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Week 2 Day 2: Characterization Scene — WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
1. Please watch the scene and provide your insights into what makes this scene great from a writing perspective.
2. Read the other writers comments and make notes of how you will improve the relationship between your protagonist and antagonist.
3. Rethink or create a scene showing the relationship between your protagonist and antagonist using your new insights and rewrite the scene.
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9 Replies
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It was interesting learning about the characterization scene in when Harry met Sally. I learned a lot about Sally from the diner scene that was expressed in a really fun, funny, and creative way. Without knowing much about Sally, I know she’s bold, honest, and knows more about Harry than he knows. Without knowing much about Harry, I know he’s confident, smooth, and has a thing for Sally.
There’s so many diner scenes in the history of filmmaking, and this one brought a whole new element that made the movie fun in which the characterization is what brought it to life.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Anis Taylor.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Anis Taylor.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by
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I watched the WHEN HARRY MET SALLY clip at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNEX0fbGePg
In this scene, the antagonist displays his core characteristic, arrogance, that leads him to inject himself, self-assured, into the protagonist’s life and challenge her assumption that he is a philanderer and an unworthy romantic partner.
The protagonist accepts the challenge and demonstrates in the presence of the other characters why she knows he is an arrogant jerk, even if she wishes he were not, since she is obviously attracted to him.
After viewing this scene, I created a scene for my story where one character confronts the protagonist and questions her about an undisclosed, until that moment, relationship with the antagonist. The nature of the relationship is not disclosed at that moment, creating a mystery that will not be revealed until the final scene.
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I clicked on the word “Home” on the main page, then clicked on the image for our Scene Mastery course where I found all the videos.
I viewed the When Harry Met Sally scene also at this link:
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Basic scene components:
- Scene arc: Harry Burns begins the scene smug in his bachelorhood and sexual prowess, but then his friend Sally Albright pokes holes in his self-image by faking an orgasm in the middle of a crowded restaurant.
- Situation: opposite sex friends, Harry and Sally, are debating his “love ‘em and leave ‘em” lifestyle over lunch.
- Conflict: Sally finds her friend Harry’s blasé attitude about casual sex to be offensive.
- Entertainment value: this is one of the most hilarious movie scenes ever written.
- Moving the story forward: Sally has poked holes in Harry’s “player” self-image.
- Setup/payoffs: I’ve never actually watched this entire movie, so I can only guess.
- What makes this scene great? The audacity of Sally to fake an orgasm in a public place to teach a friend an important lesson.
- How does each character speak and act from their unique character profiles? Harry is cool, calculating, and rather callous. Sally is warm, passionate, and funny.
- Unique character action and dialogue. Most of the “dialogue” is Sally faking an orgasm in response to Harry’s “never happen” scoff-off that some women fake it. But the funniest line is the older woman saying “I’ll have whatever she’s having” at the end of the scene.
How can these insights improve my own script?
Script: Archangel
Insights: this is season 5 of a proposed television series, so over the course of the previous 4 seasons my main protagonist has gone from stiff, aloof, and “I’m not good at being human” to, well, he’s still rather formal and watchful, but with people he’s become close with, he occasionally displays emotion and warmth. Now that he’s got his wife back, and she’s on a rampage to get their son back from the villain, it might be fun to have him be the warmer and more personable of the two when attempting to interact with potential allies (she used to be very warm and passionate like Meg Ryan’s character, but Mama Bear’s gotta Mama Bear).
What I learned rewriting my scene? I rewrote a scene where they first encounter one of the villains minions who Ninsianna charmed into helping her. For two seasons, all this guy heard about was how her husband was going to kick his ass, and then he witnessed at the end of last season Mikhail ruthlessly slaughter the entire Sataanic battalion that stood between him and his wife, so the dude, who is no alpha male, is trembling, like literally shitting his pants, and Mikhail is like, “Hey, dude, so Ninsianna says you are chill?” Not sure I’ll keep it that way, but it was fun to play with.
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Week 2 Day 2 – Characterization Scene
This is about giving us a unique experience of who the character is through their actions and dialogue.
When Harry Met Sally — “I’ll have what she’s having.”
Basic Scene Components:
• The scene arc advances from a simple lunch conversation to a dramatic enactment done by Sally during lunch to prove a point to Harry.
• The situation defining the scene is a friendly conversation started when Sally states, “I am just so glad I never got involved with you.”
• The conflict between Sally and Harry is the disagreement of whether women pretend to have orgasms and men can’t tell the difference.
• The height of the entertainment value is when Sally acts out and orgasm at the lunch table in front of all those lunching around them. We want to see what will happen.
• Now that Sally has proven her point the story can move forward.
• The fact that Sally acts out the orgasm in an unexpected and crowded space, while embarrassing Harry makes this a great scene.
• Sally states her point then uses actions to prove her point. Harry states his point. He expects Sally to automatically accept his point of contention. That’s when Sally says, “Oh right. I forgot. You’re a man.”
• The most unique action in the scene is Sally’s demonstration for Harry. The most unique line of dialogue in the scene is the lady that tells the waiter, “I’ll have what she’s having.”
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The characterization of Harry and Sally is fantastic. The differences between their posture, speech, and even their sandwich choices define each character. The arc of the scene is Sally convincing Harry that ,yes, a woman probably faked an orgasm with him. Sally didn’t seem like a woman that would moan loudly in a restaurant, however, she does seem like a woman who will go to any length to make her point.
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Each character’s POV, likely irrespective of what came before in previous scenes, is on full display here and this is before the orgasm thing. He’s a self-assured dude, hunched over a meat sandwich, secure in his ability to satisfy a woman. Confidence is his game and it seems he’s somewhat dismissive of women and their wiles. She is confident in her own right and matches his and one-ups him by fake orgasming not only in front of him but an entire diner to make her point. At the end of this scene, if the characters weren’t on equal footing before, they are now. He’s been taken down a peg. She’s risen a bit to superior position, her point having been made.
obviously the scene is entertaining comedically with whip-smart dialogue and a good chemistry between meg Ryan and billy crystal. one wonders if the paradigm of romcoms from that era would be as effective in today’s world. What’s the norm in today’s parlance was what this scene was all about 30 years ago.
But one can learn to make sure a character’s actions and dialogue are in keeping with their established POV. Even better if their POV is opposition to one another and creating intrinsic conflict. And you don’t have a good scene without conflict.
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What I learned rewriting my scene was to be audacious and original in how I can define my characters – through actions/dialogue.
This was a great scene that evolved from their initial banter to Sally’s embarassing Harry. The “I’ll have what..” line is a great comedic punctuation.
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We have an unusual, public setting where the scene occurs for the antics that are about to transpire. Initially, there’s some bantering back and forth where a frustrated Sally expresses her delight in never hooking up with a noncommittal, nonchalant Harry. He doesn’t understand why Sally is troubled, especially in light of his ability to leave the women satisfied in light of his sexual prowess. This is the arc of the scene. After Sally questions Harry as to how is he so sure, Harry assures her he knows full well when a woman is satisfied. To his surprise and embarrassment, she challenges his foresight by acting like she’s experiencing an orgasm for all to hear. The diner acts as an audience for Sally’s display that Harry cannot refute. She ends by casually going back to eating her sandwich having accomplished her task by popping his balloon. Harry is left questioning his confidence in relationships. For further comic relief, an older lady asks the waiter to give her whatever Sally had.
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