[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: What makes a good story?
John Vorhaus, Author/Speaker/Artist/Screenwriter: That’s a great question from time immemorial we’ve been trying to figure this out. For me the heart of the good story is its instruction that is in order to be a good story:
-It has to have a message
-It has to tell me as the reader or the viewer what I’m expected to do based on this information
To take an example that would be a bad example, Liar Liar Jim Carrey movie. Liar Liar, Jim Carrey thinks it’s okay to lie and finds out you have to tell the truth. Person watching that movie says Oh, maybe I should tell the truth too? That’s an instruction. The theme of the story, tell the truth, is the instruction that the viewer or the reader receives.
For my money, ain’t a good story if it’s not driven by an instruction because otherwise it has no purpose. It’s just there to be entertaining.
You could even look at something like Hangover which looks like it’s just entertainment but there’s an instruction. The instruction is stand by your friends no matter how bad things get, stand by your friends. The story is informed with purpose…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
BIO:
John Vorhaus is best known for his comedy-writing classic, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not. He has taught and trained writers in 37 countries on five continents at last count, and created TV shows of his own in Nicaragua, Romania and elsewhere. His writing credits include dozens of teleplays and screenplays, plus seven novels and some two dozen works of non-fiction. His latest book is the little book of STANDUP. Vorhaus is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the Writers Guild of America. He lives in Southern California and secretly controls the world from JohnVorhaus.com.
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