Contour At The Movies

I’d like to invite all of you who live in or will be visiting Los Angeles to a panel discussion and book signing on Thursday, January 12, 2012, from 7:00pm to 8:30pm, at the Barnes and Noble located at 1201 Third Street Pomendade, Santa Monica, CA 90401 (corner of Third Street and Wilshire).

The topic is “Expanding Your Screenwriting Horizons” and will discuss the options available to writers who want to ply their craft and earn an income.  I can’t stress the importance of this topic enough.  Those of you waiting for the phone to ring with hopes that your big break is on the other end of the earpiece are doing yourselves a disservice.  There are many different things you can do to advance your career beyond specs and pilots, and we’ll be discussing those ideas in detail on January 12th.

Besides me talking about my book, MY STORY CAN BEAT UP YOUR STORY: Ten Ways to Toughen Up Your Screenplay From Opening Hook to Knockout Punch, the panel will include:

• Ross Brown — BYTE-SIZED TELEVISION: Create Your Own TV Series ForThe Internet
• Todd Klick — SOMETHING STARTLING HAPPENS: 120 Story Beats EveryWriter Needs to Know
• Troy DeVolld — REALITY TV: An Insider’s Guide To TV ‘s Hottest Market
• Eric Edson  – THE STORY SOLUTION: 23 Actions All Great Heroes Must Take

There will be presentations, great information, discussions, Q&A, and a chance to network with a whole bunch of like-minded people.  It’s gonna be a lot of fun and I hope to see as many of you there as possible.  Make sure you come up to me and say “howdy!”

Overall Impression – Yet another film that isn’t quite sure who the main character is.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Should be Tintin, however from about the end of act 1 the film becomes all about Captain Haddock.

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Depends on who the “he” is.  If Tintin, all he really has is a ‘professional’ story which is to solve the mystery of the ship, the Unicorn. If one considers Haddock the main character then he shares the same professional story as Tintin while his ‘personal’ story is how he’s trying to sober himself up and straighten his life around.  His ‘private’ story is to measure up to his illustrious forebear, Sir Francis Haddock.

Who’s trying to stop him? – Sakharine

What happens if he fails? – Both Tintin and Haddock will likely die, killed by Sakharine.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Tintin is an apparent orphan, but a very self-actualized one.  Haddock has been abandoned by his crew and is truly all alone in life.

Wanderer – Tintin gets the parchments and sets out to find the missing one.  In his journey he finds Haddock locked in his cabin aboard his ship.

Warrior – Tintin and Haddock fight to escape, fight to find the third piece of the clue, and then fight to keep it and use it.

Martyr – Tintin doesn’t really sacrifice anything (if memory serves me correctly.)  Haddock gives up his boozing and decides to step up and risk everything to reclaim the honor of his family.

AND, IN THE END…

Tintin is a kid who gets beat up by adults, shot at by adults, shoots at adults, acts like an adult by having a dangerous job, is familiar to Interpol, lives on his own, and doesn’t seem to have any parents anywhere.  Kids-as-adults is a staple in kids’ movies, but that only goes so far.  It’s hard for an audience not to squirm when watching a 15 or 16 year old being assaulted with everything from fists to flashlights.  C’mon!  Stop hitting that kid!

The Adventures of Tintin struggles to overcome the obstacle of having a picture-perfect teen, operating in an adult world, as the main character by shifting focus to Haddock.  Haddock is a drunken, slovenly adult.  You can hit the poor bastard as much as you want.   Compared to Tintin, Haddock is a smorgasbord of dramatic potential.  He’s got a past, he’s far from perfect,  he’s got an ax to grind and a grudge to avenge.  He’s a perfect main character; damaged, haunted, and with hidden dignity waiting to be brought to the surface.  There’s just one problem: everyone wants to be Tintin and nobody wants to be Haddock.

In a film like this, the audience wants and needs a wish fulfillment.  Everyone wishes they were brave, resourceful, daring, and smart.  Nobody wishes they were drunken and damaged.  Shifting the focus from Tintin to Haddock makes a certain amount of dramatic sense when considering the lack of gravitas a teen boy has and the amount of jeopardy one can put the teen into and get away with.  However the title of the film is The Adventures of Tintin, not The Misadventures of Captain Haddock.   It’s Tintin’s journey people want to go on.  And not in service of Haddock’s journey, either.

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter