It has become scarily apparent to me that scriptwriters
around the world must all be linked to some sort of neural hive-mind. Granted,
with our catalogue of media expanding by the day, the art of creating something
truly original is definitely no easy feat. Unfortunately though, rather taking
the opportunity to push the boundaries of storytelling, many writers are
falling back on the same few recycled plotlines. For every 100 scripts I have
read, a depressingly small number of stories within that group don't end up
being repeated. So, if your latest script resembles one of these repeat-offenders,
please, do me a favour...
Warning: Things get pretty heavy.
1) Taken Knock Offs
Let's kick off with the most frequently occurring display of
unoriginality. Child is kidnapped. Father has skills (policeman / military /
Krav Maga instructor, etc.). Fights bad guys. Saves child. Taken did it (several times, in different variations), so why go
back to that dried-up well? "It's just meant to be a fun action romp",
you quickly counter, and sure, it may well be (most of the time, though, people
seem to forget to include the "fun" part), but, at the end of the
day, it's still just Taken again. Look,
kidnapping can be a great narrative device (which, disclaimer, I don't condone
in reality), but hanging your entire story on the back of it pretty much writes
yourself into a corner.
The other issue with this clichéd variation of rescuing kids
is in its execution. 9 times out of 10, dark real-world issues like human
trafficking (or even child prostitution in a few instances) aren't handled with
the maturity they require, instead likening the antagonists more towards the
dastardly Child-Catcher from Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang. As dark as it sounds, your villain's reasons for taking that child have to be justified -
especially if you're falling into the trap of having Super-Dad eventually
tracking them down. I mean, do these abductors not do the slightest bit of
background research around their target? Take the kid of a milkman or a
politician if you want your operation to keeping running, uninterrupted. Bloomin'
Hell, now I'm offering advice to people who steal kids - that's what these
scripts have done to me.
2) The Protagonist
Might Be The Killer
Here's a fun observation - if your main character spends the
entire story worrying that they are actually responsible for a murder, pretty
much every time, they are not going to end up being the murderer. So, I ask
you... Why waste all that time and energy on a foregone conclusion? The
audience is going to be spending more of their time suspecting your supporting
characters anyway, so having your protagonist crying and splashing water in
their face at the bathroom mirror for 90 minutes is just unnecessarily
distancing us from the real mystery. It's like having a love triangle romance
story, where the third wheel spends most of the movie thinking he's in love,
causing all kinds of trouble, and then at the end being like, "Screw love.
I'm going to get a job instead."
Don't get me wrong - a little ambiguity as to the morality
of your "hero" can be a great thing. Making their internal conflict
directly related to the murders, however, doesn't provide an interesting
dimension for the character. Worrying about being a killer isn't a relatable
emotion (for most of us). Instead, have Peter/Patricia Protagonist working to
overcome a separate internal struggle, whereby the resolution of the murders acts
as a catalyst for growth. The go-to is usually alcoholism with thrillers, but
really it could be just about any sort of personal problem - an illegitimate
child, a mental or physical illness, or the crippling struggles of
unemployment. That's a lot of dark stuff, mind, so here's a picture of a duckling
stood on a Labrador's head.
3) Former Lover
Teaches Our Hero to Love Again
The reality of bumping into an old flame is surprisingly
different from the fiction of most romantic movies. It seems every film lover,
especially in spec scripts, operates in the extremes, either acting incredibly
hostile to their former partner, or being impossibly friendly, likely looking
to reignite the fires. Naturally, the real world features a more murky range of
emotions, from the civil, to the damaged and the incredibly awkward (the latter
being my personal preference, apparently). Worse than the typical extremities
in cinema, however, is the inclusion of an Ex as nothing more than a plot
point, rather than bringing any sort of meaningful contribution or story of
their own to the overall film.
It almost feels like we're all buying into the same false
formulas - if a relationship ends for a specific reason, all we have to do is
overcome that reason and then we'll definitely get back together. Or, our
current dissatisfaction with a current relationship is rooted in the fact that
the person we were with before was vastly superior. These "grass-is-always-greener",
rose-tinted outlooks on love are nice in theory, but ultimately damaging in
practice, and many budding writers find themselves opting for these optimistic
messages without really offering any sort of original or realistic dissection
of human connection. As a result, characters come off as bland and predictable.
Again, I'm really trying not be pessimistic here - reality makes for a better
story than fiction. There can be nice things in reality too!
4) Girl Possesses
Strange Abilities
In fairness, this frequently appearing plotline occasionally
intersects with the Taken knock-offs
in point one, so yeah, you could argue I too am not contributing anything
original here. But, like in that section, Carrie
already exists, so why is everyone so keen to half-heartedly rehash it? The
fact that all of the numerous scripts
I've read using this trope featured a girl, rather than, y'know, a boy, is an
odd correlation, but one that I'm quite thankful is attempting to bring a
different kind of protagonist to our screens. The problem, once more, just lies
in how predictable and uninteresting the execution of those stories ends up
becoming.
So your leading lady is either telekinetic, telepathic, pyrokinetic,
invincible, can talk to animals, a shape-shifter, can toast bread with her
breath, whatever, etc. She spends the first Act discovering her abilities
whilst trying to keep them hidden, yadda yadda. Then, the government or some
private organisation learns of her powers and wants to abuse them - meh. She
stops them, everyone finds out her big secret... WE HAVE SEEN THIS SO MANY
TIMES. At least the recent Supergirl series
has had the foresight to have Kara very much aware of her abilities and a bunch
of supporting characters know her secret in advance of the pilot, so we can
start seeing new stories emerge. Bottom
line - find a new angle, kids.
5) Someone is Dying
or Something...
Give me strength... Can you tell I'm now boring myself
writing about these boring storylines full of boring characters and boring sequences?
I don't know which asshole thought it was a great idea to tell budding writers
that having a character on their deathbed was a good shortcut to creating
"emotional drama". Either way, I'm hunting that person down. Yes,
it's a sad scenario, but it always just reeks of trying to get the audience to
cry, because, well, dying and stuff. Repeating the issues of yesterpoint once
more, the notion that a character finally seeing the error of their ways or
providing a convenient emotional resolution for someone else just before they
kick the bucket feels too romanticised and unlike reality.
Timing is also a big problem here. You kick off your story
with a deathbed scene and we don't feel connected to the characters involved.
You end your story with a deathbed scene and the character resolution can feel
like too little too late (although framing it as a reunion, like in Interstellar, can add an extra, tragic dimension).
You hit the midpoint of your story with a deathbed scene and... Why?! It's very
tricky to get right, and 95% of the time just doesn't work in spec scripts. Tragedy
becomes more tragic if it's born from factors within the character's control. Old age, illnesses and freak
accidents feel too "written", as if you couldn't find a natural way
to include that deathbed scene you insist on jamming down our tear ducts.
Anyway, I warned you this stuff would all get a little heavy
this week. So, as a final treat, here's that picture of a duckling on top of a
Labrador again.
James Cottle, a
Scriptwriting Mega-Scholar™, is now a real world Freelance Writer, in between
intense bouts of Script Reading. Follow him on Twitter @Jxmxsc,
"like" the Anti-Scriptwriting page on Facebook, and share this blog
if you want his opinions on your work to be completely unbiased.
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