Ninja vs Penguin

Penguin March 1st, 2008

We’re working our way backwards through 3 questions you should ask your screenplay. We’ve covered “Why should I care?” and now we’re going to ask “Who is driving the story?”

You’ll be surprised by the answer to this question. A lot of times, we think and hope it’s our hero, but that’s not always the case. You can ask the following questions determine who the protagonist really is.

• Who is making the choices?
• Who is taking action versus just reacting?
• Who has the wound?
• Who has the desire that drives the film?
• Who has the major self revelation at the end?

This is not to say you can’t make a great film if your hero doesn’t do this. But you have to understand that your hero is the character the audience has hooked on to. They’re the one they care about. They’ll be experiencing things through him.

-Penguin

• Writing Great Characters (0)
• The Naked Screenplay: Why Should I Care? (1)
• The Naked Screenplay: Who is the Hero? (1)
• Story Structure (0)
• Redefining Motivation (0)

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