Day 1: What I learned …

[David Moe]

I learned in one scene, the writer(s) can show a ton of complexity in a character, but also a clear example of the group dynamics with only one person leading with dialogue.

[Sandeep Gupta]

you are right. it is dialog heavy, but goes at a good pace.

[Nick Bandouveris]

I don’t see it as dialogue heavy. For me every word belongs.

[Sandeep Gupta]

oh, you are right, absolutely. i mean we didn’t notice the long dialog, it turns so fast.

[Carol Bloodworth]

The Harvard bar is busy. People there are dressed very casually which makes Skylar stand out as the pretty girl. She’s sitting with a friend, but she bears more skin and looks very polished. Chuckie sees her and walks over to them and gets the convo going by making up a fib about taking a history class with Skylar. A Harvard guy in a pony tail, also wants to impress Skylar and hears Chuckie talking. He challenges Chuckie to an in depth history topic to make him look small. Chuckie isn’t quit up to the verbal challenge. Will is watching, and steps in and responds to the history topic in a confident and knowledgable manner. Wills response is highly impressive, and wipes the intellect right off the guys face. Will also challenges the Harvard guy to a physical altercation which creates more tension. Will does this to protect Chuckie while impressing Skylar at the same time. Will is the hero of the conversation! This scene sets up Wills character to be extremely compelling, because he’s obviously very smart even though he’s just a regular guys guy, which leaves the viewer wanting more…

[Lawrence Fraly]

I’m missed that the grad student is trying to impress Skylar. I saw him simply going after an easy prey in Chuckie. But I do see the possibility. I’ll have to watch the scene again to see how much attention the grad student is throwing at her, such as his physical proximity and what his gestures might indicate.

[Jim]

What I learned is how the action of Chuckie’s character trait of confidently engaging with the women puts him in a potentially embarrassing situation. When Will steps in to bail out Chuckie it provides us the chance to see the traits that make up Will’s character at the same time it teases a spark between Will and Skylar. The scene serves a triple purpose.

[Sandeep Gupta]

ah! thanks!! almost did not notice the cute meet. not my fault. not had any lately.

[Nick Bandouveris]

The scene also gives us razor insight into Skylar – her asking the grad student to knock it off, her lack of being impressed with him, show that she’s not an intellectual (or pseudo-) snob. She even seems to enjoy Chuckie’s “game.”

[Lawrence Fraly]

You folks are really perceptive. Seems I missed quite a bit about Skylar. I pretty much saw her as a foil. But I completely missed her interest in Will. As well as her difference in attire than the other girls.

[Leona Heraty]

Hi Larry, I too wasn’t that focused on Skylar. The only thing I noticed about her was that she seemed kind and not rude to Chuckie. I too didn’t notice her clothes and I missed the spark of interest between her and Will. Awww…these well written scenes have a lot of depth and are worth rewatching again and again! 😎

[Nick Bandouveris]

Yes, but you can’t blame Chuckie for being who he is. He never expects the “bro code” of trolling for girls to be betrayed by his own kind – in this case another guy, the grad student.

[Jim]

I don’t think Will sees the grad student as a ‘bro.’ Hence, no violation of the ‘bro code.’

[Nick Bandouveris]

Of course not for Will. I was referring to Chuckie, who has no reason to believe his swagger will be challenged and he’ll be embarrassed. Chuckie exists on a more basic level. That’s what I meant.

[Jim]

I don’t think Chuckie sees the grad student as a ‘bro’ either. The bar is a haven for students, which they are not, even though he pretends to be and gets called on it. So again, I see no violation of the ‘bro code.’

[Nick Bandouveris]

You’re missing my point. The “bro code” assumes a dude won’t get blocked when making an advance. Chuckie has no reason, because of his ego and swagger, to believe some other dude would block him while on the prowl. It isn’t until the grad student steps in to embarrass him that the code, from Chuckie’s point of view, is broken.

[Trish Carothers]

What I learned from doing this assignment is that the writers set up the actors in nuanced ways: who’s the most intelligent, who has the guts to speak up, who is the leader and who are the followers, a boy-girl encounter, in a bar where not just everybody goes. Will may be “just a janitor, but he’s very sharp, not afraid to take on a bully inside with words or outside with fists. Skylar is not afraid to tell Chuckie to stop it. Chuckie is arrogant, rude, thinks he’s superior by right of “daddy’s” wealth and position in society, a plagerizer because he can’t really think at Will’s level. The setting and the clothing speak volumes from Skylar’s sexy black dress to Will’s torn and scruffy shirt; Ben and “Chuckie” are both wearing jock jackets but their intelligence level is different, check out the accents.. I was not even sure that Ben was actually attending school at Harvard. Of course the lighting plays an important part also because when it’s dark people often think they can act or speak whatever they want, even exposing themselves for who they really are.

