Lesson 4

[Kenneth Johnson]

Kenneth Johnson – Character Interviews

I learned that a character must be more fully interrogated in order to understand why they do what they so we may write a more compelling and engaging story.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR PROTAGONIST
Tell me about yourself. Hi there. My name is Michael. I am a writer by trade, but I have not been doing well at that lately and my wife is on my back to get a regular job. She thinks I should go to work as an Uber driver, or maybe with one of those access companies that drive seniors to doctors appointments. I’ve got a Masters Degree for christ’s sake. I can’t see myself driving to make ends meet. I like what writing has gotten me so far, a nice home, travel, nice restaurants, kids in private school. It’s actually all kind of stressful. I like to run a few miles in the morning to relieve the stress and clear my mind. On weekends I meet with two or three running buddies for a long run by the beach before going out to breakfast together. And of course, I spend time with my Dad. That’s where things are right now.
Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you? Ever since I got drunk with my Dad watching Monday Night Football and he suddenly told me about this horrible battle during the Korean War that he and a couple of other guys survived, I knew there was a script there, but I only had the bare bones. I needed the whole story. I pitched Dad’s story out of desperation (I could lose my house) and they loved the concept and I got the assignment. Now, somehow, I have to get the whole story. Why me? Because I need the money.
You are up against Lee. What is it about him that makes this journey even more difficult for you? For one thing he’s my dad. He always thought I was too soft. He would get pissed at me if I held the door for him, “Be a man! Just walk through the damn door!” He felt my mother didn’t raise us right. She had custody and mostly blocked his visitation when we were kids. Though I tried to closer with him after college, he puts up walls. He says nasty things about other people just to see how I will react. Mostly, he seems like there are raw nerves just beneath the surface.
In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult? I mostly think about myself and how things will affect me. I worry too much about what other people think of me. It’s hard for me to genuinely care about other people’s feelings. That’s a box that I need to get out of to succeed.
What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of? I feel like I’m going to have to be totally honest with Dad. I never tell HIM the whole story. I always hold back because I want his approval. I know he never liked me going into the arts. He thought I should go into the aircraft industry like he did.
What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back? I was raised by my mother to avoid being anything like my father. As a result I’ve never accepted who I am. I don’t like myself, but I put on a show of being better than everyone else. I feel like this basic dishonesty has damaged my writing and led to the failures that have put me in this current predicament.
What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist? I really am a good writer. I’ve made a good living as a hack and I’ve honed my skills by writing ad copy and trailer scripts and marketing crap every single day. Plus, I’m his son, so I have access.
What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know? My fear that I am not good enough. That I don’t have what it takes to get this done and everything is going to come crashing down around my head.
What do you think of Lee? Honestly, I’m ashamed of my dad. Because that’s what my mother taught me to think of him.
Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. Dad told me a piece of this big, juicy story about his all-Black infantry unit getting mistreated by the rest of the Army and then getting wiped out because of it. I’m in kind of a bind, with none of my stuff selling I’m a little behind a bills and such, and the wife is losing her mind on me. During a pitch meeting at a studio the stories that I brought got shot down, so I pitched Dad’s story and they love it. So now I’ve got to get the rest of the story out of him to write the script. Only he’s not talking. He just tells me that it won’t do anybody any good to hear this story. So, that’s the nut I’ve got to crack.
What does it do for your life is you succeed here? Maybe my dad will see me as something more than a soft kid, ruined by his mom (even though I’m pushing 50!). And yes, I will keep our home and the wife will let me sleep in our bed again. The couch is really getting hard on my back.
Ask any other questions about their character profile that will help you.

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANTAGONIST
Tell me about yourself. I’m no hero. I did my duty and served my country. I came home from the Korean War to settle down and raise a family, but my wife turned out to be a little spitfire with big ideas. Too big for me I guess. Three kids later I was out on my own. I got a good job in aerospace assembling fighter jets for the military and space craft for NASA. Put in 40 good years before they laid me off. Then nobody else with good union jobs would hire me at my age. So I retired. The good thing is my house is paid off. I like working with my hands so I remodel my house. I’ve remodeled the place top to bottom seven times now. Friends and family joke that my house is a constant construction site. I don’t put up with fools and I don’t let people tell me what to do or snoop around in my business. I know the value of a dollar and an honest day’s work, and I have no time for people who don’t.
Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses? I am the father. My boy just has to accept the idea that what I say goes. That’s my strength. My weakness was letting my guard down and telling him any part of what happened under fire in Korea.
Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change? If I tell my son the whole story everyone will know the shame of how I survived when nearly 200 other men died.
What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition? I get to keep my secrets and keep everybody out of my business.
What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death? Nobody needs to know this crap.
What secrets must you keep to succeed? What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?
Compared to other people like you, what makes you special? I survived. Other people like me didn’t.
What do you think of Michael? He’s weak.
Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story. I drank too much watching a game with my son. One of those “Be all that you can be , in the Army”, recruiting commercials came on, and I said, “Yeah, you can be dead.” And I told Michael about Company K, my Company in the 24th Infantry Regiment. How that night the white mechanized units on our flanks got word of an overwhelming Chinese counter-offensive and how they pulled out without telling the 24th. I told him how we fought to the last man and were overrun and I made it out. But I didn’t tell him how I made it out. Now he wants to make a movie out of what we went through. What I went through. They treated us like dogs, the U.S. Army did. Our weapons, our uniforms, even our field rations were left over from WWII. We walked everywhere because we were told that trucks were for equipment. And it got worse from there. There’s so much more to it, but this is all best forgotten.

