Yes, it’s part and parcel of the script, or any story: a character arc and journey that takes place within the very soul or psyche of your protagonist. When I studied screenwriting at Act One: Writing for Hollywood, we read screenplays, studied scenes, attended classes and workshops taught by professionals in the business and analyzed the hero’s journey, namely Joseph Campbell’s classic tome by the same name.
As in all life, there are stages of development, and to capture those stages in the confines of the average two-hour film and three-act structure takes in-depth knowledge of your main character, first and foremost. Campbell writes that there are 12 stages to the hero’s journey. Plug in a Google search, but for the sake of listing they are: (1) The Ordinary World (2) The Call of Adventure (3) Refusal of the Call (4) Meeting the Mentor (5) Crossing the First Threshold (6) Tests, Allies, Enemies (7) Approach to the Inmost Cave (8) The Ordeal (9) Reward (Seizing the Sword) (10) The Road Back (11) Resurrection and (12) Return with the Elixir.
A hero without challenges is not a story. But, wait!! We’re writers! We’re called upon to inform, inspire, change the course of events, persuade, and tell stories worth watching and hearing!!! You don’t have to like all of our characters! You can actually hate them, but you have to understand why you hate them, and it’s our job, as writers, to give you enough insight to know why, and maybe, just maybe, give you a fleeting tinge of empathy for the worst villain!!
In my handful or so of completed screenplays, I’ve had two optioned and a third one awaiting option. It’s the journey of the screenwriter, and a painful one, to take these steps and, many times, never make it to the finish line. But, it doesn’t stop us!! One of the optioned scripts, actually optioned twice, is a bio pic of St. Catherine of Siena, a mystic saint from the 14th century who singlehandedly brought the papacy out of the decadence of Avignon, France and restored it to Rome. Her journey was, for me, an easy one, almost like a template of the hero’s journey stages. I just needed to fill in the blanks.
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My second bio pic is based on Ella Fitzgerald, and I was fortunate enough to combine my initial script in collaboration with a writer who knew Ella first hand, actually lived with her. But I knew we couldn’t just tell her story. There have been many documentaries about Ella, the incomparable singer who touched hearts with her lilting voice, and I didn’t want to just tell her story. I needed the hero’s journey, and I believe we’ve created and captured it, but I won’t give it away here!
So, my advice is: get to know your characters, but most especially, know what drives them and what obstacles get in their way, whether it’s a flaw within themselves or an external, obvious one. Life is a combination of both. Your character will fall, get back up, fall again, and rise. Make it worth the trip for them and the viewer! Happy writing!!