Ralph is a boy on his own.  His father has died and his mother has been ill and in the hospital for months, mostly likely suffering from a brain tumor.  He survives by selling things from his home and forging notes from non-existant grandparent who are caring for him.

He is a Catholic school boy who struggles with rules, growing up and being the butt of the older boys’ jokes.  He is sentenced to the track team for a series of infractions.  He discovers the joy and pain of running by working with the team.

Ralph’s mother slips into a coma and the doctor says only a miracle will save her.  Father Hibbert, the track coach, tells the boys in a teasing manner that they only have about 100 days to train for the Boston Marathon.

When Ralph asks if someone on the team could win, the coach laughs and says it would be a miracle if ANYONE on the team won.  Ralph seizes on this and decides HE will win the marathon to produce the miracle his mother needs to wake up from her coma.

Ralph starts researching miracles and is assured that yes, ordinary people can produce them with faith, purity and prayer.  Ralph struggles mightily (and comedically) with all three requirements.

He starts training in earnest and wins a big regional race in a surprise upset victory.  Father Hibbert turns out to an Olympic class marathoner whose career ended with an injury.  The priest takes on Ralph’s training personally, if the boy will quit talking about miracles.

I loved the question of what exactly is a miracle. I do believe we all can produce miracles with faith (if you don’t believe you can do it, you can’t), the purity of heart that comes from real love and prayer that can be a dedicated action that has nothing to do with putting one’s hands together with eyes cast heavenward. Miracles happen every day all around us– I see that so clearly in my own life.

The ending of the film is a miracle but not exactly in the way Ralph expects. Miracles always seem to work that way– they creep up on you unawares and change your perception of reality forever.  Suddenly, things that seemed impossible now are in reach. You are a different person because you believe.

Today we had our first advisors’ meeting.  The scripts selected for the workshop are submitted from a variety of international writers.  Austria, Germany, Croatia, Denmark, Canada, Hungary and Norway are all represented by projects here.

In discussing the work to be done on the scripts, the advisors kept going back to the basics.  No matter how accomplished the writer is, it is always necessary to go back to fundaments when a script isn’t working well.  Primarily we discussed issues of want, need and price.  Here is what I mean by those terms.

The Want

In the story the character should immediately identify something he or she desires or wants. The character begins to put all of his or her effort into obtaining some very particular concrete, and often, selfish or self-centered goal.

This goal must be something real, graspable and very tangible. It is something the character can obtain or acheive physically: for example, seduce the woman, sell the stock, solve the crime, win the tournament, reveal the mystery, get the promotion etc. The Want is NOT an abstract or amorphous general desire.

The want is always an actual “thing.” It is something specific that could be obtained with a bit of concerted effort.

The Character’s Need is:

– Some deeper human longing (to be a better father, to appropriately separate from family, to love more generously, to act with integrity, to grow up and assume responsibility etc.)

– A true longing the character isn’t aware of, ignores, denies or tries to suppress

– At the heart of the character’s truest, highest most authentic self

– Something that must be embraced instead of obtaining the Want

The Need is a more abstract intangible set of internal qualities.  It is is a deeper desire for what is good, true and authentically right for the character as an individual of quality, dignity and worth.

The Price

The Price is the terrible personal cost of obtaining the Want and abandoning the Need. OR The terrible personal cost of abandoning the ego-driven goal or Want and embracing the Need.

If the character chooses the Want he or she inevitably surrenders to the fear and falls to the Dark Side. The story ends in tragedy. If the character embraces the Need, he or she finds personal completion. This may or may not be a happy ending but it is one of emotional satisfaction and wholeness.

Which price is the character willing to pay? The character must ultimately pay one price or the other. The more expensive the price is for the character the more compelling and urgent your story will be for the audience.

When a script isn’t working well, isn’t as compelling a read as it should be or has some kind of emotional disconnect in the story, the problem is usually the lack of a clear, urgent and well-developed Want, Need or Price.