Story and Plot

How do you develop and decide on names for characters?

–Lauren

First, decide if you’re usually going to refer to this character by their
first name, last name or some other nickname. In GO, Ronna and Claire are always
referred to by their first names, whereas Gaines and Singh are last names,
while Tiny and Junior are nicknames.

Once you’ve decided which part of the name is most important, pick one that
sounds appropriate to the character. How you choose that name is up to you.
Some people use baby names books or the telephone directory. For some reason,
I name a lot of characters after streets in my neighborhood. If you’re really
stuck, Final Draft has a names database that can be helpful in a pinch.
However you find the name, it should start with a different letter than any
other name in the script, just to avoid reader confusion.

Now pick a first or last name to go with it. Often, I’ll just pick a letter
at random and start sounding out names until I find one that seems to work.
As a final check, I always rack my brain to see if I remember anybody else
with that name. It’s creepy how often I’ll end up with somebody I already know.

This week’s column continues a lengthy answer to a question
posed earlier, namely…
Why does it seem that there are maybe 6 templates for Hollywood movies? As
a writer you pick one of those, fill in the check boxes, and poof the next
movie of the week. Is it because of the money to be made, or a lack of talented
writers getting their scripts to the right people, or is it due to producers
and directors not getting the ‘picture’, or is it because those mentioned above
don’t really give a rats butt about the people going out to see a movie?

–Niall

In a previous column, I talked about why so many movies seem to have the same
overall "shape," which
I postulate comes mostly from the limited number of outcomes any storyline
can have. In a romantic comedy, either the couple ends up together or they
don’t. Whatever the details, one of those two results is going to happen.

Of course, it’s the details that make a story unique and interesting. Even
with just two possible outcomes, there are a million different romantic comedies
you could write. So the real question is…
Why does Hollywood keep making the same damn movies?

Theory 2: Audiences Want Hamburger

Right from the start, I’ll have to admit to some strong personal biases in
this theory. I wrote and produced GO, which certainly wasn’t to everyone’s
taste,
but was at least different than every other youth-centered comedy on the market.
There was no high school, no prom, no parents, no awkward girl who’s really
pretty when she takes her glasses off. We got good reviews and great test audience
scores.

But when the dust settled and the box office receipts came in, it turned out
people wanted the prom. GO made money, but not nearly as much as NEVER BEEN
KISSED, VARSITY BLUES, SHE’S ALL THAT, or 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU. The problem
wasn’t the
marketing, the problem was the movie itself.

We were offering taboulleh, but the audience wanted hamburger.
Deep down, I think the movie-going public wanted to see the white, middle-class
suburban fairy tale they’d seen a hundred times before. Our movie was a gritty
$7 million comedy with drugs and guns, and the presence of young attractive
stars wasn’t going to change that.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make difficult, challenging, rewarding movies.
You should. But you shouldn’t delude yourself into thinking they’re crowd-pleasing
populist entertainment when they’re not.

So how do we get Hollywood to make more good, original, groundbreaking films
and fewer by-the-numbers retreads? A few ways:

First and foremost, we need to support the quality movies that are made, which
means buying tickets and dragging your friends to see them. Around December,
there’s always a few "vitamin" movies, films that you’re told to
see because they’re good for you. But it’s just as important to rally behind
the groundbreaking action movies, comedies and genre pieces so Hollywood can
see
that quality counts.

Second, film critics play a crucial role in shaping the overall direction
of movies. By championing new talents like Quentin Tarantino, P.T. Anderson
or Darren Aronofsky, they legitimize these filmmakers in the eyes of the studios,
who become more willing to take a chance on one of their movies.

Finally, the rise of independent film and diminishing barriers to production
(i.e. shooting on videotape, or distributing via the Internet) allow new stories
to be told, and new voices to be heard. Most of these movies end up being horrible,
but that they can exist at all is cause for celebration. By not having to appeal
to all tastes, smaller movies can offer something besides hamburger.