Week 2 Day 4: Triangle – OCEAN’S 11

[Susan]

Ocean’s 11
What makes the love triangle interesting is that the x-husband is warning his x-wife about her new boyfriend, also that the x-husband has just gotten out of prison.
I see secrets, intrigue, and emotional needs in:
The wife: is very emotionally needy and sad.
The x-husband is emotionally needy of his wife and also to get her away form her new boyfriend who appears to be evil (as well as a much worse criminal than the x-husband)
Intrigue:
The wife: Wondering what her x-husband did to make her cry besides be a criminal and go to jail
The x-husband: What he did that put him in jail, why he still wants his x-wife who doesn’t want him, how come he knows how evil her new boyfriend is
The boyfriend: Why is he so evil? How very bad of a criminal is he? What has he done? Does he kill people? Why does he want this particular woman when he knows her past and she does not want to be with a criminal?
Secrets:
Wife: What really hurts her about her x-husband
X-husband: How does he know about her new boyfriend? Why he was in the restaurant of the casino?
Boyfriend: His criminal past and present
The Conflict between the points of the triangle could be:
The love triangle tensions and actions between the x-wife and x-husband who wants to get her back, the tensions of the new boyfriend being jealous and confronting the x-wife about her contact and feelings for the x-husband, the x-husband and the boyfriend confronting each other about he woman, the confrontations, tension and conflict between them concerning the ocean’s 11 robbery plan.
The Drama of the scene is built around…
the confrontation of the woman and the x-husband, the confrontation between the new boyfriend’s threats and the x-boyfriends’ dismissal of them, the x-husband trying to warn the woman about her new boyfriend, and the love triangle.
The profile items (right character, traits, secret, wound, future) showed up in this scene for these three character’s words and actions?
Right Character:
x-husband is the right character because he has been in prison, he knows something very bad about the new boyfriend (who he is about to rob), and the woman feels pain from him.
The woman is the right character because she is in pain, because she is repeating a pattern at an even worse level than before, and because she is blind to parts of reality that are right in front of her.
The new boyfriend is the right character because the x-husband is going to rob him, he is going to hurt the woman even more than her x-husband, he is evil.
What makes each of these characters great from a writing perspective?
The woman: She has a repeating pattern with men, and blind spots that need to be addressed, she is wounded.
The x-husband: He is cavalier, he is up against the new boyfriend in more ways than one, and he is a thief that needs to reconcile or at least be forgiven by his x-wife.
The New Boyfriend: He is the right character because he is seeing the x-husband’s x-wife, he is evil, he is a worse criminal than the x-husband, the woman thinks he is squeaky clean, it will be interesting to show how bad and how criminal he really is.
Traits in this scene:
Woman: Needy, Sad, Sarcastic,
X-husband: Liar, Thief, Joker, Event Planner/Organizer,
New Boyfriend: Liar, Criminal, Murderer?, Schemer, Charmer, Mafia type,
Wound:
Woman: Her x-husband has made her cry
X-husband: He really loves his x-wife (it’s not a joke)
New Boyfriend: Not visible in this scene.

Secret:
Woman: She is still in love with her X-husband
X-husband: He is about to rob her new boyfriend
He is a criminal and we suspect – a murderer

The future of their relationships is shown by their interactions in this scene: there will be issues between them as stated above, the casino will be robbed, the woman will find out exactly how evil her new boyfriend is, possibly she will want to get even/revenge.

What makes each of these characters great from a writing perspective:
There is so much tension in each character and their opposing needs, and desires as well as how each character’s issues and who they really are needs to be revealed as the audience is left wondering about each of them.