So the writer, at least the selling writer, is forced to think in commercial terms when choosing material for a screenplay. Since the process of taking the deep inner urges of an idea, from being a totally subjective concept to a mostly objective story that the mass of people can understand, is a twisted and convoluted one at best, the screenwriter faces innumerable pitfalls in doing a script. The writer must in crafting a script keep an eye on his audience without being so afraid of their every reaction to the story that his choices are paralyzed by sel doubt. The writer must take the risk of offending some to complete a script the bears his unique voice and outlook. A script the is so objectified that it bears no stamp of the writers outlook and opinion becomes boring and faceless with characters that speak and move in unrealistic ways. This is true whether the film is a western or a space adventure.
The dramatic considerations in crafting a story that will become a screenplay are many but conform to the same basic rules of drama that have been around since the Greeks. Any story for the screen must fit comfortably into a three act structure, beginning middle and end, and have at least two characters in the story, a protagonist, on which the audience can project their desires and hopes, and a antagonist on which they audience can project their dislike. The antagonist can take the form of an inanimate force such as a flooding river or and animal as in "Moby Dick." The laws of drama also dictate that for a story to be interesting that it must start simple and progressively become more complicated. In other words a story can't start complete with all the characters fully formed and all challenges over because the story wouldn't have any place to go. The pleasure of a story is watching characters and situations develop and intertwine until they reach a climax.
Go To Page: 1 2
