{"id":13098,"date":"2008-08-31T07:52:45","date_gmt":"2008-08-31T06:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=601"},"modified":"2008-08-31T07:52:45","modified_gmt":"2008-08-31T06:52:45","slug":"emotional-status-quo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/emotional-status-quo\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotional Status Quo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brokovich-ETBScreenwriting\"

Along the way we got to talking about the emotional status quo of characters.\u00a0 Too often characters seem to have emotional amnesia, especially when off stage for a couple of scenes.\u00a0 What’s a character’s emotional status quo?<\/p>\n

It’s the emotional temperature of the character when he or she enters a scene.\u00a0 What has happened to the character in the previous scene?\u00a0 How does that event drive the character into the next scene?\u00a0 If, for example, the character’s internal Fear is activated how is that made external in action in the next scene?<\/p>\n

Where on the Character Map does the character move?\u00a0 Does the Fear drive the character to act against his or her self-interest by lashing out with a Trouble Trait?\u00a0 Or does the Fear drive the character to retreat into his or her Mask?\u00a0 Perhaps the character tries to cope with the Fear by pushing forward with the Strongest Trait.<\/p>\n

Each scene must build on the emotion of the previous scene.\u00a0 Each scene must be propelled by cause and effect. In other words, your character does something, which causes something else to happen or forces the character to try a different tactic.\u00a0 This has an effect on the character’s emotions which causes your character to do something else, etc.<\/p>\n

Each and every scene must have conflict, conflict, conflict. Without conflict there is no way to struggle toward a character\u2019s inner truth.\u00a0 Without conflict, the audience has no edge-of-the-seat eagerness and excitement to see what will happen next.<\/p>\n

Your principle character must drive the action in each individual scene and in the cumulative sequences.\u00a0 His or her actions must set off the chain of events that propel the story forward.\u00a0 If all your main character is doing is reacting to the actions of others, rethink the scene or sequence.\u00a0 What can your character do to set events in motion?<\/p>\n

Here are some examples from Erin Brockovich:\u00a0 Erin’s vulnerability and Fear is activated by the disapproval of the office staff.\u00a0 That leads her to lash out with her confrontational and defensive Trouble Traits. When she needs help the staff rejects her.\u00a0 That activates her Strongest Traits. She takes on the problem alone and her determination and moral concern leads her to investigate the toxic spill.<\/p>\n

INT. MASRY & VITITOE – RECEPTION AREA – DAY<\/p>\n

Morning. Erin walks in, wearing her usual garb.\u00a0 She passes
\nthe coffee area, where Jane, Brenda, and Anna are milling.
\nBrenda sees her, gives Anna a nudge.\u00a0 They both check out her
\nshort hem.\u00a0 Anna nudges Jane, who looks as well.\u00a0 Erin
\nglances over just in time to see all three of them staring at
\nher judgmentally.\u00a0 She stops in her tracks and stares back.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nY’all got something you wanna discuss?<\/p>\n

The women go back to stirring their coffees.\u00a0 Erin walks on.<\/p>\n

INT. MASRY & VITITOE – ED’S OFFICE – DAY<\/p>\n

Ed is walking into his office with a coffee cup in his hand
\nwhen he trips over the same box of files again.<\/p>\n

ED
\nDamn it!
\n(calling out)
\nBrenda!
\n(no answer)
\nBRENDA!<\/p>\n

INT. MASRY & VITITOE – FILE ROOM – DAY<\/p>\n

Erin is alone, filing as she talks on the phone.<\/p>\n

ED
\nWhere’s Anna?<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nOut to lunch with the girls.<\/p>\n

ED
\nOh. Huh.
\n(beat)
\nWell, look, I have to open a file. Real
\nestate thing. Pro-bono.<\/p>\n

He plunks the box of papers & files on her desk.\u00a0 She stares
\nat it, with no idea of how to go about that.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nOh.\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n

He sees her staring at the box.<\/p>\n

ED
\nYou do know how to do that, don’t you?<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nYeah.\u00a0 I got it.\u00a0 No problem.<\/p>\n

ED
\nGood.<\/p>\n

Ed heads out, but pauses before leaving.<\/p>\n

ED
\nYou’re a girl.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nExcuse me?<\/p>\n

ED
\nHow come you’re not at lunch with the
\ngirls?\u00a0 You’re a girl.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nI guess I’m not the right kind.<\/p>\n

Erin goes back to work. Ed starts out then stops.<\/p>\n

ED
\nLook, you may want to – I mean, now that
\nyou’re working here – you may want to
\nrethink your..wardrobe a little.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nWhy is that?<\/p>\n

ED
\nWell…I think maybe..some of the girls
\nare a little uncomfortable because of
\nwhat you wear.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nIs that so? Well, it just so happens, I
\nthink I look nice. And as long as I have
\none ass instead of two, like most of the
\n“girls” you have working here, I’m gonna
\nwear what I like if that’s alright with
\nyou?<\/p>\n

Ed hides a smile. He nods. As he exits, Erin returns to work
\nand remarks, without looking up….<\/p>\n

ERIN (CONT’D)
\nYou may want to re-think those ties you
\nwear..<\/p>\n

Suddenly self-conscious, Ed looks down to his chest…<\/p>\n

INT. MASRY & VITITOE – FILE ROOM – NIGHT<\/p>\n

Erin is at her desk, staring bewildered at the files from the
\nbox Ed gave her, which are now spread across her desktop.
\nShe sees Anna packing up her things to leave.<\/p>\n

ERIN
\nAnna?\u00a0 With this real-estate stuff —
\ncould you remind me, cause I’m a little
\nconfused about how exactly we do that.
\nWhy are there medical records and blood
\nsamples in real estate files?<\/p>\n

ANNA
\n(exasperated)
\nErin, you’ve been here long enough.\u00a0 If
\nyou don’t know how to do your job by now,
\nI am not about to do it for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Too often characters seem to have emotional amnesia, especially when off stage for a couple of scenes. What’s a character’s emotional status quo? It’s the emotional temperature of the character when he or she enters a scene. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,78],"tags":[561,494,408,27,410,571,28,30,32,33,37,39,40,41,70,71],"class_list":["post-13098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies-character-development-screenwriting-screenplay-script-blog","category-writing-tips-tricks-advice-help-script-screenplay-screenwriting-blog","tag-australia","tag-character-types","tag-emotion","tag-emotional-toolbox","tag-emotions","tag-erin-brockovich","tag-etb","tag-film","tag-laurie-hutzler","tag-movies","tag-screenwriting","tag-scripts","tag-scriptwriting","tag-tv","tag-writing-advice","tag-writing-tips"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"ttshowcase_normal":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",125,94,false],"ttshowcase_small":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",75,56,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"Image Size 500x500":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",500,375,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x400.jpg",300,400,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-600x450.jpg",600,450,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Hutzler","author_link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Too often characters seem to have emotional amnesia, especially when off stage for a couple of scenes. What's a character's emotional status quo? It's the emotional temperature of the character when he or she enters a scene.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}