Week 4 Day 4 – Ironic Dialogue — IN THE LINE OF FIRE

[Susan Willard]

Week 4 Day 4 – Ironic Dialogue — IN THE LINE OF FIRE

Scene “The Irony is so Thick.”

SETUP: There is a credible threat against the President’s life and Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan must stop it. After the shooter saves Frank’s life, Frank gets a call from him with a few FYI’s.

Watch first time for:

Basic scene components —

Scene arc:

A former Secret Service agent, who worked for protecting JFK during his assassination, gets a call from a criminal who is planning to kill the current president.

Situation:

The former Secret Service agent, who is investigating the plot to kill the current president, tries to get information out of the caller that only pokes fun on him.

Conflict: Ironic Conflict:

§ The same government that trained Mitch Leary to kill, also trained Frank Horrigan to protect.

§ Frank Horrigan could not save JFK from assassination but did save someone on the rooftop and accused by Mitch Leary of saving himself, and Mitch Leary, the assassin, saved Frank Horrigan.

§ Mitch Leary is determined to kill the current president, while Frank Horrigan is determined to stop Mitch Leary and kill him also.

Moving the Story Forward:

The Scene moves the story forward by their back-and-forth power struggle of phone dialogue.

Entertainment Value:

The dynamic banter between the two men on the phone, along with each other’s reactions create an entertaining scene. The audience must stick around to see if Frank Horrigan kill Mitch Leary by the end of the movie.

Setups:

§ Mitch Leary wants to kill the president.

§ Frank Horrigan want to kill Mitch Leary and foil his evil plot.

Payoffs:

I have not seen the movie, but I hope both the setups are satisfied by the end of the movie.

Watch second time for:

What makes this scene great?

The adversarial relationship between both men, their dialogue, and their enthusiastic responses to each other.

Besides saying it is ironic, how does irony show up in the dialogue
itself?

§ Mitch Leary says, “The irony’s so thick that you can choke on it… The same government that trained me to kill trained you to protect.”

§ Mitch Leary says, “Do you really have the guts to take a bullet.”

§ Frank Horrigan says, “I’ll be thinking about that while I’m pissing on your grave.”

How does irony show up in the character’s behavior?

Both men’s faces show their passion, anger, and determination, as they talk with each other, through their facial expressions: eyes open wide, skin color changes, eyebrows ruffle or release, their smiles, grimaces, or pursed lips.

What are your insights into ironic dialogue and irony in general?

§ Irony in a scene can give deeper meanings to actions, words, or situations.

§ Irony can set up new and deeper pay offs for later in the film or story.

§ Irony can add depth to your character, that otherwise would not be possible.

§ Irony can add additional relationships to consider between your protagonist and your antagonist.

What I learned in rewriting my scene.

I have learned that irony can fit in my scenes in ways I have never expected. I need to practice and really investigate where I can use irony. I believe this could be beneficial to my screenplays.

[Zev Ledman]

Ironic Dialogue- IN THE LINE OF FIRE

Irony means there are two opposites present and the combination is meaningful.

1. Please watch this scene and provide your insights into what makes this scene great from a writing perspective. You have two individuals that are at odds. Both are dangerous. One wants to kill the other, who happens to be the one that saved his life. The other is trying to kill the person who the other is trying to protect.

2. Read the other writers comments and make notes of how you might use ironic dialogue in your script.

3. Rethink or create an Ironic Dialogue scene for your script using your new insights and rewrite the scene. Then post the answer to the question, “What I learned rewriting my scene…?” and post it in the 6 PM daily post here.

SETUP: There is a credible threat against the President’s life and Secret Service Agent Frank Horrogan must stop it. After the shooter saves Frank’s life, Frank gets a call from him with a few FYI’s.

Watch 1st time for:

<ul type=”disc”>