{"id":13099,"date":"2008-09-13T11:18:16","date_gmt":"2008-09-13T17:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=605"},"modified":"2008-09-13T11:18:16","modified_gmt":"2008-09-13T17:18:16","slug":"the-invitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/the-invitation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Invitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oriah

When I was in my Master’s Program at the UCLA Film School I got a handout with a copy of a wonderful poem published in a book by Jean Houston, A Passion for the Possible<\/strong>. For me, the poem definitively sums up what the audience is looking for in the characters of a screenplay.<\/p>\n

In my discussions, workshops and consulting I had been crediting the poem to Houston.\u00a0 One of the writers I worked with in Melbourne knew the poem and told me it was, in fact, titled The Invitation and is attributed it to Oriah Mountain Dreamer.<\/p>\n

She sent me Oriah’s Website<\/a> and I Googled further and sure enough.\u00a0 There the poem was.\u00a0 Copyright \u00a9 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.\u00a0 Apparently, it was just reprinted in Houston’s book.<\/p>\n

It is a wonderful poem and I am sure the book based on the poem must be extraordinary as well. I have it on order.\u00a0\u00a0 You might want to check out the book as well.<\/p>\n

Here is the poem from the book The Invitation<\/strong> —\u00a0 And the best description I’ve ever found of what the AUDIENCE wants to know about your characters.<\/p>\n

The Invitation<\/strong>
\n(by Oriah, Mountain Dreamer)<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t interest me what you do for a living.
\nI want to know what you ache for
\nand if you dare to dream of meeting your heart\u2019s longing.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t interest me how old you are.
\nI want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
\nfor love
\nfor your dream or
\nfor the adventure of being alive.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t interest me what planets are squaring your moon\u2026
\nI want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
\nif you have been opened by life\u2019s betrayals
\nor have become shrivelled and closed
\nfrom fear of further pain.<\/p>\n

I want to know if you can sit with pain
\nmine or your own
\nwithout moving to hide it
\nor fade it
\nor fix it.<\/p>\n

I want to know if you can be with joy
\nmine or your own
\nif you can dance with wildness
\nand let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
\nwithout cautioning us
\nto be careful
\nto be realistic
\nto remember the limitations of being human.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t interest me if the story you are telling me
\nis true.
\nI want to know if you can
\ndisappoint another
\nto be true to yourself.
\nIf you can bear the accusation of betrayal
\nand not betray your own soul.
\nIf you can be faithless
\nand therefore trustworthy.<\/p>\n

I want to know if you can see Beauty
\neven when it is not pretty
\nevery day.
\nAnd if you can source your own life
\nfrom its presence.<\/p>\n

I want to know if you can live with failure
\nyours and mine
\nand still stand at the edge of the lake
\nand shout to the silver of the full moon,
\n\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t interest me
\nto know where you live or how much money you have.
\nI want to know if you can get up
\nafter the night of grief and despair
\nweary and bruised to the bone
\nand do what needs to be done
\nto feed the children.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t interest me who you know
\nor how you came to be here.
\nI want to know if you will stand
\nin the centre of the fire
\nwith me
\nand not shrink back.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t interest me where or what or with whom
\nyou have studied.
\nI want to know what sustains you
\nfrom the inside
\nwhen all else falls away.<\/p>\n

I want to know if you can be alone
\nwith yourself
\nand if you truly like the company you keep
\nin the empty moments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was in my Master’s Program at the UCLA Film School I got a handout with a copy of a wonderful poem, A Passion for the Possible. For me, the poem definitively sums up what the audience is looking for in a character. <\/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":[47],"tags":[352,561,494,27,28,30,572,32,33,573,563,574,564,37,39,40,575,41],"class_list":["post-13099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-random-thoughts-pop-culture-political-movie-television-blog","tag-audience","tag-australia","tag-character-types","tag-emotional-toolbox","tag-etb","tag-film","tag-jean-houston","tag-laurie-hutzler","tag-movies","tag-oriah-mountain-dreamer","tag-poem","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-screenwriting","tag-scripts","tag-scriptwriting","tag-the-invitation","tag-tv"],"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":"When I was in my Master's Program at the UCLA Film School I got a handout with a copy of a wonderful poem, A Passion for the Possible. For me, the poem definitively sums up what the audience is looking for in a character.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13099"}],"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=13099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13099\/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=13099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}