Hi Scott, I’ve got a quick question with regards to character interviews: does it matter at which point in the stories timeline you actually interview a character? I guess when interviewing it’s assumed the characters are at the start of their journey, but does it help at all to try and conduct an additional interview – one set after the stories events? So take Luke Skywalker for instance. In the first interview he’d be banging on about how he’s bored, stuck at home, and wants to be a pilot. In the second interview he’d talk about how he is a Jedi and how he came to arrive at that point. So between the two interviews you can create a loose story arc. Of course, in this example, I already know going in what happens to Luke (the new films excluded, of course) so it’s easy to envisage how the interviews would go down. Not sure how the future interview would go for a character I’m currently trying to discover. I do feel there is something interesting in the approach though. Have you ever tried it? I know most people say you should know your ending before you begin, so you’d have some idea going in as to how the characters might change. Maybe not the specifics, but their beliefs, attitudes and philosophies.

Brilliant. Never noticed that bit of harmonica - and that's a soundtrack I write to more than any other. You just made a great film even greater!

Sean, this is actually an exercise I recommend to the writers I work with in my Prep classes: Interview characters at different times in their lives. As a child. In the present. In the future. So your instincts are spot-on!

Larry, I attended the first industry screening of The Shawshank Redemption and still have the email I sent to Castle Rock president Martin Shafer in which I mentioned several grace notes in the picture, including the harmonica. That night is one of my fondest life-memories.

Lucky guy!

What an awesome analysis and explanation. I saw shawshank maybe 10years ago and never since. I def have to re-watch it.

Worth watching ever year!