[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Tony DuShane, Writer/Podcaster/Teacher: 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. I make them watch it over and over again. Little Miss Sunshine carries the torch of scene-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. 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, there is a way to play with it.
I’ll do an example of a cop interrogating a suspect. A cop is 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. 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 that dynamic.
Let’s say in the same scene the suspect has information that the cop wants, so then the cop realizes this and maybe the suspect smiles and the cop slams his fist on the table and he’s upset as the suspect is not giving him this information. All of a sudden the suspect has higher status and the cop is lower status. The cop wants something from the suspect, needs something from the suspect and the suspect is giving it up.
When you’re watching films, keep an eye out on the status and power dynamics and watch how the protagonists can go…(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.
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