[Susan Barber]

Learned I don’t have well defined traits for my protagonist. It was much easier to provide traits for the antagonist. The Living into their Future and Wound parts of the profile provided several interesting ideas/breaktrhoughs for my opening scene and interaction between the two primary women of my story.

While I didn’t rewrite a scene, this clip showed me how powerful the right dialogue can be to show so much about a character. Without personally recognizing any of the quotes Will used he was, in this ‘conversation’, standing up for his friend, putting down the bully, engaging the women he came to impress and giving us an insight to his depth of knowledge. Skyler’s reactions showed she was impressed with Will and with few words irritated with Clark. Her demeanor turned from giggles at the obvious non-students to being engaged with Will. Chuckie, well, he is just Chuckie. Overconfident and putting himself into a situation he wasn’t capable of handling, somehow knowing that Will would be there to save him. As a viewer I’m immediately as taken with Will as Skylar is.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Susan Barber.

[Nick Bandouveris]

Your point about Chucky is really good. But remember, at the end Chucky returns such favors Will has surely done him for years by continuing to insist that Will leave town and make more of himself. That’s why Chucky’s smile at the end has such resonance.

[Paul McGregor]

What I learned from this assignment

I learned how dialogue can be as thrilling as action. We become totally enthralled by the Will’s verbal skills as he uses words like punches to hit the other guy into submission.

I also learned that it does take some time to isolate character traits when watching a scene like this. I listed 11 for Will, but only 4 for Skylar and Chuckie.

[Nick Bandouveris]

Yes! The dialogue in this movie is razor sharp and all necessary. So many movies coming out now, especially indies, are wall to wall talk, but they’re mostly perfunctory conversations. If I hear one more “Are you OK?” after a stressful or fight scene….

An aside here to all – screenwriting isn’t just writing dialogue. It would be good to look also to some masters, like Kubrick or Hitchcock, whose definition of “Pure Cinema” tended towards, “only tell with words if it can’t be shown visually, and even then, with as few words as possible.”

Good Will Hunting is in a class of its own (pun intended), because its dialogue Reveals more than it Tells.

[Paul McGregor]

Yes, Nick, and Hal repeatedly warns against wall-to-wall talk. As I was watching the scene from The Terminator I had the same thought: Isn’t Cameron breaking all Hal’s rules on dialogue? Maybe there’s an insight in there somewhere!

[Nick Bandouveris]

Rules are meant to be broken, when broken well. Action movies often are linked by bursts of exposition, as if to tie potentially meaningless scenes together. In the case of Terminator, however, we’re, what, 20 minutes in? – and we have almost no idea what’s going on. When it came out, Terminator was a time travel movie like no other – and it seems Cameron recognized that a little hand holding was in order – and the moment where Kyle tries to show Sarah he’s the good guy is the opportune moment. At this point the audience is as grateful as Sarah for a little explanation, like that bar you can hold onto as the rollercoaster begins its downhill plunge.

[Paul McGregor]

Yes, Nick, as you say “Rules are meant to be broken, when broken well.” Yesterday I happened to be watching the Closer Look video about dialogue on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEgsIV98ZmU) and he says the same thing: “Rules are guidelines, and sometimes the most entertaining examples are those who break those rules.”

[Sandeep Gupta]

Yeah, : ) I went over the lines once I read it in someone’s answer and realized I’ve been had. It is amazing how technically well he¹ pulled it off. It is multisensory, multi-dimensional, multi-tone sequence. Small wonder I had no clue it was pure exposition. The man is a genius, he also steered totally clear of all the time-travel debate by Sarah declaring at some point that it is too maddeningly crazy. So we believe it is a reality she is really dealing with, and happily go with her.

¹ Solely going by this discourse also being in the fourth draft, before Gale is (officially?) named on the screenplay.

[Sandeep Gupta]

posted this paragraph in the other one. pasting it here.

Rewriting/Rethinking: I will have to revisit this, thinking at the end of the week’s lessons, unless I get convincing advice otherwise. Seems like there are forty variables in a scene from today’s lessons alone that need to settle-in before I try to rewrite/rethink a scene without my head exploding. But I will be trying to rethink. Right now, off to watch the movie in full.

