Film Courage: What are the first steps in writing a crime drama?
Jennifer Dornbush, Screenwriter, Author, Speaker, Consultant, and Forensic Science Specialist: To write a crime drama you first need to know how story works really well because crime dramas are left brain/ right brain. You have to know exactly the logical plot, your plot and your trails of evidence have to make sense, not just for your hero/ your investigator but also for your criminal. Your criminal definitely needs his or her own very structured story. But then there’s the whole other emotional element/relational element to the story that you need to know how to tell well because that’s the thing that is the page turner, that’s the thing that keeps you coming back after the commercials or binge the next episode, is the underlying humanity behind all of it that your investigators need. I think we’ve come a long way when I look at TV from the 80’s and 90’s to now, it’s never black and white.
We used to be able to get away with the bad guy and he’s sort of this stereotypical thing but bad guys are not black and white, criminals are not black and white in real life, there’s layers and layers to why they got to where they did. Two things on layering those for your protagonist and your criminal are for me the foundations of where you have to start, you have to know how to tell story well and then how to think through these two major chess pieces…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
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BIO:
Jennifer Dornbush is a screenwriter, author, speaker, consultant, and forensic science specialist. Jennifer grew up around the forensic world as the daughter of a medical examiner whose office was located in her home. She has been teaching and script consulting since 1997 and regularly leads seminars and workshops on screenwriting basics, writing for Hollywood, crime fiction, forensics, death investigation, and the creative life.
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