Comments on: How To Write A BlockBuster

By: @ozzywood

@ozzywood — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 04:26:10 +0000

TSD Revisited: : How To Write A BlockBuster – I am not an expert by any means…. https://t.co/VF3vOv0R #screenwriting #writing #scriptchat

By: Carolin

Carolin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:46:12 +0000

In reply to Houston.

That really is interesting. At first I thought number 1 is true, but you are right, there are blockbuster films with female heroes, both fairy tales (though they are not exclusively female hero territory either) and others, like Titanic.

But if it’s true that (in blockbuster movies) the female protagonist’s overall “goal” is to pass from being a girl to a woman (whatever that means, by the way. Has anyone ever heard a definition of that?), than most rules from above don’t apply. They don’t have to be the best in something, they certainly must change and I somehow think even the happy ending doesn’t have to be purely possitive, though I’m sure they wouln’t mind a lovestory ;-) (but like in Titanic, the loss of their love can also be part of their journey and growing …).

Anyway, what it all comes down to is that there do seem to be different rules for male and female heroes in general. Has there been an aricle on that yet?

By: jedilost

jedilost — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:44:20 +0000

great suggestions and i agree most of them. only the rule 4 is somehow doubtful. i think the character should change in a way or other, and the movie should be about following his/her journey.

By: Houston

Houston — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:58:31 +0000

Very perceptive, I like it a lot. But do you really think rule number 4 should be there? After all Jake Sully went from being a Jarhead that saw the Nav’i as a source of income to seeing them as family. Interesting and of topic thought I about rule number 1 is quite on the mark. I remember hearing Del Toro saying in Pan’s Labyrinth because it was a fairy tale it had to be a girl. Because they have to pass from being a girl to a woman e.g Alice in wonderland, Dorothy etc.

By: Clive Hopkins

Clive Hopkins — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 03:16:55 +0000

re: Happy Endings

I must have some weird pirate copy of ‘Titanic’, because in my version. the boat sinks and Leo dies

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 10:26:22 +0000

Thank you.
I’ve been flailing about, trying to fulfill John Truby’s instructions and create a big moral problem in my protagonist. But it hasn’t been working. I want a smaller moral problem for him and a bigger personal one, and the characters around him to have the true moral dilemma. I want him to enter their world, battle, and finally make the different sides unite.
I can’t relate to Bond, Potter, Jones, because they don’t grow, and I’d like the mental nourishment of some growth, that feels organic. So I think it’s possible to have the protagonist stay the same, and yet change within himself in a way the outer journey has forced him to change.
Is the best of both worlds possible? I like to think so, otherwise all films are just as formulaic as we fear they are.