• Home
  • About Me
  • From the Floor
  • Articles
  • Find Agent
  • Glossary
  • Reviews
  • Contact
    •  

    Why SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE Will Win the Oscar

    January 29th, 2009

     

    3024874376_5c0ed1ae3aI haven’t see the movie yet, but I’m confident that it will win Best Picture.  Why?  Because the story of the making of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is the best story of all of nominated films.

    The  filmmakers cast the film with no name actors literally plucked from the slums of Mumbai, they had to figure out how to shoot the movie in one of the worst places on earth, they fought to build an audience for the movie, and they have gotten the young actors into school and established funds for them out of their own pockets once the youths complete their studies.

    It’s the four archetypes in classic sequence: Orphan.  Wanderer.  Warrior.  Martyr.

    And the Academy knows a good story when it sees one.

    4 Comments | Articles, On Writing | Permalink
    Posted by totallywrite

    Four Questions? Four Archetypes?

    January 4th, 2009

    In order to have a basic understanding of how these reviews work, you need to understand two concepts: the four questions and the four archetypes.

    The four questions are the questions that every movie must answer effectively:

    1. Who’s your main character?
    2. What’s your main character trying to accomplish?
    3. Who’s trying to stop your main character?
    4. What happens if your main character fails?

    The answers must be:

    1. A sympathetic character, who is…
    2. …trying to accomplish a compelling goal while being opposed by…
    3. … a powerful and committed opponent, over…
    4. life and death stakes.

    The four archetypes are the four classic archetypes that every main character moves through in every great movie:

    1. ORPHAN in Act One
    2. WANDERER in the first half of Act Two
    3. WARRIOR in the second half of Act Two
    4. MARTYR in Act Three.

    3 Comments | Articles, On Writing | Permalink
    Posted by totallywrite