Robert Towne just reminded me of what is most important in creating a character: making them face what they are afraid of. This is an organic way of creating conflict, moving the plot along simultaneously, and completing a character's arc.

And you gotta love his quote about scene development: "Most scenes are rarely about what the subject matter is... because most people rarely confront things head-on." True, true and more true!

I'll be running this How They Write A Script series for the next two weeks. I think reading about how professional screenwriters do what they do is a terrific way to learn more about the craft.

Excellent.

"good writing is the same way: it's not explicit. Take a very banal situation -- a guy trying to seduce a girl". --Towne

"He talks about everything but seduction, anything from a rubber duck he had as a child to the food on the table or whatever. But you know it's all oriented toward trying to fuck this girl" --Towne

That alone makes me look at writing dialogue different. It gives you a hell of a lot of creative options. Even if you come up with a bunch of bulky blocks of dialogue, you can chip it away and get to the heart of it all...love it.