Genres

A Writer’s Guide to Allies

June 9, 2016 Follow Up, Genres, Story and Plot

On Scriptnotes, we often talk about heroes and villains. In episode 252, we discussed allies, and the different types of relationships between two characters.

What is the point of an ally in narrative?

Characters advance their interests through allies.
Characters learn about themselves through allies.
Characters suffer pain for the wrong rewards.
Allies define the incorrectness of a character’s starting point, and the correctness of their arrival point.
Allies are more subtle and universal than enemies.

In real life, few people have villains that must be vanquished to save the day. But everyone has friends — and friends can be tricky, tricky things.

Allies should theoretically be capable of being heroes — except in feature films, they can’t. Rather —

They need to illuminate the hero without pulling focus.
They need to challenge the hero without becoming the villain.
They serve as a proxy for the audience, asking our questions, sharing our fears.

There’s not much to learn from “we have to stop the evil genius before he blows up the world.” But drama, both in the real world and in fiction, comes from interaction with characters who are theoretically on our side.

Craig had a bunch of examples from Game of Thrones, some of which we didn’t have time to explore on the show. So here’s his complete list.

Marriage of convenience
We don’t like each other, but we need each other

Buddies
Jon Snow and Tormund

Unrequited love
Jorah Mormont and his Khaleesi

Misplaced faith
Cersei and the High Sparrow
Sansa and Joffrey

Parent/child
The Three-Eyed Raven and Bran
Tywin and Tyrion

Codependency
Jamie and Cersei Lannister

Disciple and prophet
The Faceless Man and Arya Stark

Manipulator and Manipulated
Littlefinger and Lysa Aryn

Sparring Partner
Tyrion and Varys

Animal loyalty
Hodor and Bran

Bad for each other
Jon Snow and Ygritte

Alpha and Beta
Jon Snow and Sam
Yara and Theon

Oedipal
Robb and Catelyn Stark

Master and slave
Ramsay Bolton and Reek

Bound by honor
Brienne and Sansa

You could argue with any of these categorizations. The point is that characters can be related in many ways other than the simple hero/villain paradigm.

Five jokes, considered

February 1, 2016 Film Industry, Genres, Words on the page

Jesse David Fox assembled a list of 100 jokes that shaped modern comedy.

I don’t necessarily agree with many of his choices, but it’s a good excuse to look at a few jokes and appreciate why they work.

“What’s the difference between a pickpocket and peeping tom? A pickpocket snatches watches.”
– Redd Foxx

It begins with a classic joke setup, but instead of a punchline, it relies on the audience doing the work of parsing “watching snatches.” It’s naughty rather than dirty, and better for it. This kind of joke would be difficult to fit into a movie, because it relies on that pause while the audience figures out the second part.

“Turn right here? [Pause.] Well, now that was my fault again. You see I meant the next street. Not this man’s lawn.”
– Bob Newhart

Newhart’s comedy goes hand-in-hand with his too-obliging persona, but the setup here is solid: he creates the expectation of a car turning right at an intersection, and then defeats it with a surprise visual gag.

In the movie version of this joke, the punchline would happen before the car turned. (“Turn right here. (beat) No, not this man’s lawn.”) Alternately, the car drives onto the lawn, likely during the initial pause.

“I was raped by a doctor…which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.”
– Sarah Silverman

I was in the audience for the taping of Silverman’s Jesus is Magic special, and laughed so much it hurt the next day. Like many of her best jokes, it relies on a premise of “I’m a terrible person for saying this but…”

As dialogue, this kind of joke is easy to give to the right character. The same hold true for this one:

“The other kid we have, she’s a girl, and she’s 4, and she’s also a fucking asshole.”
– Louis C.K.

This line from the Girls pilot also walks that line of knowing you’re saying something insufferable:

“I think I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least a voice. Of a generation.”
– Hannah (Lena Dunham)

I don’t have reason to write many jokes. Most of the projects I work on are either dramas or premise-funny rather than punchline-funny. But I always admire well-crafted jokes. They’re tiny works of magic.

Ocean’s 77

Episode - 233

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January 19, 2016 Awards, Follow Up, Genres, News, Pitches, QandA, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed

Craig and John play “How Would This Be a Movie?” looking at three articles in the news.

A band of pensioners pull off an audacious jewel heist — but is it a Working Title comedy, or something darker? Where does the story begin and end? What’s the MacGuffin?

A researcher investigates sleep paralysis and visions of an Italian witch. Is the movie a straightforward horror thriller, and if so, how do you make the audience care about your hero?

A revenge porn king is confronted by his victims. But would the movie version be an investigation (like Spotlight), or a tale of personal justice (like Taken)?

We also need your suggestions for finding a non-coffeeshop place to write when sharing a studio apartment.

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