Week 4 Day 1 – Attack / Counterattack — GROSS POINTE BLANK

[jay miracle]

“What I learned rewriting my scene was I needed to escalate the level of banter between my two leads – like a tennis game – the better the opponent, the higher level the game.

[Anna Burroughs-Merrill]

GROSSE POINT BLANK

Watch 1st time for basic scene components:

Scene arc – Martin’s in therapy with Dr. Oatman, who he recently told he was a hitman. Martin is ruminating about thoroughly normal issues, but the doctor is uncomfortable and wants to drop Martin as a patient. Martin keeps coming anyways, and Dr. Oatman is frightened to just tell him to go away, so he keeps seeing him every week. Martin wants a normal doctor-patient relationship to deal with his anxiety, doesn’t see what his work has to do with anything, while Dr. Oatman wants Martin to stop killing people.

Situation – a hitman seeks therapy

Conflict – Martin wants to deal with his issues, but the doctor is afraid of him.

Entertainment value – this is rather funny, to watch Martin’s disconnect between the morality of his line of work.

Moving the story forward – the scene ends with Martin agreeing to go to his high school reunion and look up the girl he still dreams of 10 years after the fact.

Setup/payoffs – setups for the high school reunion and looking up the old girlfriend, as well as possible killing people or choosing not to kill people.

Watch 2nd Time for:

What makes this scene great? Martin’s emotional disconnect between what he does for work and his very ordinary feelings of listlessness over his life.

How almost every response is an Attack / Counterattack. Dr. Oatman wants out, but Martin keeps shooting down (snark) his excuses over his job and coming right back with thoroughly ordinary human dilemmas that you would ordinarily discuss in therapy. Its funny, the disconnect.

How this is a natural part of their relationship. Dr. Oatman appears to be a very competent psychologist, but he has a dilemma now that his patient could kill him.

How Attack / Counterattack comes from opposing perspectives. Dr. Oatman thinks being a hitman is wrong (and it scares him). Martin doesn’t care about morality and doesn’t see his job as an issue. He is focused on his angst. It makes for some hilarious verbal disconnect.

What insights did you have about Attack/Counterattack dialogue? A lot about their personalities and worldviews was revealed in the back-and-forth, which was witty, but revealing.

[Susan Willard]

Week 4 Day 1 – Attack – Counterattack — GROSS POINTE BLANK

Assignment

SETUP: Martin is a hitman who has an invitation to go back to his high school reunion and see his high school girlfriend that he abandoned. This is his regularly scheduled therapy session.

Watch 1st time for:

Basic scene components —

Scene arc:

Martin arrives at his therapy session and begins talking. Therapist states that he no longer is his therapist, because the Therapist is afraid of him – being a hit man he fears for his life and is emotionally afraid. Martin is at wits end and emotionally wants to work with the therapy process to solve his problems. The two men fight their issues through their discussion with each other, until the Therapist give therapy suggestions. Martin reluctantly receives them. The end of the session until the next one.

Situation:

Martin is compelled to collaborate with the Therapist. He is emotionally desperate to solve his life’s problems. At the same time, his therapist is compelled to bow out of counseling Martin, because Martin told him that he made a living as a hitman. The Therapist is emotionally desperate to not have Martin as a patient. They push their sides of the situation, back and forth, in the form of dialogue.

Conflict:

Both Martin and actively working to get their position taken seriously and resolved. Martin keeps pushing his therapist to collaborate with him to solve life problems, while his therapist is desperate to get away and never see Martin again, fearing for his life. Both men push, against each other, the best they know how in their dialogues.

Entertainment Value:

§ The action of the attack / counterattack dialogue.

§ Each men driven deeper into the situation by their fight, instead of flight, dialogue.

§ Both men are threatened by the other’s adverse actions. We are intrigued and stay to watch what will happen.

Moving the Story Forward:

Each statement, each thought put into dialogue move the scene forward. No waste in any word or sentence. The fight in discussion is swift and well thought out by each man. Until Martin gets three or four answers from the Therapy and verification from the therapist that he, Martin, indeed, needs to get a different scenery – and without shooting anyone.

Setup/Payoffs:

§ Setup: Martin asks if he should go to his high school reunion.

§ Payoff: Therapist finally says, “Yes” after a war of words.

§ Setup: The Therapist doesn’t want to collaborate with Martin because the Therapist is afraid for his life.

§ Payoff: No payoff on this scene, but there may be further into the movie.

§ Setup: M Martin asks the therapist for a regular therapy session, and even threatens him to get it.

§ Payoff: Therapist answers Martins questions:

Ø Question: Martin wanted to talk about why he was miserable.

Ø Answer: Therapist said he was killing him. It was obvious. His life was lacking morality.

Ø Question: Martin asked to talk about his dreams about being a battery bunny, as one example.

Ø Answer: Therapist answered that the bunny represented Martin, no brain, banging his hands together, not doing anything, aimless…

Ø Question: Martin asks if he should go to the high school reunion.

Ø Answer: Therapist: Yes, just don’t shoot anyone.

Watch 2nd Time for:

What makes this scene great?

The natural and realistic nature of the banter back and forth allows the audience to not only witness, but to experience and relate to both men and their struggles.

How every response is an Attack / Counterattack?

Each line is either an attach or a counterattack because each man responds to the other’s comments with their point of view, in a simple and direct manner.

How this is a natural part of their relationship.

This is a natural part of the Therapist patient’s (or potential patient) relationship of being truthful, direct, to the point, deathly honest and personal with each other.

How Attack / Counterattack comes from opposing perspectives.

Each character’s dialogue pushes back giving his perspective on how things should be going.

What insights did you have about Attack/Counterattack dialogue?

Having considered and tried to write dialogue like this for a scene in my active script, I am going to have to write slower, more detailed, more to the point, in a layered fashion to get a moving combat type dialogue that works well and moves the scene to the next scene. (Lots of practice ahead of me).

[Zev Ledman]

Attack / Counterattack — GROSS POINTE BLANK

1. Please watch this scene and provide your insights into what makes this scene great from a writing perspective. The interaction between the Psychiatrist and his hitman patient. A little like the Sopranos, but with some bantering humor.

2. Read the other writers comments and make notes of how you will use reveals in your script.

3. Rethink or create an Attack / Counterattack scene for your script using your new insights and rewrite the scene. A very reluctant and scared Psychiatrist is unable to get rid of his patient. Martin, a hitman, muses on whether he should go to his 10^th High School reunion and interact with his classmates, especially with Debbie, his old sweetheart.

Then post the answer to the question, “What I learned rewriting my scene…?” and post it in the 6 PM daily post here.

SETUP: Martin is a hitman who has an invitation to go back to his high school reunion and see his high school girlfriend that he abandoned. This is his regularly scheduled therapy session.

Watch for:

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