Today I spent the day working with one of my new students I met in Baltimore. These day sessions I offer exclusively to my private students are both intense and inspiring, as we take a rough idea and develop the structure for a complete first draft in a matter of hours.
Mike should be commended for all of his hard work that will no doubt result in fewer drafts as he completes a market-ready screenplay in the next few months.
Today’s session made me consider what it would be like to spend time with the characters in my own films.
As an exercise:
Consider the main character of your screenplay. What would it be like to spend a day with them. Is their day a lot like your own or very different? Would you think it was a boring day or eye-opening?
Now set a timer for 10 minutes and write down on a piece of paper what you and your character would do during your day together. Did you experiment with his new powers like in Spider-Man or spend the day tunneling through his walls like in The Shawshank Redemption or have a really good day at the track like in Let It Ride?
What have you learned about your character? Did you think of something new for your character to do in your script? Does your hero need a friend like you to help create conflict in your movie?
As always I’d love to hear what you come up with.
Good luck and happy writing.