NOTE: the comment in the other assignment, re disproportionate number of traits came from Paul McGregor’s post here. Small wonder I couldn’t find it.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Sandeep Gupta. Reason: html tags dropped in somehow. also, credit to Paul

[James Hayden]

What I learned is that a well-thought-out scene requires a thorough understanding of perspective and personality traits, and in the case of The Devil Wears Prada, the breakthrough moment was the subtle actions of Miranda as she refocused her anxiety toward Andy, yet continued to multitask as any high functioning Alpha lioness would. Her character literally exudes perfection, so much so and to the extent that brilliant choices appear to be reflex reactions. The firm establishment of the hierarchal group dynamic makes this scene even more potent as Andy’s friend waits in the background and offers a disapproving SMH (SHAKING MY HEAD) moment that only Andy can see. It further validates her fish-out-of-water crisis moment. I find it ironically satisfying that Miranda is the Devil that wears Prada and behaves as any good Cult-like figure would. Singularly focused, charismatic, insatiably dissatisfied with everyone, brilliant and razor-sharp at reestablishing herself as the ALPHA.

[Sandeep Gupta]

definitely, brilliant acting and writing. you are right, that “busy” action definitely seals her status as the dean of fashion industry, not just a boss. thanks, it hadn’t occurred to me.

[Jim]

What I learned and put into a rewrite of my introduction of my Protagonist is adding some dialogue to portend there will be further action sequences and establishing of new relationships.

[Nick Bandouveris]

In a scene like this, if only Skylar, and not the whole audience, falls in love with Will, the scene fails. It’s his “Save the cat” superhero moment. He’s charming, but also insistent, and won’t take guff from anyone who embarrasses his friends.

[Nick Bandouveris]

What makes this character great from a writing perspective? The screenwriter is faking us out. The expectation of a fish out of water story is defeated when it’s revealed that Will is the Big Fish after all. He’s also LOYAL, giving his friend the chance to troll the bar to impress women, and only steps in when the unwritten Bro Code is betrayed by the smarmy grad student. Perhaps best, Will is THOUGHTFUL. He sits back and takes it all in, “reading the room” and pounces at the right moment. Finally, by citing the specific page in the textbook, the audience learns that one of Will’s many secret weapons to this character is his photographic memory.

I love that Will takes no great pleasure in dressing down the grad student, but he does seem to find honor in restoring the balance in the room (well, there is some Joy in Will as he embarrasses the grad student) and in restoring the Bro Code. So he’s not a show-off, but he is willing to bring a measured response when the situation calls for it.

Finally, as opposed to the grad student, who speaks loudly while trying to show off, Will is uninterested in impressing everyone in the room. He steps in and quietly asks if the student would like to “step outside.” This is the final flex, and the “Win” of the scene, as the grad student, who finally realizes he’s outmatched – at every level – steps down.

Will is like a superhero to his friends – as if Superman chose to show all of his powers as Clark Kent.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Nick Bandouveris.

[Sandeep Gupta]

thanks for the phrase “final flex,” it’s equivalent in effect and importance as a punchline : )

[Karyn Laitis]

Character Mastery: Week 1, Day 1—Good Will Hunting

Karyn Laitis

What I learned: I learned more about great repartee and intellectual sparring to establish character dominance. And I would think great monologues could be very attractive to actors.

[Sandeep Gupta]

two good points Karyn! share more so us old people aren’t only talking among ourselves : D

[Lawrence Fraly]

Tone of voice seems to be as powerful as the words themselves, and the pacing. Will’s pacing is staccato. Chuckie begins fun and easy going. But falls quickly as does his face when called out by the grad student’s snarky tone and pregnant pauses waiting for each dart to smack Chuckie right in the ego. So maybe it’s the words that move the plot while it’s the tones of subtext that motivate the plot. At least, it feels that way to me.

[J.R Riddle]

What I learned today challenges how I write. – sometimes simple and direct dialogue can express tons of subtext backstory without backstory. Other times a run-on dialogue can do the same without boring the audience. When to write what and when to use various insights or reveals then creates a page-turning script. Focus and accept only my best from my writing, rewrite again and look deeper for something more – don’t settle for mediocrity. Be bold!

[James Hayden]

Your post resonates with me. I aspire to be bold, and feel that is the whole point of storytelling.

[Jim]

What I learned is the need to establish in the audience’s mind that this will be an unusual story, full of action that you may have never seen before.

[Lawrence Fraly]

I can’t help loving Will and Chuckie and their third friend’s (wicked smart). Together none of them are out of place anywhere. Alone, each could tumble over their own swag.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Lawrence Fraly.

[James Hayden]

What I learned is that Good Will Hunting is no different than Rocky or any other underdog script. I was rooting for this janitor, willing to take up for his friends and take down the bully or the antagonist. I wanted him to cleverly one-up the pompous Grad student. I am now trying to apply the everyman that has a special gift, however big or small, and uses it to fight for others. I felt the emotional connection and overlooked the preachy dialogue (no slight on the dialogue).

