I am off to Amsterdam this week to work on a show I’ve been a part of for ten years.  The creative team is great and I come in every few months to talk characters and story.  It’s one of my favorite consulting jobs!

The great thing about traveling so much for my work is meeting so many fantastically talented people.

I had the great privilege of meeting Jeanne Moreau several times.  I was very sad to hear of her passing. She was the President/Patron of a European script development workshop I’ve been working with on and off for over fifteen years.  The program has a rotating roster of advisors, who work one-on-one with the workshop participants.

She was a writer, director, and producer and always had insightful things to say about scripts.  Her powerful presence on screen lit up the cinema.

Moreau’s charisma, intelligence, sexuality and star quality created a new space in postwar French cinema for female stars who were not merely beautiful but commandingly intelligent and complex, and in her way made possible the very different careers of Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard and Isabelle Huppert. To call her an icon would be to make her too passive and inert. She was rather a great screen actor.  The Guardian

A successful stage actress in Paris, Ms. Moreau had a pouty, downturned mouth and circles under her eyes, and she was not generally considered photogenic. Making a score of mostly forgettable films from 1949 to 1957, she received the standard starlet treatment by makeup artists. It was Malle who, casting her in his first feature film, “Elevator to the Gallows,” shot her in natural light without heavy makeup, letting her hauntingly expressive face work its magic. The New York Times

She will be missed.

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In a new storyline, a major character gets some devastating news and experiences a tragic sense of personal loss.  We discussed how to spin this out over a multitude of episodes.

Whenever a character is disappointed, rejected, humiliated or spurned (or has a major set-back or stunning defeat of any kind), he or she experiences a sense of loss.  This could be a loss of self-esteem, pride, self-confidence, or hope for the future.  It could be the loss of a love interest, an important missed opportunity, a job loss, or a severed friendship.

The question is, how does experiencing this loss reveal character?  Is the character experiencing the full range of emotion?  Is his or her reaction played to the maximum effect and not rushed or short changed?  How does the character’s reaction provide plot and story opportunities?

The loss and grief cycle in a story should include these steps:

1. Shock: Paralysis:  “I can’t believe this is happening.”  
How do we see the character in shock or stunned by the situation?  What does he or she do?

2. Denial: Disbelief : “There must be some mistake.”  
 “This can’t possibly be happening.”  How does the character actively deny the situation?  What does he or she do that is contrary to the facts?

3. Anger: Outrage:  “I won’t stand for this.”  “This isn’t right.”   “It’s not fair.” “Why me?” How does the character act out his or her anger.  What action shows the character taking out his or her anger on him/herself or others?

4. Guilt/Shame/Blame: Fault:  “It’s all because of you.”  “I never should have…”
  What does the character do to shift the blame?  How does the character blame him or her self?  What does the character do as a result?

5. Acting Out: Rebellion:  “Screw it.”
  “All is lost anyway.”  What does the character do to rebel against or defy the situation?  What happens as a result?

6. Bargaining: Deal-making:  “I promise…”  “If only…”
  How does the character make deals or promises or beg for help?  How do we see this active desperation?

7. Depression: Realization:  “There is no way out.”  “This is really happening.”
     How do we see the character come to grips with the reality of the situation?  What doe the character do?

8. Testing: New Reality: “Maybe I can go on if I…”  “Maybe I still could…”  “What if I do this instead?”
   How does the character test or try on new ways of being, acting or thinking?  How does the character make the best of the situation, as bad as it is?

9. Acceptance: Moving Forward:  “Even if the worst happens, I will be okay.” 
  How does the character accept his or her fate, however dire?  What leap of faith does the character make?  How does the character make it okay for him or her self    and/or others?

Show the character moving through the whole process of grief and anger.  Create plot points that incorporate each step.  Allow your character to fully experience and act on each step.   Create action (not just dialog) that reveal the character’s inner turmoil and troubled emotional journey.