariadne who shoots Mal. Would this be because otherwise the scene would have felt too much like a Climax? I wonder.

---

ACT THREE

Sequence K: Mission accomplished. All levels kick back. (8mins)

128.0 L3: Fisher with his father. Maurice: I was disappointed that you tried.
129.0 L2: Elevator drops.
129.3 L3: Robert finds paper windmill in safe.
130.0 L3: Eames blows up building.
131.0 L4: Ar. jumps: find Saito. / L3: All destroyed. / L2: Elevator kick / L1: Water kick.
130.3 L4: Ar.: Don’t lose yourself. Find Saito and bring him back.
131.0 L4: FLASHBACK (Limbo) We did grow old. I have to let you go.
133.0 L1: Van sinking
134.0 L4: Saito: Have you come to kill me? C.: Come back with me.

---

Although the sequence of ‘kicks’ is a perfect example of a sequence crossing multiple thresholds back into the Ordinary World, In Hero’s Journey terms, Inception has a problem. Typically, this precedes the climax (or Resurrection) but obviously Cobb’s mission must be complete before he can return to the Ordinary World. This may explain why although intellectually satisfying, there is something oddly wrong with the way this climax feels intuitively.

Now looking at this structure, I realize that the climax is possibly the weakest part of the movie because Cobb is not active in it. It is Robert Fisher who plays out the climax and the only notable climax for Cobb is the resolution of the Inner Conflict at the end of Act Two.

---

Sequence L: Waking up. Aftermath. Will the totem topple? (3mins)

136.0 In plane: We’ll be landing in about 20mins. All waking up. Cobb is wondering.
136.3 Saito wakes up and makes a phone call.
137.0 Immigration: Welcome home, Mr. Cobb. Father waiting at the exit.
138.3 At home: father. Look who’s here! Kids.
138.3 Totem spinning. Doesn’t topple.
139.0 The End.

---

IT’S MORE THAN SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Lana tells her she doesn’t care if she’s “half monkey or half ape” and gets Teena out of jail. They make love in the front seat of a car. Thus, sex can be the payoff to a giant setup, the deep inner goal of a character, that is, the long-awaited moment of acceptance.

sex can be the payoff to a giant setup

Of course, sex here was not the goal. Love was the goal. And this concept sometimes gets lost because there’s an over-emphasis by some in the industry on the sexual part of “sexual orientation.”

Why does there have to be an emphasis on sex just because a character has a different orientation? Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters can have, like any other great character in literature or cinema history, depth, contradictions, goals, inner conflicts, and arcs. I’ve read quite a few scripts by aspiring gay, lesbian, and bisexual writers, and some have shared with me their feelings of anxiety about sex scenes.

Why does there have to be an emphasis on sex
just because a character has a different orientation?

I say don’t worry about the sex and focus on the depth of your characters. In that context, the sex will find its natural place in the script. Don’t force it. Write that scene when you know it’s crucial to your story. Because the point of a sex scene is not the act itself, it’s the characters. What does the scene reveal?

SO HOW DO YOU WRITE A SEX SCENE?

It seems fitting that I’m contributing to a magazine that showcases Dave Trottier, because I’m a huge supporter of his book, The Screenwriter’s Bible. A sex scene is like any other scene in a script. Use action lines. Make them lean and mean. Write active verbs. Keep the action paragraphs down to four lines or fewer. Emphasize the characters. Avoid incidental actions.

A sex scene is like any other scene in a script.

I must commend Bob Verini who also wrote a great article about sex in Script Magazine’s 2005 January / February issue. He talked about the mechanics of writing a sex scene and pointed out how Joe Eszterhas loved using the ellipsis in Basic Instinct:

I’m okay with that so long as it’s in small doses. You can also write a MONTAGE, which Trottier explains in detail in his book. Verini had some good montage examples as well. I would only add Truffaut’s Jules and Jim and Nichols’ The Graduate.

The only film I’ve watched that had a sex scene that actually moved me to tears was a 2003 film called Lilya 4-Ever. Abandoned by her mother and living in poverty in the former Soviet Union, 16-year-old Lilya resorts to prostitution to survive. Without revealing too much of the plot, there is a montage toward the end of the film in which we (looking up) view from Lilya’s perspective all of these older, disgusting men having sex with her. I was so saddened by what was being done to her. I wanted to get on a plane to Sweden and save that little girl. It was such an effective tragedy in the way it condemned those horrible, underground, sex slave organizations.

MAKE A CLEAN BREAST OF IT

There’s so much more territory we could’ve penetrated. There’s the art of seduction. There’s sexual abuses, disorders, and addictions. There’s rape, infidelity, and incest. There’s symbolism, sex for the elderly, and teen sex comedies, which I believe happens only once every generation. There’s orgies, although I really don’t know what I’d say about that.

I like what Mason Cooley wrote, “Orgies are an early form of what will someday become sex by committee.” Hehehe… Say, how many prominent asexuals can you list in films? Depp’s Willy Wonka? Pee Wee Herman? How about Hercule Poirot? Can you think of a film in which a character’s asexuality became the source of a conflict? I cannot.

OH, THE CLIMAX

There was an interesting article by Dylan van Rijsbergen in Sign and Sight called Sexing the Handbag. He wrote:

“Time has come to start a new movement inventing new images of sexuality and pornography. Time has come for a new Jan Wolkers, male or female, someone who can write powerful stories of authentic sexuality. Time has come for all kinds of individuals in the media, art and literature to invigorate the tired imagery of commercial porn. Time has come for a slow sex movement, which stretches sexuality beyond the single moment of the male orgasm. Time has come to return sexuality to what it has always been: elusive, exciting, intense, playful, authentic, dynamic and sublime.”

Okay, I’m spent. Was it good for you?

- Mystery Man

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WITHOUT THEM WE WOULDN’T BE GETTING ANY

I’d like to thank Jennifer van Sijll, Eric, Joel, Kelly, Randy, Rebekah, Joseph, Jeff, Erin, as well as the readers of my blog: Emily Blake, Joshua James, David Alan, James Patrick Joyce, Laura Deerfield, Purpletrex, Miriam Paschal, Pat (Gimmebreak), Christina, Matt, Nestori, DougJ, terraling, Lisa, Christian M. Howell, Seeing_I, deepstructure, Gabbagoo, James, Scott, Kevin Broom, Bob Thielke, Spanish Prisoner, Cody, Ben, Trevor, rdas7, hwee, Unknown Screenwriter, and the Anonymous Production Assistant. Their raging debates about sex in film on my blog provided much needed food for thought. Thanks so much, guys.

In his own words, Mystery Man was “famous yet anonymous, failed yet accomplished, brilliant yet semi-brilliant. A homebody jetsetting around the world. Brash and daring yet chilled with a twist.”

MM blogged for nearly 4 years and tweeted for only 4 months, then disappeared – mysteriously.

The Story Department continues to republish his best articles on Monday.

Here, you’ll also be informed about the release of his screenwriting book.