Christopher Riley, Screenwriter, Author, and Instructor: Somebody has said that the job of the artist is to see and then to show others what they’ve seen.
Film Courage: Can we talk about moments that heal or repair a character?
Christopher: I love moments in film where there is restoration of some kind that happens in a way that seems believable, that doesn’t seem shangri-la. I think about the film Blood Diamond in this regard. There’s really two stories that happen in Blood Diamond. We have the story of a South African diamond merchant played by Leonardo DiCaprio who is trafficking in these blood diamonds (I think the movie takes place in Sierra Leone) and so he’s on the hunt for this giant diamond that he’s heard has been found out in the mines that are run by the rebel military. The rebel military conscripts boys as child soldiers both to fight for them but also to work in these mines. The other main character is played by Djimon Hounsou and he’s the dad of a boy who has been abducted and taken away from his village…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Christopher Riley is a professional screenwriter who co-wrote with his wife Kathy Riley the award-winning German language courtroom thriller After the Truth. The Rileys have written scripts for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Mandalay Television Pictures, the late Sean Connery’s Fountainbridge Films and Robert Cort Productions. Christopher produced the independent action-thriller Red Line and executive produced the web series Bump+. He is the author of the classic screenplay format guide The Hollywood Standard, now in its third edition, and teaches screenwriting at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The Riley’s latest book is The Defining Moment: How Writers and Actors Build Characters (through Michael Wiese Productions).
BUY THE BOOK – THE DEFINING MOMENT: How Writers and Actors Build Characters (by Christopher and Kathy Riley)
BUY THE BOOK – THE HOLLYWOOD STANDARD: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style
CONNECT WITH CHRISTOPHER RILEY
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