WEDNESDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:

ASSOCIATION BY GUILT

Three years ago SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME was #1 at the Box Office, and made $1.928 billion worldwide... still #7 on the All Time Box Office Charts!

Before HOMECOMING and FAR FROM HOME and the huge hit NO WAY HOME, each film in the series had made less money that the film before... and become increasingly less dramatic and less emotional. SPIDER-MAN made about $404 million, SPIDER-MAN 2 made $373 million (strange, because sequels tend to make more than the first film - see BATMAN BEGINS vs. DARK KNIGHT). and SPIDER-MAN 3 made $336 million. Though the two sequels were big hits, I think the reason why they made less money is that they didn't strike a chord in the audience like the first SPIDER-MAN... The reason why SPIDER-MAN connected with the audience? SPIDER-MAN is a three dimensional character - a human being. Peter Parker isn't all attitude like the MEN IN BLACK - he's a kid with problems. Fears, flaws, emotional difficulties - the things that make us human, and make audiences care. Each of the sequels has softened his guilt (in #2 his aunt *forgives him* for causing the death of her husband - big mistake!) and that removes character depth and lessens audience identification. This is what they focused on in the Tom Holland films - he's a geeky kid struggling to get through high school and kiss the girl that he has a crush on... and in his spare time he's a superhero.

I've sold a couple of scripts to a producer who hates character arcs. We'd argue about this in every single story meeting until I was red in the face. I would explain how character arcs worked and the importance of emotional conflict, but in the end the character arcs were always removed. The very thing that made the reader chose my script over somebody else's was taken out of the script - turning it into just another mindless action flick. His reasoning for removing the character arc - he believed that audiences would not like a flawed protagonist. The mistake or weakness or error in judgement that was required for that arc to have a curve would alienate the audience. He always asked me why can't the hero just be a hero? A guy who DOESN'T EVER make mistakes? A guy who is COMPLETELY PERFECT IN EVERY WAY? Why give the audience a reason not to like the guy?

I think the exact opposite is true. Audiences like characters because we can identify with them - we can see ourselves within them. We're human, we make mistakes. A protagonist that doesn't make mistakes seems unreal, not human... a Stepford character. We also don't like people who are perfect - they seem like know-it-alls who are snubbing their noses at us. And characters without any emotional problems are dull - just like those Stepford characters. They are bland and two dimensional.

A perfect character is a carboard character.

Want more proof? Let's look at the first SPIDER-MAN movie 20 years ago: Peter Parker makes a HUGE error in judgement early in the film which that producer from my past would want removed from the script. He is responsible for the death of his Uncle... and is a real jerk to his Uncle just before he dies. That's not some minor mistake in judgement! Peter Parker is RESPONSIBLE for the death of a loved one.

Here's what happens: After Peter (Tobey Maguire) begins growing hair in strange places and secreting unusual liquids and locking himself in his room, his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) thinks it's a good time to have a little chat with him. "I don't even know who you are anymore. You shirk your chores, you do all of those weird experiments in your room, you start fights at school... Look, you're changing. I know, I went through exactly the same thing at your age." "Not exactly." "These are the years where a man changes into the man he's going to become for the rest of his life. Just be careful what you change into... Remember, with great power comes great responsibility." Peter snaps at this - "Are you afraid that I'm going to turn into some kind of criminal? Quit worrying about me, okay? Something's different - I'll figure it out! Stop lecturing me!" "I don't mean to lecture and I don't mean to preach... and I know I'm not your father --" "Then stop pretending to be!" Peter storms out of the car. Uncle Ben thinks he's going to study at the library... but Peter is really going to try and win $3,000 in a wrestling match so that he can buy a car to impress Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst).

Peter wins the wrestling match, but the promoter only pays him $100. "A hundred bucks? The ad said $3,000." "Check it again webhead, it says three grand for three minutes. And you pinned him in two." "I need that money," Peter pleads. "I missed the part where's that's my problem." After Peter leaves the promoter's office, an armed robber crashes in and steals all of the money... escaping past Peter. Peter doesn't lift a finger to stop him, and when the promoter complains, Peter says: "I missed the part where that's my problem" (payback line).

Peter walks down the street to the library where he's supposed to meet his Uncle and sees a crowd... The armed robber Peter let go has shot his Uncle in the chest. Killing him. Peter's error in judgement has resulted in his Uncle's death! And Peter's last words to his Uncle were angry and hateful.

You might think this would make us dislike Peter... but it has the opposite effect. If a character makes a mistake and regrets it, we feel sorry for him. Peter had no idea when he argued with his Uncle those would be the last words spoken to him. He had no idea allowing the armed robber to flee would result in his Uncle's death. Peter feels guilty. He needs to set things right. He is looking for personal redemption because he was part of the problem... he contributed to his Uncle's death. We know how bad he feels, and that offers us a doorway into the character. The bigger the guilt, the bigger the doorway. If he had just caused his Uncle to be late for an appointment, Peter wouldn't feel as guilty and we wouldn't feel as much for Peter. It's BECAUSE Peter made a major error in judgement that we identify with him so much. We all have things we regret, we all have loved ones we have hurt, we all wish we could take back some action or words. The impact on the audience is larger if the GUILT is larger. We are more emotionally involved because the emotions are BIGGER. We are really rooting for Peter to find his redemption - to make up for his mistakes in judgement... to realize that with great power comes great responsibility. Even though Uncle Ben is murdered in the first third of the film, he lives on inside Peter for the rest of the film. Because Peter feels responsible for his Uncle's death, he fights to be responsible for his own life, and his own actions.

I wonder if that producer is comparing the grosses of his ART OF WAR and SPIDER-MAN and figured out that a perfect hero is a perfectly boring hero? A *flawed* protagonist - a protagonist who is *not* forgiven for his mistakes but held *responsible* for them (that "great responsibility" that comes with great power and just being a human being) is more interesting and involving to the audience than one who is forgiven or disco dances.

NO WAY HOME takes it even further. Peter has been outed as Spider-Man and his whole world comes crashing down... so he goes to Doctor Strange and asks him for a favor: Make everyone in the world forget that he's Spider-Man. Well, before you can say "with great power comes great responsibility" Peter keeps asking for ammendments to the magic spell (each change for comepletely selfish reasons) and ruins the spell... unleashing all of the villains from every single Spider-Man movie made in the past 20 years to return and raise havoc. Now the people of New York are suffereing and it's all Peter's fault. He is responsible for this mess. And it hurts those around him (and people he's never met). Now he is guilty of causing this problem and must solve it before more people die.

Does that make him unlikeable? Only if he doesn't care. Only if he *doesn't* accept responsibility. Only if he doesn't try to clean up the mess he made.

But the conflict and the excitement and the cool fight scenes are all about cleaning up the mess. Solving the problem. Taking responsibility for his mistake.

Like that first SPIDER-MAN movie 20 years ago, it's the flaw in his character that makes him human and relatable. We've all made mistakes. We can understand Peter Parker. We like him even more now that he has this problem that must be solved.

The mistake is removing the responsibility. Since they are talking about doing 3 more SPIDER-MAN films with Holland, let's hope they don't forget that with great power comes great responsibility.

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All About LOGLINES, TREATMENTS, and PITCHING!

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Distilling Your Screenplay!

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THE BUISINESS SIDE

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