Day 2 – What I learned …

[Isti Madarasz]

Molly’s game is wonderful as everything that Aaron Sorkin writes. Just to begin with, by claiming that “you get 3 years of therapy in 3 minutes” the writer is taking on an almost impossibly difficult task, as it requires at least all the knowledge of a therapist – but Sorkin rises to the challenge.

Of the three questions, only one is asked by the father, the second is said by the daughter, and the third – the most important, it seems – is explicitly important to be said by the daughter. The father says he will answer it, but the daughter has to ask it – and in doing so he sets a huge stake, a tension, the viewer senses that this is going to be the point, it has been all about this so far. In the question “Why didn’t you love me like my brothers and sisters?” is all the pain of a whole childhood. And the father’s answer, which is the point, is brilliantly said for the first time in a way that can’t be understood, and she asks him back. And then the father repeats, “I knew you knew”. And the cheating is revealed, the fact that the girl saw it when she was 5 but dug it deep within herself… in these few minutes, the whole life story of both characters is revealed to us, not by their conversation alone, but by our understanding.

What I’ve learned from this is that if I have enough of my characters’ profiles in my head (if I’ve taken the time to write them), it’s easier to “leak” them through dialogue.

[Deb Johnson]

Upon further reflection – I think I understand a little more about having the Character Profile revealed through dialogue. Here are the things we learn specifically about Molly:

•     That she’s was brought up with privilege – a house on a lake.

•     The ability to ski all over the world.

•     That her father is a successful psychiatrist or psychologist

•     She has two brothers who are both successful – one is a doctor – the other is?

•     That she is an alcoholic – but sober now

•     That she used to do drugs (maybe still does them?)

•     That her father cheated on her mother and Molly found out when she was five years old – but didn’t understand it at the time

•     That Molly resented her father and was a disrespectful/rebellious teen

•     That Molly drove her fathers car into a McDonalds

These are all things we learn from this scene and this dialogue exchange. We don’t see any of this happen on screen – but we get a lot of information about Molly from her conversation w/ her father.

Things we learn specifically about Larry:

•     He’s a highly paid psychiatrist/psychologist

•     He still speaks to his ex-wife – they are both concerned for Molly’s wellbeing

•     He raised three very successful children

•     He cheated on his wife and they are divorced

•     He has a very strong will – authoritative

•     He is vengeful – he wants to find and destroy the man who hurt his daughter

•     He desperately wants to reconcile with his daughter – to help her understand why they don’t get along.

So – not having seen this movie – I can fill in Molly’s Character profile – just from this scene:

Traits – strong willed, stubborn, sarcastic, isolated

Subtext – resentful of her father

want/need – wants her father to leave her alone – needs to be reconciled.

Flaw: can’t see the truth of their relationship – thinks she did something wrong

Wound: felt that her father didn’t love her – that he cared more for her brothers

what makes them special: She built her business from scratch and is incredibly successful

And here’s Larry’s character profile.

Traits – strong willed, authoritative, sarcastic, wants to engage

Subtext – wants to reconcile with his daughter

want/need – wants Molly to be okay – needs to be honest and reconcile with her

Flaw: approaches things as a professional psychiatrist, instead of as a father

Wound: his daughter despises him – he’s ashamed of his past affairs

what makes them special: incredibly intuitive – is able to steer the conversation towards reconciliation.

So, I took two character profiles, and wrote a scene where these character traits are exposed. It was helpful to have the character profiles in front of me – and I kept referencing them as the scene unfolded. While it still needs work – it helped me understand how to develop dialogue by using the character profiles.

[Mary Dietz]

Before this lesson, I was wondering how I could get more backstory and character profile into my story. This has helped a lot.

I’m rewriting a scene early in the story where the protagonist’s family is processing the death of a middle-aged family member. They need to make decisions about how to care for the children. I’m finding that exploring the differences between characters is more satisfying than focusing on what they hold in common. This one conversation can now stand as a firmer foundation on which to proceed with other dialogue and action.