Dating Your Character: A Sexy Guide to Screenwriting for Film and TV

by Marilyn R. Atlas, Devorah Cutler-Rubenstein, Elizabeth Lopez

Dating Your A Sexy Guide to Screenwriting for Film and TV, is based on the principle that interesting characters actually are co-creators in the writing process. It s organized into some of the standard stages in an evolving, romantic relationship, launched by a couple of chapters that encourage you to take some personal - Casting Your Ideal Character - The Meet Cute - The First Date - Serious Dating - Moving In Together - The First Fight - Making A Commitment - Hitched Or Ditched On the way to a kind of trust and growing intimacy, the structure of the book traces the first flush of excitement, any awkward hiccups in communication, and the recognition and reconciliation of your different POVs. Most books approach character development using a winnowing process involving general categorization and list-making. But, not much in the way of a truly in-depth synthesis of the collage of facts in the character s biography. The DYC method doesn t start from the outside in. It doesn t layer physical descriptions onto archetypal outlines, then color in the flaws and motivation to make that thumbnail sketch more personal. DYC focuses on the importance of the individuality of their eccentricity, drive, and relative "basis in fact" inspired in part by people you know or you yourself.

526 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2016

Reviews

[Rod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be ready if you read this book -- it is VERY thick and VERY intense. Nearly 500 pages, and just about every one of them has exercises on it. Not as in "answer these three questions" exercises, more like "write a complete essay about this thought" exercises. It definitely gives you lots of things to think about, but it might also give you writer's cramp.

To be honest, I'm not 100% certain I'm the right audience for this method. I mean, trying to get this heavily into the psyche of a character (What kind of restaurant would they like to meet at? Would they start the conversation or would you? What kinds of topics would they want to chat about? What things would they reveal and what would they hold back?)... that all makes a lot of sense if you're trying to create a character like Annie Hall, but I'm not sure about creating a character like Darth Vader.

[Teri Temme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic exercises and I bet you learn something about yourself too! Can’t wait for the workshop 😉