Day 2: “What I learned rewriting my scene/character…?”

[Sandeep Gupta]

The less I think about this scene this late in the day, the happier I will be. At the same time, the power of the value contrast he has to execute, will haunt Rick and will haunt me too, I think.

[Deb Johnson]

I scanned the entire script for a scene to use this in – and didn’t know where to put it. My character values honesty above all else – so I thought it would be easy to find a place where she tells a lie. This was difficult.

I finally found a place right before her Crisis. Instead of telling the truth – she uses a lie to push an important friend away. This worked out great – what was supposed to be a “coming together” scene – where they finally admit they like each other – becomes a scene that isolates my hero – sending her into her Crisis completely alone and vulnerable. Which, of course, makes for better drama!

[Trish Carothers]

What I learned about rewriting my scene is to pump up the emotive power and difficult choices for the characters involved. Excited and thrilled to see what I can accomplish.

[J.R Riddle]

It is easily seen how this cop gave up his values about helping people, helping children. When the “monster/child” begins to attack, he reacted with self-preservation and fired his gun. That face was not of a child but a monster.

The drama was based around all the death, destruction around the cop. What does he do? The cop character was moved by his helping nature, trained as a policeman, but obviously he’s frightened out of his wits when she turns around. An old wound?

The surprise “reveal” is that the little girl is not an innocent – she is an attacking creature. This would not be a movie that I would watch any longer than this clip. My screenplays are not as dark as this, so I will have a difficult time relating to my script – however I will look into this change of values on another level.