My breakthrough moment was recognizing how charming the scene opening lulls you into secretly hoping that Ben Affleck’s character actually pulls off his romantic pursuit. He is charmingly full of crap and brave enough to lie his way into a conversation with the ladies at the bar. Once he is attacked in over his head, our hero rides in to rescue his buddy. Heroism, bravery, charming, and innocent pursuit, the scene made me feel for the nobility of traits. in each character

[Lawrence Fraly]

Your breakthrough moment, has now become another one of mine. Thanks! Also, I see the everyman in this too. What I didn’t see until your post was how this is like Rocky — underdog. At least not in those words. You put it so much more clearly than I do.

[Lawrence Fraly]

What I learned rewriting my scene /character.

Watch FIRST TIME

character traits

WILL

brilliant (wicked smart)

amused by friend in a trap

waits for bully’s strongest attack, then Will attacks bullie’s biggest vunerability

reads people’s weakness and motivations

show-off

erudite/photographic memory?

well-read (curiousity)?

cold water runs in his veins. Flat affect.

CHUCKIE

bullshitter

insecure

cocky

easily intimidated

SKYLAR

playful (at others’ expense?)

self-assured

unafraid

attention queen

Watch SECOND TIME

Drama Chuckie try to pick up a girl way over his head, and gets caught out on his bullshit by a smug know-it-all

Chuckie’s friends’ lie in waiting.

Will comes to his aid.

Setting Harvard bar so Chuckie can see if he can impress a girl who’s not from the streets.

To show Will’s super-literate/analytical mind. Emotionless, as well, except offer to fight.

BREAKTHROUGHS

At first, I only saw Will sit back, observing, showing nothing of himself other than amusement at letting his friend make a fool of himself. And that Will is brilliant, and reads people well.

But then I realized he’s setting the time and place for his own bullying. He uses his defense of Chuckie so he can take down the Goliath, with himself as the David. Except I also realized WIll thrives on the kill, not on the defense of his friend. He’s cold-blooded, loves making a fool of the grad student the way the grad student was making a fool of Chuckie.

The scene has as many layers as the characters. Building from Chuckie’s easy going noncerebral everyman all the way up to the unique man who’s all brains. Observed by a sweet girl who toys with Chuckie, letting him put the moves on her, while she scoffs at his moves without him realizing it. The scene escalates as Chuckie invents something in common with Skylar. We don’t know how far she’s going to let him go on because there’s a sharp reversal when the grad student barges in. The grad student reveals Chuckie’s insecurity and shows Chuckie just how out of place he is. Talk about a buzz kill! What an asshole, but then Will, the other asshole, goes toe to toe with the grad student. As Will reveals the grad student’s subtext, I suspect there’s a whole lot more going on in Will than shown in this scene.

This is a great set-up for future pay-offs, though I don’t know what those pay-offs might be. None of this is as obvious as the blue sweater scene in Prada. There are other far more subtle metaphors and subtext in Prada.

The subtexts are subtle in Good Will, but the metaphors are practically nonexistent, as far as I can tell. Except the accents. Will and Chuckie are definitely from the streets. The language of Skylar and the grad student is polished. Will tries to hide his accent but it’s evident he belongs with Chuckie and the third guy who leaves with them. So, it seems like language is a metaphor in itself, while the underlying tones are the meanings behind the metaphor.

I have some metaphor in my script, but it need more underlying tones.

I need to put some subtext into my protagonist that will be a driver for her journey, that will be a believable trigger

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Lawrence Fraly.

[Leona Heraty]

Excellent insights Larry! Thanks for sharing!

[Jim]

What I learned in rewriting my characters that the use of action can replace dialogue in defining the Protagonist’s traits.

[Deb Johnson]

I think what I learned today is from a combination of both scenes from – “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Good Will Hunting.”

The main character – or at least one of the main characters (either the hero or the villain) need to be THE BEST at something. Like in an extraordinary way… not just marginal or just as good as everyone else… but extreme. It’s kind of like Steve Harrington in “Stranger Things” – in this ensemble cast, he plays the role of someone who is completely fearless – he willingly and always will walk into danger ahead of everyone else. This is his extreme personality trait.

In my own work, which is an ensemble cast, I decided to take my main characters up a notch. Giving them all at least one extreme character trait. I haven’t figured them all out yet, but this is my goal.

[Leona Heraty]

What I learned rewriting my scene/character…this scene is funny and interesting because it has a lot of subtext! The writers worked really hard to show the character traits of Will, Chuckie, Skylar and Claude and made it intriguing, funny and even a bit menacing when Will challenged Claude in the end to a fight outside. The writing is great because there are so many layers to it! It’s definitely worth rewatching again and again. I didn’t even realize, until after reading other’s comments, that Will and Skylar were attracted to each other!