Film Courage: We will go back to another viewer-submitted question and this is from Wicked West Films
(nice name by the way) “What advice would you give to a writer to make their stories
stronger with more depth and meaning?”
We kind of just talked about meaning a little bit…
Erik Bork, Author/Screenwriter: Well it’s going to sound kind of facile but it’s kind
of like these seven elements, to kind of like hit and explore each of those, is what makes
things powerful.
Like when you make sure that what you’re writing is a punishing problem, it is a universally
relatable situation for your characters, there is something original, believable, the stakes
are life-altering for the characters.
All of that is what makes something powerful.
You also want it to be entertaining and it’s going to mean something to people if you’re
exploring something that is not just your surface story plot but is something that has
some depth for the characters.
It’s like if the characters feel something deeply and are going through something that
the audience connects with emotionally it feels like they become bonded (like we talked
about) with the character where they feel like it’s happening to me.
What they are going through I feel like I’m experiencing it, that’s what really gives
it a powerful impact.
But all these elements of story are all ways in which you achieve that because the bigger
the problem is the more important it is to solve, the more the character is kind of under
siege trying to solve it, the more you’re going to have a better chance of the audience
connecting that way.
So much of it has to do with your choice of idea and kind of the genre that it’s in
and the basic premise of your story to make sure that you’re going to have the ability
to have that powerful impact.
Film Courage: So this Save-The-Cat-Moment or this relatability, does this have to happen
in the middle, toward the end, in the beginning?
I mean even in SHARP OBJECTS there is just this small moment where Amy Adam’s character
stops for this gentleman who is about to cross [in front of her car] and they have this quick
exchange where she gestures to him to go ahead [and cross in front] and then he gestures
for her to go ahead and then she nods (she’s not like stubborn about it where she’s like
“Go!
Go!
Go!”).
You see she’s like…okay, I trust her.
I like her in that moment.
But then there are other moments [further in the show] where you’re like “Hmmmm?
I not quite sure about this person?”
But that little moment right there (and it happens fairly soon) makes her relatable.
I think it does help classically in the beginning if you’re all about making the character
be somebody that the audience can connect with in the very opening pages.
So that can have them being a nice person like that but it can also be with them having
a problems that we can instantly relate to and feel something about.
So even if they’re not that nice…like in EIGHTH GRADE…she’s not necessarily
so nice but she’s going through such terrible problems that most people can relate to that
you can’t help but start to get emotionally connected.
So for me it’s a combination of liability and the problem.
The less likable they are, the more immediate, obvious and big the problems need to be for
the audience to have something to grasp on to emotionally.
When in doubt it’s also good to be likable but there are certainly some stories that
succeed with characters that aren’t necessarily classically likable.
But I can say it can be very counterproductive if your character starts the movie kind of
a jerk because you’re trying to arc them into a nicer person at the end.
If they don’t have really massive problems they’re facing that make us relate despite
them being a jerk it can be hard for the audience to want to engage and stay with in my opinion
a character that is really just kind of unlikeable.
It’s rare that that can work, I’m not saying never but it’s rare.
And I do see a lot of scripts where that’s the choice the writer made to make the character
unlikable to begin with because they are so focused on character arc.
But it can undermine the story if they are so unlikable that we have no reason as an
audience to really stay with them.
It’s not as easy to get an audience to want to join you on that character’s journey
as you might think.
You kind of have to make them want to I think.
Film Courage: So establish that fairly early?
Erik: I think.
Film Courage: Interesting.
So those kind of first few…first impressions count.
Erik: Yes.