[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: How do I make my characters more than just a caricature?
Tony DuShane, Writer/Podcaster/Teacher: In early drafts we’re again putting paint to the canvas and they’ll be caricatures and they’ll be cliché. I talk to my students a lot where they’re like:
Oh, I’m so worried this feels cliché or fabricated.
(I’m like) Don’t worry, it is cliché and fabricated but keep massaging it.
Even then when you’re working on conflict, we are fabricating conflict. We’re storytellers so we have to take the normal conflict of everyday life and smash it together to make it interesting.
Let’s say I’m a character through my life and my driving on the Los Angeles freeways, that might be a story (a very boring story) but then again maybe there’s something in that where there could be a film from the point of view of a guy driving Los Angeles freeways and with that is when we go to the craft and keep going Hey, that’s a really dumb idea and feel free to take that dumb idea but it’s something where Oh wait okay, this character can do this, this character can can go there, it’s showing up to the page every day. That’s the main thing, just show up, show up, show up…(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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