19 - Development - Feedback        Wed, 10/28/09 - Scott

The proof is in the pudding. I had doubts about the story, but was not sure which parts an audience would find interesting and which would bore them. I needed more action, but where - it would make it longer and might go in the wrong places. I had suspicions there were several things not going well. Before going on, I had to know. Feedback time. I enlisted a few readers to read the story and give me a critique, minus any positive feedback.

My suspicions were confirmed. The mystery wouldn't carry the story all the way through, nor did the theme. I followed a popular story development format used on TV. It didn't work out. In TV series, the characters are well known, so character development isn't needed as much - people already know what the characters are like and what their typical issues are. For a two-hour movie, the model fell flat. The climax was weak. I needed to go back and start fresh with characterization. This is why I always recommend to others to start with characterization first. Plot comes from character unless it is a very strong action movie, and even in action movies there has to be characterization. Argh! Time to rearchitect. Set the screenplay aside and begin writing, and add in parts from the old screenplay. The result will be a much stronger story.

This is what Development is all about. You analyze the story for writing elements, how well it potentially pleases an audience (and distributors), and problems, and then you rearchitect the story to improve it.

Next: More on Development Rearchitecting

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