[Ayesha Morris]

Ayesha’s Character Interviews

What I learned doing this assignment is how to let go and listen to the flashes of thoughts coming into my head as I interviewed my characters. Recording those responses was insightful – allowed me to write in plain words the emotions or thoughts I sensed they were having. It also unlocked other possible directions to take the story, other motivations for the journey.

QUESTIONS FOR HILDA

Good evening, tell me about yourself.
I am quick. Speedy at the coal yard. The more I carry, the more I make. I am ambitious. It’s all about balance. I put a little extra dip, extra roll into what I’m carrying on the gangplank.
I even dance to bend down and get the coal basket on my head, then up to balance it.
I am 19, a coal worker, full of zest, looking forward to a better tomorrow.
Why do you think you were called to this journey? Why you?
I am the unlikely one. If a coal worker is considered low, try a prostituting coal worker…to have that background, and be hailed as a Queen, is just phenomenal.
You are up against Constable Gellerup. What is it about them that makes this journey even more difficult for you?
He keeps locking me up for every attempt to make money. He wants me more than any other man on this island. He is determined to make me pay for the collapse to his father’s business
In order to survive or accomplish this, you are going to have to step way outside of your box. What changes do you expect to make and which of them will be the most difficult?
Will have to pretend to like people I don’t
Will have to lead something when I don’t want to
Will have to almost sell my soul much less my body
What habits or ways of thinking do you think will be the most difficult to let go of?
Being brutally honest/saying what comes to mind
Feeling insecure
Need for instant gratification
What fears, insecurities and wounds have held you back?
Thinking not good enough
Feeling not strong enough
Memories of 1878, another revolution where the place burned down and punishments were harsh
Stories of 1840s, grandmother’s experience, doing this work at the crack of a whip during slavery
What skills, background or expertise makes you well-suited to face this conflict or antagonist?
I am the prime subject of his disdain
Physically fit
Limber
Power of seduction
Energetic
Able to move between worlds of coal workers and authorities
Intelligent
What are you hiding from the other characters? What don’t you want them to know?
Slept with biggest names in town
What do you think of?
Is this gift of dance a curse
Going away to study
Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story
Gellerup sees us toiling each day for little pay. He knows this is barely survival, and to deprive us of even that is wicked.
What does it do for your life if you succeed here?
Complete transformation
Ability to rise above circumstance

QUESTIONS FOR GELLERUP
Tell me about yourself.
I’m CG Gellerup, a man of action, career law enforcement, believe in the rod of correction, believe in preserving my family name and legacy
Having to do with this journey, what are your strengths and weaknesses?
Physically strong/sexually weak
Strong minded/obsessive
Focused/scattered with rum
Why are you committed to making the Protagonist fail? Or for a relationship movie, why are you committed to making them change?
My family has worked too hard to hold onto what we have
She is determined to destroy it
I can’t let that happen
What do you get out of winning this fight / succeeding in your plan / taking down your competition?
Protecting my family name
Preserving my image
Keeping our wealth for generations
Hiding my dirty little secret
What drives you toward your mission / agenda, even in the face of danger, ruin, or death?
She freaking does. She seems determined to bring about my ruin.
I must stop her before she stops me
What secrets must you keep to succeed?
My family’s illegal doings, even by back then’s standards
They continued to enslave coal laborers even after slavery was done
What other secrets do you keep out of fear / insecurity?
I like her a little bit more than I care to admit, jealous of seeing her with other men of prominence and position
Compared to other people like you, what makes you special?
I’ve developed an appreciation for Caribbean culture.
What do you think of ?
How to protect my secrets at all costs
My father
Her
Tell me your side of this whole conflict / story.
This is a matter of survival. If those people refuse to coal one ship we’ll be on the verge of losing everything.
An important shipment is on that ship
Illegal arms?
She knows my secrets.
I will not let her bring us to ruin.

[Jan Ostegard]

Jan O’s Character Interviews

I’m learning that starting each lesson listening to the empowerment audio helps me get out of my brain and into my creative space. It cuts through any anxiety and imposter syndrome giving me space to just enjoy the process. The first time I did the audio I couldn’t think of a single moment where I felt empowered. Now I’ve been able to think of a few different moments. I’m hoping to include that feeling into my protagonist’s profile and character arc as well.

Share with us what you discovered about the characters:

Emily’s profile mostly stayed the same with exception to additions based on how she changes once she’s at the cabin (like how her mission is different for her life moving forward vs just surviving the weekend). She was really easy to interview. One discovery I had was that her fear isn’t in dying, but rather in living. So the ghost doesn’t have the same power over her as he has over most people staying on that land. I knew that she wasn’t afraid to die, but didn’t realize that her fear is actually living. Maybe in the end she’ll be able to help him and his fellow ghosts move on. I hadn’t thought about that since it’s a horror script. But maybe she can help at least some of the ghosts have peace. Her strength is empathy so maybe she connects with the ghosts in a different way than most do (instead of just out of fear).

The Ghost’s profile also mostly stayed the same, but I was able to add some depth to him. I’ve only thought of him as just a ghost. Working through each lesson is giving me so much insight into who he was as a person when he was alive. And the interview helped me figure out more about his motives for haunting this space. I even gave him a name today to make him feel more like a person while interviewing him. So he’s no longer “Ghost” his name is Colonel Elias Thorn. That was probably my biggest breakthrough in the interviews. Just realizing that he was a person at one point not just this evil ghost randomly haunting people at the place he died. And I also realized that he’s still doing what he was commanded to do in guarding the hill that the cabin is on. So even though he’s very scary and violent he still thinks that he’s on the battlefield in war. The people he haunts are basically just the “enemy”. He wasn’t a good person when he was alive, but maybe he’s a product of his environment just like Emily. They could be two sides of the same coin.