Marvin V. Acuna

Christopher Vogler (CV) and I conducted a wonderful tele-seminar last week, it was great fun.

We had a stimulating Q&A session. However, due to the abundance of questions and the limited time we were unable to take and respond to everyone’s questions on the live call.

But, I promised everyone on the call that they would get their specific question answered and emailed to them directly. At this point everyone has received their individual response from CV.  Cool, right?

Well, it occurred to me that it may be beneficial to share some of it with you so I have randomly selected and posted a handful of the screenwriter’s questions and CV’s response here.  Enjoy part 1 of 4.

My hope is that it serves you.

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DONNY-SHAWNEE,KS
when writing a potentially action-thriller blockbuster feature,
pitting two massive franchises against eachother like predator vs
aliens, how should i structure it. also, what is the best way to
approach studios with it. should I approach them with a script,
treatment or what, and would I need to aquire rights first since i’m
writing it on spec with something involving a multimillion dollar
franchise like terminator.

CV: This sounds risky, a difficult thing to do even if you were
deeply imbedded in Hollywood.  Sounds like a super-high concept and
those kind of franchises are all highly guarded by lawyers.  It’s like
a citizen trying to convince Canada and Brazil to become one country.
I certainly wouldn’t waste time on developing a script.  The studio
wants to have the fun of deciding what kind of script will be written
from the concept.  Just write up your concept in treatment form.  Yes,
you probably would have to acquire some kind of rights or else you’ll
just get trampled.

Maria-Jackson
How to make a good script great! your famous “formular” for the hero
with 1000 faces elaborated in our time.

CV:  Same as ever.  Put sympathetic but realistically flawed
characters in a situation where they desperately want or need
something and then make it devilishly difficult for them to get it.
Along the way, give them mentors, allies, threshold guardians, and
tests of character that lead them to transformation and deeper
self-understanding. Since so much of modern movie time is taken up with super-heroes and
heroic action, you’d better know something about how the heroic form
operates on the grand scale.  But don’t forget the power of simple,
local, intimate stories, which can be just as heroic.

Mark-Los Osos
I write a lot of horror – can you give a contemporary example of a
horror film that successfully employs the hero’s journey?

CV: The last horror movie I saw was CLOVERFIELD which I quite enjoyed, a
delicious nightmare.  It has a classic hero’s journey quest form.  The
Ordinary World is a young man’s going-away party captured in
convincingly amateur fashion with shaky hand-held cameras.  The Call
to Adventure on the emotional level is his brother urging him to “go
for it” and declare his love for a girl, followed a few seconds later
by a more literal Call to Adventure as a mysterious giant monster
bursts out of the streets of New York and starts slaughtering people.
The hero and his friends go on a classic quest to save his trapped
girlfriend.  The sacrifices and ordeals of a Hero’s Journey are all
played out in timeless fashion except that the heroes are apparently
killed at the end, reinforcing the horror effect.  Too much shaky
camera for my taste, though.

CatherineVetere-London, UK
what is the first and, you consider, the most important element you consider when you first read a script?

CV: If I were just reading in a vacuum, unaffected by the needs of a
client or studio, it would be a compelling story that I’d like to see
as a movie.  That means a great character in an interesting world, in
a situation that produces emotional reactions. But I don’t read in a vacuum, and am almost always reading with some fairly precise and narrow ideas of what my client is looking for.
Often I am looking for a story that will work for a particular star or director, or scanning for a particular genre.  The studio puts out the word that they need a children’s fantasy or an adult thriller, and I start looking for one.

Kristin Fieseler-Paderborn/Germany
Is the Special World’s function eliminating the character’s lack in
the Ordinary World?

CV: That could be one of the functions.  Whether the hero realizes it
or not, that’s why he or she goes there, to find their missing piece.
The Special World has other functions though; providing a sharp
contrast with the Ordinary World, providing a crucible for the hero’s
transformation, offering the audience escapism with an exotic setting
or unusual situation.