Pic courtesy Pascal P, Flickr
In
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo becomes the ring
bearer to return the ring to its place of origin, Mount Doom, so he
can destroy it. That is his dramatic need. How he gets there and
completes the task is the story.
The
character's need determines the creative choices he/she makes during
the screenplay, and gaining clarity about that need allows you to be
more complex, more dimensional, in your character portrayal.
Without
conflict, there is no action. Without action, there is no character.
Action is Character. What a person does is what he is, not what he
says!
-Screenplay:
The Foundations of Screenwriting, Syd Field
There
are two subjects that I frequently write about on this blog: creative
writing and self-improvement. They are two fairly distinct topics.
I've also written quite a few posts about my life and the slightly
weird situations I find myself in.
Occasionally,
there's a crossover. I'll have an anecdote that bridges two of those.
Take this one, for example: I am 15 years old, reading a copy of the
Reservoir Dogs screenplay instead of revising for my GCSEs. I realise
that this is what I want to do with my life: I want to tell stories
for the cinema. I want to write. The only half-decent jobs I'd ever
be applicable for, however, are in IT and that's what I've applied to
do at college. I'll never get the grades to study media, which might-
at a long-shot- lead to a career in screenwriting. Or that's what I
think, until I find an intermediate course at a local college, a
course that doesn't require any grades at all. This is it: my first
step to becoming a screenwriter.
A
year later, I've made it onto the advanced course. A couple of people
from the media industry come to the college to give careers advice.
One tells us that to stand out from the crowd, and to be hired by
media managers, a degree can be really helpful.
Another
year later, I've learned an introduction to a range of sectors within
the media industry- the goings-on in the worlds of print media,
design, video, sound recording and editing, live TV and radio. I've
finished the intermediate level work and am half-way through the
advanced course. I still want to be a screenwriter, but I've learned
so much about how competitive each sector of the media is and how
each area- be it graphics or marketing- are totally different lines
of work. We have touched on screenwriting here and there, but I've
struggled with the modules that relate to it- the video modules I've
found challenging due to memory difficulties and learning to use the
technical equipment, and with organising groups of people like actors
and crew. I don't really know where my strengths are and
Screenwriting has become a pipe dream.
It's
the start of my final year at college. The course tutor tells us that
if we want to go to university next year, we'll have to fill in our
UCAS forms now. The idea of me actually being taken on by a university seems
ridiculous. I got a very low merit grade in my intermediate media
course, and 1 grade C in my GCSEs. I feel like I'm being kidded, but
I don't have anything to lose. I fill all six options on my UCAS
form. As we've been learning about various different media forms, I
have no idea what to focus on and screenwriting has been pushed to
the back of my mind. I apply for more general media courses at degree
level; an HND in Media Production is right down at the bottom. I send
it off and forget about it.
Whilst
I'm hammering through reports, practical projects and evaluations, a
letter comes in the post. It's an invitation for an interview at The
University of Salford- my last choice. I attend the interview and it
goes well- I surprise myself with what knowledge I've actually
retained- but I'm intimidated by the prospect of me doing this at
higher education level with the intention of doing it professionally.
Here I am, waffling about 2-camera set-ups and interview techniques.
It all sounds very convincing. I'm too dazed, due to hard-and-fast
work, hampered by forgetting countless things, to stop and think
about why I ever started on the intermediate course to begin with.
Regardless, I gave the interview a shot.
Days
later, I get accepted onto the course. I'm in disbelief. My next two
years, at least, are planned out. I just hope they support me in
whatever way I need.
One
of the last college modules I complete is Freelance Journalism. The
majority of this is written work, an area where I seem to be getting
a lot of Distinctions. There's a flash of inspiration as I look
through all of my grades from the last two years. Each module has
four grades: Planning and research, Implementation, Evaluation and
Outcome. Each grade is either a Pass, Merit or Distinction. My grades
are mostly Merits, but the Distinctions are scattered around the work
where writing was a major part. Four in Freelance Journalism. A lot
more in Evaluations. A tutor tells me my writing has come on a long
way.
There's
a part of me that wants to “pull the handbrake on”- to say, “Wait
a minute. I seem to be a dab hand with this here. I should be doing a
writing course, not a technical one.” But as I've been turned down
for every other course I've applied for, I assume that the place I've
been given is the ONLY course at the ONLY university that would ever
take me.
I'm
prepared to bet that I'd have been wrong. Why didn't I get that
movie-style flashback of me trying to read the Reservoir Dogs
screenplay in school, and being filled with that urge- that NEED to
tell stories and to put sentences together? Why didn't I look at
these grades and realise that I was more likely to fulfil my original
ambition than I was of having a chance of succeeding on this tech
course and getting a job in that field?
Because
I forgot all about my dramatic need.
I
had pushed those harboured desires to write to the back of my brain,
where they stayed until my 26th birthday. Then, whilst
chowing down on jalapeno pizza, I was talking to a relative about
blogging. She asked me if I'd considered sending it out to anywhere-
local magazines or newspapers. I said I'd never thought of that, but
there's no reason why I couldn't, I suppose. I'd been writing for fun
for a couple of years, but at that moment in Albert's Shed in
Castlefield, the penny dropped.
I
was a writer. It was no wonder I'd not succeeded at anything else.
The grades I'd got at school, college and uni were all average except
those I got for the written work. The hopeless attempt I'd made to
join the Armed Forces years after graduating had involved testing-
I'd scored abysmally at the memory and numeracy sections, but very
strong in the literacy section (and my electrical comprehension score
was very high, bizarrely).
There
was one other problem I have had- aside from applying to the wrong
jobs and doing the wrong course. Throughout college, university and
subsequent jobsearching, I'd forgotten what I wanted in the end. As
a result of not having this “dramatic need” of my own, I didn't
know how to behave. My whole personality was “wrong”- I was shy,
depressed, directionless and frustrated. I wanted to develop myself
and become more confident, but into what? What was I striving for? I
wanted a girlfriend, but what else? Regardless of other people, what
did I want from life?
I
had no idea. Not until that birthday meal. I am a writer, first and
foremost. I do reception work to pay the bills, and I'm grateful to
be in a job in this climate, but integrally, I write. Since that
conversation on my 26th, I've become much more confident–
overall, with writing, and with talking to friends, family and
colleagues. I've made decisions based on that need and I feel like I
know myself a lot more. I stumbled across that opening quote more
recently and it spoke volumes to me. It said, know what you want and
you will know who you are. And knowledge, as we all know, is power.
Power, even if only over yourself, is confidence.
