WEDNESDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:
ALL MY VILLAIN'S ARE HEROES!
In most action and thriller scripts, the
villain's plan is what fuels the plot. In the first TERMINATOR
movie what Sara Conners goals are isn't nearly as important as
what the Terminator's goal is - to kill every woman in Los
Angeles named Sara Conners. Even Michael Biehn's goal - to stop
the Terminator - is a reaction to the villain's plan. You can't
stop what hasn't started! If you removed the villain's plan,
Michael Biehn has no reason to go back in time (and John Conners
would never have been born - what a conundrum!) If you look at
any crime drama, the police are investigating a crime... which is
a reaction to the villain (who committed the crime). In fact,
most movies regardless of genre have the protagonist reacting to
events caused by another character (who will become the
antagonist). Why does George Baily want to kill himself in IT'S A
WONDERFUL LIFE? This makes the villain the most important
character in your script.
Because the villain's plan is the fuel for the story, that
plan has to be something that makes sense. It must be well
motivated and UNDERSTANDABLE. On the surface, killing every woman
in Los Angeles named Sarah Conners seems crazy... but we learn
that one of these Sarahs will give birth to John Conners, who
will lead the attack against Sky Net in the future. So killing
all of these women named Sarah Conners is an act of self
preservation for the Terminator. That's a motivation we
understand - it makes sense. If the villain's plan doesn't makes
sense, neither will your script.
Remember that the villain would be the hero if the movie were
made from his point of view. He's not doing EVIL things, he's
just doing the things that are necessary in order to achieve his
goals. He thinks he is doing the right thing. Motivation is
important in creating every character including your villain. Put
yourself in your villain's shoes - see the world through their
eyes - are their actions the best way to achieve their goals? The
way you might achieve those goals if you weren't worried about
hurting others? I can understand the queen Alien in ALIENS
defending her eggs - her children - by killing anyone who gets
near them. Mother bears protect their cubs. If someone with a
flame thrower were coming to torch my kids, I wouldn't think
twice before attacking them. I can understand the Queen Alien's
plan in ALIENS - I would do the same thing if I were in her shoes
(or clawed feet).
In my cable film HARD EVIDENCE the bad guy was deep in debt
and was desperate. He needed money, and would bend the rules to
get it. He tries to get his business partner (the hero) to sell
some property they co-own... but the villain's pride keeps him
from being honest with his partner. Instead of admitting he
needed the money, or even begging for a loan, he pretends that
selling the property would just be a good deal. His partner turns
down the deal.
Now the villain has no choice but to FORCE his partner to sell
the land. To put his partner in a position where he needs his
share of the money...
This sets the plot into motion.
The villain feels that he's up against a wall - it's him or me.
Things escalate, and the villain ends up doing horrible things
to his partner (and friend) to force him into selling the
property. But from the villain's point of view, he has no choice.
It's a matter of survival. The hero stands in his way. This
creates an interesting off camera dilemma for the villain - in
order to survive he must do things that hurt his best friend. One
of my goals with the script was to come up with scenes where the
villain would be placed in situations where he had to decide
between friendship and survival: There's a scene where the hero
asks to borrow a gun from his best friend (villain) - should the
villain support his friend by giving him a gun, knowing that the
gun might eventually be used to kill him? Should you arm your
enemy? I made sure that scene after scene created difficult
decisions for the villain... you wouldn't want to be in his
shoes.
After the screening of HARD EVIDENCE, my friend Paul Kyriazi
told me I'd managed not only to make him care about the hero, but
feel sorry for the villain by the end. The villain was a
realistic character to Paul... and that made the film more
believable. I could have told the story from the villain's point
of view and it would have focused on his selfish partner (hero)
who refused to sell the property. Hero turning into villain.
What does your villain NEED? Does he need it so badly that
he'll do ANYTHING to get it?
It's all about motivation. Your villain is just doing what he
needs to do to achieve his goal.
If you looked at your story differently, would your villain be
the hero? Would he be struggling against the odds to achieve his
goal? Would the hero be the person who stood in his way?
HOLIDAY BLOCK - older tips that haven't run for a while because site traffic is slow... look for a bunch of NEW tips at the beginning of the year!
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