Jay Fingers, Screenwriter/Author/Youtuber: But I think that’s the Save The Cat moment because that’s the moment where you realize that Chris Knight is going to help this kid adjust to life at this school.
Film Courage: You love the film Real Genius with Val Kilmer. What is the Save The Cat moment in that film?
Jay: I think it’s probably with Real Genius the premise there’s a young genius who enrolls in this sort of Cal Tech-type school and he partners up with Chris Knight who’s played by Val Kilmer. He’s young, like 14 or 15-years-old, he’s surrounded by all these older students, they’re picking on him and he places a phone call to his parents complaining about the school. He’s crying Mom, I don’t want to be here and the call is recorded and broadcast like I think in the cafeteria and he’s humiliated, this kid is humiliated and he doesn’t know what to do. Val Kilmer says Hey, don’t get mad, get even and he helps him concoct his plan to get revenge on the main bully, which is this guy named Kent. It’s so funny, everyone at the school is a nerd essentially but they still have different factions. You’ve got the cool kids, you’ve got your bullies. The main bully Kent, they devised his plan to get revenge on him and they do it by essentially dismantling his car and reassembling it in his dorm room where it’s sitting on this inflatable raft or whatever. It’s great because it works for the world with that film as well. It’s so absurd but it works with the world of that film. Kent loves his car and everything but I think that’s the Save The Cat moment because that’s the moment where you realize that Chris Knight is going to help this kid adjust to life at the school. That’s the moment I think you really like him because he can come off as a bit insufferable in the beginning when we’re first introduced to him, he’s actually interviewing for a job and he’s wearing alien antenna and bunny slippers and…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Jay Fingers is a novelist, journalist, editor, and emerging screenwriter. He grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, before attending film school at the University of Miami. After college and working in Miami Beach’s nightlife scene for several years, Jay moved to New York City — Brooklyn, specifically — where he wrote four books: Guestlist, Kisses for Tati, Orange Mound and Manhattan Sweetheart. Deciding to fully pursue his lifelong screenwriting ambitions, Jay relocated to Los Angeles, where he currently lives and has been tirelessly working on spec scripts.
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