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Day 4: Uncomfortable Moment – MEET THE PARENTS
1. Please watch this scene and provide your insights/breakthroughs into what makes this character great from a writing perspective.
2. Read the other writers comments and make notes of any insights/breakthroughs you like.
3. Rethink or create a scene for your script using your new insights and rewrite that scene/character.
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7 Replies
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I would like to see the 5 days of notes that were created for week 3 that didn’t go into the forum due to technical difficulties. I am happy to share mine. If anyone is interested, my email is
Thanks.
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Bob Kerr
Joan, sharing last weeks’ comments might best be suited for the end of the class. WIth the holiday chaos I don’t have time this week but would be open to sharing next week.
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That would be great. If you don’t have time next week, just do it when you can. If you could give me your email address, I will send mine along sometime next week.
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Bob Kerr
Joan: My email is kerr9606@comcast.net.
I will be able to respond by the end of the first week in January. Wrapping up a house addition remodel so pretty crazy in my home right now.
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Bob Kerr
Uncomfortable Moments – Meet The Parents
The Insights into what makes these characters great from a writing perspective
Jack is in a situation where his prospective father-in-law is clearly out to trap him and thus disqualify him as the future son-in-law. The device of the lie detector machine allows him to apply pressure on Jack’s honesty and his moral compass. The intent is to see how Jack performs under pressure because he knows there will always be pressure in any marriage. This is more of an interrogation and not just playing around.
The breakthroughs I have for my script is there is a moment where Fran must face her fear of water and what it takes to coaxes her into the boat. This becomes a moment that Fran must overcome if she if to satisfy both the coach and her father.
Watch first time for:
How many ways is this character made to feel uncomfortable
First Jack gets caught snooping. Then he gets shamed into trying on the lie detector as a play thing. Then he is asked questions that reveal his honesty and as a man to be trusted with the Dad’s daughter.
How does this put him in a weak position?
Jack is defensive, evasive and feeling like he has been trapped into revealing secrets that are none of the fathers business.
Watch the 2nd time for?
What drama is this scene built around?
This is the ritual of getting to know the parents and win their approval and blessing for the marriage. It is the dreaded right of passage for every man as he meets the parents and his fears that he might be a fraud.
What profile items showed up in these two characters words and actions
Right Character – Jack is the hopeful groom who is under siege from his potential future father-in-law with a law enforcement background.
Secret: Jack has failed at this rite of passage in previous relationships.
The father thinks no man is worthy of his daughter.
Traits:
Jack: tentative, evasive, frightened and obtuse
Father – Determined, skilled, relentless, strong
Secret:
Jack: Has watched porn before.
Father: Wants Jack to fail at every level.
Wound:
Jack has had bad experiences with authority figures in the past
Dad: He doesn’t trust his daughters choices with the men she has been involved with previously,
Future: They are going to be related by marriage eventually.
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How
many ways is this character made uncomfortable?Jack surprises him, asks what he’s looking for, says he caught Greg looking at the polygraph machine, asks him to put it on, says the machine is accurate, asks Greg to criticize the pot roast, asks him about watching porn.
How
does this put him in a weak position?Jack is asking all the questions–basically interrogating him–and operating the machine while he forces Greg to tell his secrets.
What
drama is this scene built around?Greg wants Jack to like him so he is trying to answer Jack’s questions in a way that will put him, Greg, in the best light. Jack wants to make Greg as uncomfortable as possible so he will leave Jack’s daughter.
Profile
Right character: Jack is a father on a mission to get rid of Greg.
Traits: Jack – secure, calm, comfortable, devious, cruel / Greg – insecure, uncomfortable, weak
Secret: Jack wants to get rid of Greg / Greg hated the pot roast and has watched porn.
Future: Jack is living the future of Greg being gone. / Greg is living the future of marrying his girlfriend if he can find the right answers to Jack’s questions.
These are great characters because they both love Jack’s daughter but have opposite agendas.
Breakthrough:
Making my protagonist uncomfortable when we first meet her, helps the audience empathize and like her.
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WATCH 1ST TIME FOR:
HOW MANY WAYS IS THIS CHARACTER MADE UNCOMFORTABLE? Greg is caught peeping in Jack secret nook, made to take polygraph test, made to lie about undercooked pot roast and about watching pornographic videos. Also Jack is uncomfortable that Greg has found his secret nook and might find out the truth about him.
HOW DOES THIS PUT HIM IN A WEAK POSITION? Jack now has the upper hand, having found Greg snooping in that way making him take the test. Also Greg is getting an inkling that Jack is hiding something, but his finding this nook makes him vulnerable to whatever Jack is hiding.
WATCH 2ND TIME FOR:
WHAT DRAMA IS THIS SCENE BUILT AROUND? Potential father-in-law finding Greg snooping a secret nook and grilling Greg. Jack doesn’t want Greg to marry his daughter and is trying to get rid of him. It revolves around Jack giving Greg a lie detector test, but Greg only has small things to lie about, while Jack is the big liar — hiding his true profession as a CIA agent.
WHAT PROFILE ITEMS SHOWED UP IN THESE TWO CHARACTER’S WORDS AND ACTIONS?
Greg is a nice guy, sincere, compliant, a bit weak vs. Jack being tough, suspicious, and demanding
Greg as some SECRETS, like having seen some porno videos, but Jack has a big secret — an undercover CIA agent.
Greg is living the FUTURE of marrying Jack’s daughter; Jack is living in the future of having his daughter marry the most perfect man.
What makes this character great from a writing perspective?
The contrast between these characters and their clashes coming together. In true RomCom fashion, both characters are serious in their pursuits and intentions, not comedic, but it is the situation of uncomfortable moments that makes the movie funny.
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