Forgive me venting today. I’d rather be talking about synthwave, books and scripts I’m writing, things I’m directing but we’re at an inflection point in this country. We are fragile. This is where our attention needs to be. We need voices speaking up. We can’t normalize this.
I hear the woman who was shot has died. She died because the GOP found it politically expedient to empower a narcissistic sociopath as he tried to invalidate his election loss.
She died for nothing. For lies. For his ego. She’s never coming home.
This. Is. A. Cult.
Trump encouraged this DIRECTLY, despite whatever video he released today. His repeated legal failures and his lies about the election being stolen. The GOP coddled him then supported him.
Someone is dead because of it. Because people wanted to run in 2024 on this rage.
Trump will never feel responsible because he’s incapable of empathy. We exhaust ourselves as we have to be better than him. Every day. For four years we’ve had to be better than him. We’ve had to be the heart he lacks. The empathy he lacks. The reason he lacks. The ethics.
Trump sees this and I’m CERTAIN he’s intoxicated by the power he has to motivate these people. That’s why, in his video, he threw one cup of water on the fire but much more gasoline.
How much evidence of his depravity do we need? How many more dead?
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One of the key aspects of a Trump supporter is the dismissal (and ridicule?) of anyone who didn’t vote for Trump. Empathy is not an aspect of Trumpism. Trumpism scoffs at empathy.
To be clear, philosophically, I’m on the side of reconciliation — to a point. It’s just incredibly difficult to be the shepherd to people that would set you on fire and throw you off a cliff if they could. The way she feels entitled to empathy she and her flock don’t have?
Phew
Close your eyes and imagine what these people would be like had Trump won. Imagine how much consideration they would have for people scared of him. Imagine what they would be saying on twitter. In person. At podiums. From their media desks.
Gonna talk "pitching story" for a moment, because that's how I get most of my screenwriting work and it's hard to find practical information about the art of it online and in books. This is just my experience and approach, but in the age of zoom, some of this may be helpful...
My primary goal when I pitch is TO ENGAGE THE AUDIENCE EMOTIONALLY. Yes, I'm telling the story, but for me storytelling is a vehicle that delivers emotion to an audience. I structure my pitch around emotion.
I learned this from my TV boss, Greg Walker.
How do I do it?
Two things I make sure I have in my pitch.
1. An early moment, usually in the first 30-60 seconds of speaking that creates a VIVID, EMOTIONALLY PROVOCATIVE IMAGE in the mind of the listener. We're pitching movies and TV. Those are VISUAL MEDIUMS. I drop that image early.
I haven't lost friends, but my worldview and the worldview of a Trump supporter (from what I can tell) are so vastly different, that it would be difficult for them to understand anything about what I believe, I'd imagine. So unlikely we'd be friends in the first place.
I have some people I like and I would consider "friends" in the sense that we enjoy each other's company -- that support Trump, but they're not CLOSE friends, you know? Like our friendship has a context, usually around art or music or something. None I confide in, or anything.
Growing up in Missouri, I do have some close friends that are GOP, but they're not Trump supporters. That's a distinction with a difference, I think.
I’m about to start writing, but I wanted to share a bit about story structure, beyond just the three or five act structure — how you can find structure in other places and BLEND them into your three or five act build.
So we all know 3 act structure. I work in a 5 act structure but that’s essentially the same, just broken down a bit further. That’s a common (and necessary?) approach to story structure for your overall work. There’s also...
...the concept of making sure EACH SCENE has its own three or five act structure. Rising conflict. A midpoint. Peak conflict/darkest moment and some kind of resolution (but minor resolution because it’s part of the whole). So there’s that bit, but also...
I've got to head back into the Hill-Cave to finish up this screenplay, but I wanted to mention something called a "character pass" (at least that's what I call it) and how it can help your writing, especially your rewriting. #writingtips
So you've written your first draft, hit all the scenes from your outline and the story is basically there -- but it's not yet "popping."
That's when I do a CHARACTER PASS. And what's that?
That's when I go through the script but I only look at it through the point of view of ONE CHARACTER at a time.
I look for unique ways to rewrite dialogue, character reactions, kind of make the scenes "real" in my mind from ONE CHARACTER'S POINT OF VIEW.
I could primal scream about last night, but I won’t. I am studying the conservative media strategy today.
In a coordinated way, they’re trying to blend Rittenhouse into their narrative without specifically engaging the events. Insidious, but worth an examination.
As a writer, I spend a lot of time examining narratives. Conservative media knows they can't make Rittenhouse a hero (beyond fringe outlets), but they also can't throw him under the bus with their base. Curious to see how their framing develops this week.
What's of particular interest to me is how the efforts of the RNC to seem compassionate and inclusive now have to compete with the fury around current events.
I imagine a lot of emails are being sent right now. Many cell phones vibrating with texts and talking points.