Coffee is brewing and I’m in the middle of character development for the family members in my screenplay. One of the things that I remember from my screenwriting class was the professor always asking us “whose story is it?” That’s a good question, especially since I have three family members who can all easily fill the Protagonist roll. Using Bibisco software (that I’ve mentioned in previous postings) is a tremendous help in getting to know your characters. I’ve so far completed the personality traits of the father and am now moving on to the mother and child. But, one thing I’ve been dwelling on more and more is which point of view is the story being told from. Pulling out my old notes, I’m sharing with you (and reminding myself) of what my screenwriting goals are:
- Who’s my PROTAGONIST (my main character)?
- WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT?
- This is the goal throughout the story and sets up the Central Conflict
- What is the Protagonist’s Flaw?
- The flaw should be blocking the goal to create conflict
- The flaw will need to be addressed to challenge the conflict
- What happens if the Protagonist doesn’t achieve the goal?
- The sets up what’s at stake
- What area the consequences for the Protagonist?
- WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT?
- Who’s the ANTAGONIST?
- How are they preventing the Protagonist from achieving their goal?
- LOGLINE
- One sentence that summarizes the essence of your story
- Protagonist + Flaw + Goal vs Conflict from Antagonist challenging
That should keep me busy for the next few days. I’m really happy to have found Bibisco. I know that I keep plugging it, but it’s tremendously helpful for me at this stage, despite it being made for writing novels rather than screenplays.
What other tools (besides coffee) are screenwriters using to help them with their writing? It would be wonderful to hear about those in the comments section.
Hej då & Cheers!
CAIO-FILM Productions 