{"id":310,"date":"2008-07-29T17:01:58","date_gmt":"2008-07-29T23:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=310"},"modified":"2008-07-29T17:01:58","modified_gmt":"2008-07-29T23:01:58","slug":"make-the-strongest-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/make-the-strongest-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Make the Strongest Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-314 lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;margin: 5px;\" title=\"Scales Justice ETBScreenwriter\" data-src=\"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/justice1-757738-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Scales Justice ETBScreenwriter\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-314\" style=\"margin: 5px;\" title=\"Scales Justice ETBScreenwriter\" src=\"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/justice1-757738-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Scales Justice ETBScreenwriter\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/noscript>I recently did a film consulting job for a very talented screenwriter.\u00a0 The script involved a romantic rivalry subplot.\u00a0 Two men were in love with the same woman.<\/p>\n<p>One man was rich and powerful.\u00a0 The other man was poor but intelligent and savvy.\u00a0 Both men needed the other to succeed and they owed substantial debts of honor and respect to each other.<\/p>\n<p>The woman was the rich and powerful man\u2019s servant.\u00a0 My first question about this romantic triangle was&#8211; what would drive the powerful and important man the most crazy?<\/p>\n<p>Would this influential pillar of the community be driven to extremes if the intelligent and savvy man stole his servant or his WIFE?\u00a0 The answer is, of course, is his wife.<\/p>\n<p>That much more intimate betrayal would produce a nuclear reaction of outrage, shame and revenge.\u00a0 No servant girl, however, beautiful and desirable, matches the humiliation of being cuckolded by one\u2019s wife and best friend.<\/p>\n<p>In another consulting job, two best friends decide to embark on a road trip.\u00a0 The night before they leave they hook up with some local girls.\u00a0 The girls are generally supportive of the two guys\u2019 dream of heading out on the open road.<\/p>\n<p>What would cause more conflict?\u00a0 Telling your FIANCE that you are leaving town indefinitely or some easy-going girls you might never see again.\u00a0 The answer is clear.\u00a0 Telling your fiance involves intense angst, incredible turmoil and probably a torrent of tears.\u00a0 (Along with a lot of guilt over a loved one\u2019s sense of abandonment)<\/p>\n<p>Always ask yourself&#8211; What would make the situation more impossible?\u00a0 What would torture your character more intensely.\u00a0 Then make the strongest choice.\u00a0 Ramp up the conflict.\u00a0 Make it more personal.\u00a0 Make it more intimate and emotional.\u00a0 The higher the stakes for the character the more the audience cares about what happens next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Always ask yourself&#8211; What would make the situation more impossible?  What would torture your character more intensely.  Then make the strongest choice.  Ramp up the conflict.  Make it more personal. The higher the stakes for the character the more the audience cares about what happens next.<\/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":[78],"tags":[456,457,458,322,459,460,27,28,30,32,33,37,39,40,41,70,71],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-tips-tricks-advice-help-script-screenplay-screenwriting-blog","tag-choice","tag-choices","tag-choose","tag-conflict","tag-decision","tag-decisions","tag-emotional-toolbox","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":"Always ask yourself-- What would make the situation more impossible? What would torture your character more intensely. Then make the strongest choice. Ramp up the conflict. Make it more personal. The higher the stakes for the character the more the audience cares about what happens next.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310"}],"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=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/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=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}