“I’m more of the sort of Lars von Trier Breaking the Waves school. The movie [Lion] is primarily an emotional journey, and the movies that matter to me, you experience them here, in the heart and the gut. They’re not such intellectual exercises as visceral and emotional experiences.”
Screenwriter Luke Davies (Lion)
“I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.”
Director Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life)
If asked me what the the two most important posts of the 2,500+ I’ve written over the past 9 1/2 years that would help any writer it would be Conflict—Conflict—Conflict (or my first post on conflict in 2008; Everything I Learned in Film School) and 40 Days of Emotions (Which is a cheat because it’s a reference to 40 other posts). But if there is a bookend to the importance of Conflict—Conflict—Conflict in screenwriting then I think it’s Emotion—Emotion—Emotion.
In Hollywood they don’t buy screenplays, they buy emotion. So if you can make a reader feel something on a very visceral level then it cannot be ignored. Haley Fox was the development executive at the the production company that bought my first screenplay. And she was so passionate about it that she said ‘If you don’t buy this screenplay I am going to quit. I’ve been here seven years, but there’s no need for me to be here.’ She felt that deeply about the material. When writers are coming from a place of truth, facing that hurt we talked about, they can take that hurt, or that rage and put it on the page and then eventually makes it to the big stage of cinema or television because somebody felt something—they felt deeply about it. It can’t be ignored. And those are the screenplays, teleplays, pilot episodes that sell.”
Screenwriter Paul Castro
Interview with Alex Ferrari on the Indie Film Hustle podcast
Related posts:
40 Days of Emotions
Finding Authentic Emotions (Part 1) “Everyone wants to find a way out of pain.”—
Alex Blumberg
No Emotions? “Your Screenplay Sucks!”
“Visceral Emotions”
Goal: Elicit Emotions: “Emotion grows out of conflict.”—Michael Hague
Emotional Transportation Biz “You don’t talk about what the film was about, you talk about your experience seeing the film: I loved it, I laughed, I cried, I observed. That’s what makes people go to the movies.”—Rain Man Executive Producer Peter Guber
Pity, Fear, Catharsis (Tip #69)
In a certain sense “emotions and conflicts” are transferable sentiments. One of the huge success of “The Karate Kid” and “Rocky” franchises, was the fact that the audience understood the message behind: “good things can come out from difficult situations in life”.
Hello Ramus, You touch on another element that I’ve hit hard over the years—theme.(Probably written at least 20 posts on it.) Including these posts:
Writing from Theme http://wp.me/paP6U-11D
More Thoughts on Theme http://wp.me/paP6U-1F9
Theme=What Your Movie is Really About http://wp.me/paP6U-7fV
Theme-Story’s Heart & Soul http://wp.me/paP6U-7fK
Michael Arndt on Theme http://wp.me/paP6U-7fq
Maybe I need to do a post titled “Theme—Theme—Theme.” And one could probably make the point that themes work (as in “Rocky” and “The Karate Kid”) because they hit an emotion with the viewer.
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