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An alcoholic soldier must face his abusive father and confront his own addictions before he loses his memory.
>>Heightened circumstances, heightened dramaI fully realize that factual truth is "elastic" in drama.? But there are limits. The pivotal details of a story have to be believable. Just saying.The more pertinent issue is I still have no sense of the protagonist's overarching, specific, singularRead more
>>Heightened circumstances, heightened drama
I fully realize that factual truth is “elastic” in drama.? But there are limits. The pivotal details of a story have to be believable. Just saying.
The more pertinent issue is I still have no sense of the protagonist’s overarching, specific, singular objective goal.
That isn’t an objective goal.? It’s a subjective need.? Further, objective goals are intentional.? “Learning he can’t…” is unintentional.? It’s not what he intended to do, it’s what he discovered he has to do.
See lessA Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner struggles to give a body he believes to be his illegitimate son a proper Jewish burial.
It was a critically acclaimed, feature length film (A 95% rating at Rotten Tomatoes)>>Can you clarify WHY he wants to give his illegitimate son a proper Jewish burial?The lead character is a Jew who has managed to stay alive in Auschwitz by working as a Sonderkommando hauling dead bodies fromRead more
It was a critically acclaimed, feature length film (A 95% rating at Rotten Tomatoes)
>>Can you clarify WHY he wants to give his illegitimate son a proper Jewish burial?
The lead character is a Jew who has managed to stay alive in Auschwitz by working as a Sonderkommando hauling dead bodies from the gas chambers to the ovens. His motivation is to give the body of his son a dignified burial — something none of the other tens of thousands of bodies will get.
The stakes are life and death: he will be executed on the spot if the German guards? discover what he is doing.
See lessA confirmed bachelor struggles to maintain a life of no commitments, no emotional attachments after a lonely boy adopts him as a surrogate dad.
Jelewis8:You raise valid points.First, of all, the movie was an adaptation of a popular book.? So the premise was "pre-sold", tested and proven to be marketable in another medium? -- an advantage that spec scripts don't have.And you are correct:? the stakes are low for the protagonist; he's quite coRead more
Jelewis8:
You raise valid points.
First, of all, the movie was an adaptation of a popular book.? So the premise was “pre-sold”, tested and proven to be marketable in another medium? — an advantage that spec scripts don’t have.
And you are correct:? the stakes are low for the protagonist; he’s quite content to be a confirmed bachelor.? That’s his status quo.
What upsets his status quo is the lonely boy.? The boy is the character with serious stakes; he? stands to gain or lose a lot.? The inciting incident for his subplot is his depressed mother attempting suicide after being divorced by his father.
So if the boy were tagged as the protagonist in the story then the logline? might be “After his depressed , divorced mother attempts suicide, a lonely boy plots to get a confirmed bachelor to be his surrogate dad.”? (22 words)
And why not, given that the title of the film is “About a Boy” not “About a Bacherlor”?
Well, for one thing the story is told? primarily, though not exclusively, from the bachelor’s pov.? ?He is the lead off and primary narrator.? The boy has his share of? (V.O.) narration, too, but on balance not as much as the bachelor.? And the bachelor gets the last word in terms of the (V.O.) narration.
Further, though the boy has more at stake, the bachelor has the bigger character arc; he? is the character tasked with resolving the subjective issue, the one who has to undergo more change for the story to have a? “all’s well that ends well” denouement.? In comparison,? the boy is the catalyst character for change. (He undergoes a change of fortune, but not a change of character.)
Finally,? a primary job of a logline (and script) is to serve as actor bait, to attract a bankable actor, someone who can attract the money to get the? movie movie.? As the late, great screenwriter William Goldman said, “Stars get movies made.”? And at that time Hugh Grant was a major star; he had a proven track record.? IOW: he was a bankable, actor.? Whoever would be cast in the role of a 12 year boy would not be.? ?Further, it is not likely? that a major actor such as Hugh Grant would? be attracted to a project where he only plays a supporting role to a boy.
So for me that last reason is the trump card, the consideration that supersedes all others in determining how to frame the logline.? And it also happens to be an accurate representation of the plot.
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