The Painful Moments

Movies aren't about the dull times in life. Movies are about adventures, crises, turning points and change. Today the Mini-W started her first day as a freshman in a new high school. Where everybody already knows everybody else. Kid was white as a ghost but teenaged pride wouldn't allow her to articulate how she felt. How many of us read that last couple of sentences and were instantly transported to the feeling of teenaged angst and insecurity? For most of us, even if high school was long ago, the memory is keen. How about moving out of your folks place for the first time? Starting your first real job? Getting married? Or turning back the clock a little, the feeling of having your own car? Being invited to (or not) the prom?

Part of the reason it's so very hard to be a writer is that we tend to feel and remember these emotions more deeply than other people. It's why we write and it's why we write well. When people go to the movies, they go to experience these emotions vicariously. It's a safe place to work out the emotional kinks. Part of the reason that actors are often - let's face it - a little crazy is that they literally summon the emotions of the character in the moment. They feel angry, they feel frightened, they feel insecure. Actors become the character they are portraying and that means wrapping themselves in the experience.

Well, in order for writers to write a really effective painful moment in a script - we have to feel it too. Become your character as you write. Feel their pain, fear, joy or triumph. Tap into your own feelings from life experiences. It's the only way a painful or emotional moment in your script is going to read authentically.

I think we all wish the Mini-W well today. What are some of your favorite high-school movies? Have any Rouge Waves seen SUPERBAD?

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