Why Writing A Story Is Messy - Christopher Riley

BUY THE BOOK - THE DEFINING MOMENT: How Writers and Actors Build Characters (by Christopher and Kathy Riley)

Christopher Riley is a professional screenwriter who co-wrote with his wife Kathy Riley the award-winning German language courtroom thriller After the Truth. The Rileys have written scripts for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Mandalay Television Pictures, the late Sean Connery’s Fountainbridge Films and Robert Cort Productions. Christopher produced the independent action-thriller Red Line and executive produced the web series Bump+. He is the author of the classic screenplay format guide The Hollywood Standard, now in its third edition, and teaches screenwriting at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The Riley's latest book is The Defining Moment: How Writers and Actors Build Characters (through Michael Wiese Productions).

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#writing #screenwriting #writer

[DovieRuthAuthor]

Stories are messy. Human relationships are messy. Writing them so that they make sense but still contain those elements of passion and suspense is the challenge. ❤

[lynstrawberry]

Yes. He knows. Ask the characters and they will lead you and the story will form. Love your channel

[Tightrope_Comedy]

Sometimes it’s fun and feels less stressful if you act like the antagonist chasing after the main character.
“Where are you going?””what’s your plan?””what’re you up to?”
But good info from you’re interviews as always 👍🏻

[abdulshabazz]

There is no ending and no beginning to inspiration; it is a continuous maturing feedback loop, which emulates the creation of the universe.

[LouisWritingSomethingCrazy]

Always ask your characters. They will tell you. Sometimes it takes a bit for them to talk (I've had that) but when they do, they're chatter boxes usually.

[danieljackson]

How wonderfully apropos to Apprehending the recursive nature of the writing process. So helpful.

[patrickmcdonald]

The best way to get inspiration and this is so overwhelmingly obvious is to watch movies and listen to music. Great musicians in many ways get their ideas from listening to lots of music. John Williams got the ideas for the Star Wars theme from an older musical piece

[aliceberethart]

Also a lot of times a characters personality changes so much throughout the story that the initial idea you had for them would be out of character.
So you either have to scrap the idea, or go around it. This is a moment where it is easy to retcon if you’re not careful, because forcing the original story plot on characters that don’t fit the narrative will be noticed by the reader and will make for a story that isn’t relatable anymore.

[balakrishnakesani]

The good old 3 Act structure still holds strong, you need a setup, a conflict and resolution, I can confidently say that majority of the films follow this technique.

[sarahspalding]

I, personally, think my best story ideas come to me in my dreams. So it’s a real shame that I never remember them.

[AndrewCortesi]

Very cool. I personally enjoy the "show don't tell" method of character development. Rather than the character explaining their motives to the audience, you see it develop on screen. Film is a visual medium. Best examples of this are in Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul/Mad Men. I often wonder how the writers room is structured to get to where they need to be. I also agree that characters should have flaws. Flaws help bring dimension to the character and allows them to become relatable, even as the protagonist and hero of the story.

[Ghost_Text]

I just realized what could be a useful organizing tool for conceptualizing story.

Y'know those timeline grids in video editors and music production software have a list of every clip instrument or element that part of a video or song. Controlling how theyre introduced when they start and end?

Is it not true that the arcs or development of characters and plot elements can be mapped the same way giving writers a more holistic view and how smaller changes affect the whole story?

Other than that. Consuming stories that are grounded in logical consequence also helps I suppose.

[filmcourage]

What did you enjoy most about this segment?

[nathannemeth]

To this day, I haven't met anyone who hasn't seen Finding Nemo. And everyone loves the movie too.

[christianmatos]

Him: "someone...trying...to climb out of a well"

Me:

[nickybjammin]

Why all this digital stuff? Don Bluth and Walt made great stories with in-depth thought/art. Pixars Kool and all I love finding Nemo but where’s all the mind blowing art/cartoons?