[Watch the video on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What makes a great scene?
Tony DuShane, Writer/Teacher/Podcast Host of Drinks With Tony: Scene work is interesting because when we talk about scene work, all we really need is a character or we need more than one character but the character needs conflict. We want to keep our characters in as much conflict as possible. There’s a film I always bring up to my students and I make them watch it over and over again because Little Miss Sunshine carries the torch of seen- by-scene of hitting conflict, shifting power dynamics, which is also another word for shifting status. I feel like that comes up more in TV shows and TV scripts, the shifts of status and it’s so powerful that when we see it in a movie, it’s pretty cool.
When I’m rewriting a scene I go over who has status in the scene and then is there a way to play with it? I’ll do an example of a cop interrogating a suspect. There’s a cop and he’s interrogating, there it is [refers to the slide], a cop interrogating a suspect and the cop has high status and the suspect is in handcuffs. The suspect may even be crying and the suspect has low status. When you’re watching a scene, think about power dynamics and think about status because that’s what actors are thinking about and that’s what writers are thinking about when they’re writing and actors are thinking about that when they’re playing together but we can shift we can shift that dynamic because in…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk by Tony DuShane – Check out the book on Amazon:
BIO:
Tony DuShane is the author of the semi-autobiographical novel Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk. He adapted the screenplay for director Eric Stoltz, and the film is now available on Amazon Prime. His journalism and essays have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, Penthouse, The Believer, and other media outlets. DuShane has hosted the author interview show Drinks with Tony since 2002. He just finished his next novel Dream Casting and is seeking a happy home for it.
CONNECT WITH TONY DUSHANE:
Advertisement – contains affiliate links
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
More affiliates:
Camera we use for interviews – https://buff.ly/3rWqrra
Sound we use for interviews – https://amzn.to/2tbFlM9
Other books on Amazon that Film Courage recommends – https://buff.ly/3o0oE5o
