The old question...which is more important, character or plot? Think about it; plot can only happen to characters. The audience cares about characters, not plot. That's why a science fiction/fanasty film can be visually amazing, but if we don't care about characters, we leave the theater somehow unsatisfied. A great story is all about an emotionally-riviting character. We suffer with them. We are surprised with them. We are happy when they are happy. We leave satisfied.
I'm not sure we have to relate to characters either; but i agree that writing which makes an unlikeable character relatable can be powerful. On a similar note, one can also create unlikeable behaviour/actions emanating from a character who is revealed in layers to have unexpectedly relatable personal characteristics that were initially inscrutable. (Inarticulate here, but in terms of the notions of likeability, trying to distinguish a character's actions at any given moment from, roughly speaking, their core self.) As well, i know i'm being Captain Obvious here, but they can transform. One example I'm thinking of is a recent Russian film called A Lesson. The protagonist is a teacher, and at the outset, she comes across as cold and brittle. But the writing ratchets up tension and the stakes in ways which cause her to break out of her modus operandi. As this occurs, even acts that technically seem unlikeable or petty can actually seem disarmingly relatable. Swedish film Border also had fantastic elements in this regard. Sometimes the character doing the wrong thing feels like the right thing due to shifts in perspective, so that as the character changes, our notions of what is likeable and relatable transform alongside this, if that makes any sense. Or the script will enable us to effectively suspend doubt or withhold judgement. As well, likeability is so subjective! Another thing that springs to mind related to this subject is actors playing against type eg Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love, Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Robin Williams in One Hour Photo. Sometimes the tropes of "likeability" associated with a particular actor - including whether this grates - can be a factor, in the sense an actor breaking away from a given likeability profile may come across as much more relatable in the process.
We have to care about their cause, their goal, their transformation. Relatability definitely helps, and likeability does too. I think some people think that likeable means making the character perfect or cookie cutter, in reality it should mean caring about them. There’s also a balance.
Characters are the easiest thing for me to write. In school, I was always asked to create dialogue. If someone needed to forward the plot in 4 or 5 lines, I was thrilled to do it. The toughest thing about writing? Finding a manager.
I keep coming back to character. I get great ideas, but the film must be about characters. Stories happen to characters. I spend so much time on great ideas; I learned I had to pivot to characters and their journeys.
Is she the lead, though? I thought the Anne Hathaway character was the lead. I do think times are changing though. The new fad in movies and TV are girls gone bad. There's room for lots of unlikeable female leads these days. And I do think that the story he mentioned COULD be a good movie, but it has to be a redemption arc, OR, and at the end, the twist is that the blood test was wrong, and she's "pure white" all along. That she transformed her politics, and reformed her thinking about racial issues, "for nothing." And maybe it could be a tragedy. Maybe at the end she becomes more racist than ever. "I was tricked by the libs!"
It took him eight minutes to tell us characters shoubke be likable. He gave us a couple anecdotes but no real instruction. I get that the people you interview aren't lecturers, but I don't quite get the point of these.
Early on --beat-- it's important to realize that 'experts' are gonna wanna re-write your Oscar Winning Script. Your job is to suck it up and roll with it... Best of luck champ :)
I wish I knew how important it was to write your own original screenplays, and as you gradually improve, THEN reach out to authors of works you enjoyed reading *before* writing adaptations of their work (especially without their consent)
I would so be interested in advice about how to potentially adapt your own work! A screenplay is a quintessence, and i am not succinct. If i am not also the director and don't write for an actor, i feel like it's a tough gig as in some ways dialogue can be superfluous when it comes to certain characters. I wish i knew of an effective process for writing your own stories then adapting them for film. Especially because short stories can be a basis, such as was the case in Lee Chang-dong's Burning, which drew from two short stories as its basis.
@@sebastianmorales6849 you misunderstood what I said. I was saying I wish I had wrote my own original scripts, and after getting constructive feedback on them, learn how to correctly write adaptations of other people's works that you enjoyed reading.
