Day 4 – What I learned …

[Isti Madarasz]

Peter Parker just finds out he has superpower, he has spider-like abilities. He just discovers the spider web that shoots out of his wrist is good for many things. This not only builds the scene and is a tireless source of humour, but also introduces us to one of his most important spider skills, which he will use a lot later on.

When he gets into a conflict with the school bully, Peter chooses to leave, rather clumsily – we understand this character more and more. He may have superpowers, but (for now) he’s still just an introverted teenager. When the fight is inevitable, he mostly just defends himself and tries to avoid the punches that come his way, but as he starts to understand his abilities, we see him enjoying it more and more. Eventually, there comes a point of no return and he hits back once, but with such force that his opponent flies far away, and then the contents of a tray fall on his head, just as it did earlier in the dining room. When you’re messing with Peter Parker, you’ll get food in your face…

What I learned, that I have to come up with interesting scenes to introduce my hero’s abilities, so the audience can learn it from the situations and not from dialogues.

[Deb Johnson]

What I learned –

A character reveal doesn’t have to happen through dialogue. I took an introductory scene and eliminated the dialogue that wasn’t necessary – and just let the characters actions do the work.

[Mary Dietz]

I had to think about which character in my script had the most to reveal. I chose a character that begins in a subordinate position but rises to challenge the protagonist. Her reveal is in her ancestry that she uses to establish what she thinks is her rightful place.

I needed to create tension that would last for the rest of the story, but it had to be based on standard values so the two “fighters” who are from different cultures would understand the impact of the reveal. Like our Spider Man example, the social status upset needed to be shown affecting both characters in the fight as well as other family members.

As the writer, I had to put myself in my characters’ shoes more for this scene than in some of the others.