Lateef Belle's Lounge Discussions

Bought one very cool motorcycle

I got $500 for a 5 page short. I have no idea what I spent it on though... Since I don't remember, it was probably nothing useful, lol.

loans :(

Paid for my wedding.

honeymoon

Maybe for a truly despicable character you need a kill the cat moment. Show that the character has resolve and determination. In House of Cards, Frank Underwood almost literally kills the cat (puts an injured dog out its misery with his bare hands). In Nightcrawler, the main character kills the security guard and takes his watch. It depends on what movie you are making. If you don't have a save the cat moment, you'd better have something else up your sleeve to make the viewer want to sit through two hours of watching your character.

I'd argue that your protagonist DOES have to be likable. It's probably just a question of the definition of "likable". Like Owen, I wouldn't invite Tony Montana to a barbecue, but I'd probably enjoy having a beer with him if I could be assured he wasn't going to shoot me. (I mean, the Tony from the first half of the movie. Paranoid coke-head Tony would probably be a real pill.) But likable isn't synonymous with admirable, nice or moral. Charisma, professionalism, tenacity and sense of humor are all qualities that can make someone likable. They're also all character attributes of both John McClane AND Hans Gruber, you know? Anyway, whatever the word, save the cat/pet the dog is a quick way to achieve likability, and it's a Hollywood convention, but it isn't the ONLY way. Again, I recommend Writing for Emotional Impact for its chapter on this topic.

Whenever someone says the protagonist has to be likable I think of two films: Requiem for a Dream and Glengarry Glen Ross. Both brilliant movies, neither with a likable character for miles. Granted, most movies don't operate this way, but I think that if the story is interesting then watching the events unfold, no matter the characters, will keep the audience's attention.

Jean-Pierre - I haven't seen NIGHTCRAWLER, but I have a few theories as to why people like Patrick Bateman in AMERICAN PSYCHO. For one, many of Bateman's impulses and attitudes are things we all feel. We all have ids or dark sides or whatever we choose to call them; the great majority of us just don't let them get out of hand to the point of committing murder. Also, many of the other characters Bateman interacts with come off worse than he does, in many ways. In the movie, pretty much the only likable characters besides Bateman are his secretary and Willem Dafoe as the private investigator (and maybe the gay guy with the crush on Bateman); everybody else is a horrible yuppie asshole, a non-genuine person made up of name brands and "name" colleges and prep schools. Alongside them, Bateman comes across as being much more real by comparison. Finally, there's that aspect of the movie by which the viewer's made to question how reliable a narrator Bateman is. Is Bateman really a murderer - or is the whole story just his elaborate venting-fantasy? If he's not really a murderer, then the only really bad angle to him isn't even a factor. With all that in mind, if I wanted to create a despicable protagonist whom people would nonetheless still like and want to see succeed, I'd create one with whom they could GUILTILY or SECRETLY identify. Doesn't hurt to emphasize some aspect of the character that people might aspire to share, either (Bateman being handsome/rich)...see also Don Draper in MAD MEN.

An Anti-Hero can still be a true protagonist. You can "like" them by watching their downfall.

I've only ever used Final Draft but I might check out Fade In based on this thread. FD is very easy to use and works quickly.

I was using Final Draft up until a few days ago. For some reason it kept freezing and giving me non responsive errors taking up to 20 seconds to do a single letter. UGH. Switched over to Celtx as a quick fix. Yes they moved to an online model but it's still free if you only want to use the screenwriting feature. What I don't like is that you have to save as a PDF everytime to see the page number and I also don't like the fact that you have to pay $5 for the app if you want the reader on your phone.

I've been using Final Draft for about 6 years now and only had a few snags along the way. Mainly with the newest update. Like Stacy above me... I also had the freezing and closing down, which became frustrating. But after a while, it stopped doing that. Although I feel like it just heard me, so I need to go back up EVERYTHING...

I like Celtx. And it's free.

Celtx is great I like the different project templates like Storyborading and Comic