• Week 1

  Day 1

  Posted by cheryl croasmun on June 4, 2025 at 6:17 am

  Reply to post your assignment.

  John Vanderberg Vanderberg replied 3 weeks, 5 days ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  John Vanderberg Vanderberg

  Member

  June 5, 2025 at 4:36 am

  Traits (core parts) – foundation of 3 main characters in Good Will Hunting:

  Skylar:
  Intelligent
  Modest (wound?)
  Open-minded
  Decent, kind-hearted

  Chuckie:
  Swagger. Confident.
  Player (with the ladies)
  Not so book smart, but street smart, and street tough
  Gets out over his skis – doesn’t know his limits until it’s too late (wound?)

  Will:
  Brilliant. Street and book (wicked) smart.
  Brave
  Loyal to his friends
  Challenges authority and conventional education (wound?)

  Drama:

  Chuckie hits on Skyler, and while she entertains his attempts to impress her, the audience is anxious over his fumbling.

  Enter the bully who shows Chucky up and ridicules him. We feel sorry for Chucky even more.

  Will steps in, and with the cut on his lip and torn t-shirt, in another movie, it would appear he was there to challenge the bully physically. But then Will takes the bully apart with intellect, and is five steps ahead of him during the entire sequence. When the bully realizes he’s been “out-smarted,” he opts for the low blow about Will not having a degree. While that did get a chuckle out of Will, he still cuts the bully down, calling him out for being unoriginal and for plagiarizing. And then, after beating him in EVERY way, he ALSO implies that he can kick his ass physically, if the bully dared, and clearly, the bully knew he was beat there too. Amazing scene.

  Insights / breakthroughs:

  Wow. I realize that I can make my hero even stronger and more interesting by providing stronger and more interesting supporting characters. Scenes with more emotion and drama can happen when supporting characters have clear traits and goals as well.

  In this case, it’s not wit and one-liners, but really cerebral content, but since it also cuts the bully down at every turn, the exchange has real depth.

  The script I’d like to focus on has a protagonist who’s an A-list actor who’s been type-cast as a pirate. His goal is to quit acting and to be a writer. His acting career has brought him fame and fortune, but he’s unhappy. He’s reaquainted with a love interest (B-Story) who is a waitress in a diner, does some freelance writing, and never got her acting break in Hollywood. Also, in part, due to the fact that she forfeited her career so he could persue his. Anyway, I have a few scenes between the two of them where I can greatly raise the stakes, the drama, and tension by better writing her traits, her wound, and her goals. Same with two other supporting characters who are more pedestrian and provide surfacy obstacles, rather than more interesting characters.

  • This reply was modified 3 weeks, 4 days ago by  John Vanderberg Vanderberg. Reason: redacted. I found the class and assignments after Cheryl helped :)

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