[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: How do you begin creating or writing a character?
John Vorhaus, Author/Speaker/Artist/Screenwriter: I begin everything with arbitrary choice.
Arbitrary choice says: I’m going to start with the first thing that comes to my mind and not worry about whether it’s the right thing.
I’m not going to obsess about it.
I’m going to explore it and see where it goes.
If it goes someplace fruitful, great. I’ll chase it down.
If it doesn’t, I’ll find another arbitrary choice and make that instead.
There are a lot of different ways to make a first arbitrary choice.
Some people start with a title.
You might say:
I’m going to make a sitcom called My Life is Hell.
Okay, what does that suggest?
Probably centered in eccentrics about a character who thinks probably a teenage girl, her life is hell, and she’s surrounded by people who agree with her or who are designed to make her life hell.
The first thing was the title and it started to suggest other possibilities.
I might start with a character with a strong attitude.
I need to find love.
Then from that I might derive the title.
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I need to find love or some other better title.
I might start with a problem I’m interested in solving.
How do I make a living in the world?
Oh, maybe I’ll make a sitcom about people who are trying to make a living.
Now I’ve got an ensemble about young people new in the workplace all struggling to find their place in a world. It doesn’t matter where you…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
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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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