A Workshop on Emotion

You walk up to the door of an unmarked warehouse, confused and unsure of yourself. "Is this the place to go?" you wonder ... "Am I in the right spot?"

There's only one way to find out.

You knock. And get no answer. But you can hear something inside. A muffled whirring.

You test the doorknob; it's unlocked. You open it, just a crack. "Hello?" you shout. But there's no answer. Not over the high-pitched sound of a table saw.

With shaky knees you step inside, immediately assaulted by a thick cloud of sawdust floating through the air. You meander past half-finished tables, a wooden dresser, and even a rocking horse, before finally locating the source of the noise.

It's me. Wearing safety glasses and an apron. Using a power tool to cut a piece of wood for my latest creation.

I look up.

"Oh, I didn't see you there! Come in, come in!" I say, dropping what I'm doing. "You're my new student, right? The one who asked about how to make your screenplay more dynamic."

You nod silently, glad you found me.

I take off my apron and toss it to the side. "Welcome!" I say, "I can't wait to get started. Here, have a seat."

You shuffle to a grand, hand-crafted chair behind you. It splinters into a million pieces the second you sit down.

"Oops," I say, rubbing my head, "Sorry, I never was very good at building stuff. But I'll tell you what I am good at: teaching screenwriting! And today we're gonna cover a really important topic ...

"We're going to run a workshop all about emotion."

(Before you ask, yes, this entire intro was done specifically so I could have a play on words with 'workshop.' And no, I'm not proud of it. But I also couldn't think of a better way to start this article so hush up and let's move on, okay?)

Anyway, I've said this many times before, but it bears repeating: Emotion is one of, if not THE most critical aspects to any narrative project. Yes, even more important than plot.

Take it from me, someone who has read at least 10,000 screenplays at this point in my life. Plot is cheap, everyone has one. And while having a cool concept is awesome and definitely something to strive for, I believe it is more essential to hook the reader emotionally into your story. You might have the freshest, most unique idea of all time, but if you can't make the reader care about the person or people that the cool plot stuff is happening to, you'll never get them to finish your screenplay.

Why is that you ask?

Because if the reader feels an emotional connection to a character or narrative, then they're along for the ride. They've officially "bought in" to your story. If they aren't, then there isn't a second-act twist in the world that will save you.

A great example is The Shawshank Redemption, which is still (at the time of writing this) the number one rated movie on IMDb. There are long stretches in that second act where the protagonists don't do much. Andy builds a library. He does taxes for the prison guards. He helps Tommy get his GHD. But because the filmmakers did such a good job of building a strong connection to him early, these segments aren't boring. We're fully along for the ride.

In fact, I want you to think back to any of your favorite cinematic moments (or even those from a book, play, or hell, even great video games). I am willing to bet all the money in my pocket that the beat you're thinking of made you feel something. Whether it was excited, scared, elated, or angry. There was emotional resonance in that scene that transcended the medium.

I still distinctly remember (with exceptional clarity) the first time I saw Star Wars: A New Hope. I'll never forget how I felt during the climax.

Luke is making his run at the exhaust port to blow up the Death Star. Darth Vader is behind him. Both of Luke's wingmen are gone; he's all alone. After much evading, juking, and dodging, Vader finally gets his equipment to lock on. "I have you now!" he cries!

My stomach literally jumped into my throat. I thought Luke was going to die. I was damn sure of it.

Of course, Han swoops in to save the day, and the good guys win. But that moment right there was the catalyst for my whole career. Because I decided right then and there that I wanted to make little boys and little girls across the globe feel the same way that I felt in that moment. And right then, I felt like I could run through a goddamn brick wall.

Emotion is what makes stories memorable. It's the special sauce that makes viewers come back again and again. And you know what else?

It's also how you attract actors to your stuff. These are the beats that will stand out to thespians on the page. So, if you're in "packaging hell" and desperate to shine, one of the best ways is to increase your overall level of emotionality.

The question naturally turns to "well how do I do that? How can I reach my hand inside the reader's body and start playing their heart like a bongo???" And for that, I have some suggestions:

1) SHOWCASE YOUR CHARACTERS EMOTIONS POWERFULLY AND VISIBLY

Wayyyy too many screenplays I read these days try to hide their character's feelings. They've either crafted the stalwart protagonist who buries everything down deep inside, or they try to slow play the emotion so it'll come out later.

Neither situation is ideal, in my opinion.

Movies are about what you can see. It's not a novel, where you can literally be inside the character's head. You've got to show a reaction onscreen for us to understand it in most circumstances.

Think back to Forrest Gump. There's a scene in the third act where Forrest and Jenny are walking hand in hand around town. Suddenly, they stumble upon Jenny's childhood home. The house where her dad did unspeakable things to her as a kid.

The scene plays out something like this: Forrest and Jenny are talking. Then Jenny sees the house, and she gets all quiet. She breaks from Forrest and walks towards the structure. Staring at it for a long while.

Then, out of nowhere, she takes off her shoes and flings them at the house. And when she runs out of shoes, she picks up rocks and hurls them, too. She does this over and over again, getting more and more upset, until finally, she crumples into a heap on the ground. She cries until Forrest walks over to hold her.

Notice several things about this scene. 1) Jenny's feelings are visible here, and the writer has turned her emotions into action (e.g. I am still angry over what my father did to me, and I cannot hold it in any longer). 2) There's no dialogue. It's all on the actress to bring this out in front of the camera.

Now this scene happens at the end of the movie. It's been building for a long time. However, I also feel very, very strongly that emotional beats can't wait this long. You need to:

2) FIND A WAY TO HOOK THE AUDIENCE IN THE FIRST ACT

You've got to make the reader care about your characters in the first 30 pages. The faster, the better, obviously—but trust me, if you get to the midpoint and I could care less about your hero, nothing that comes after this is going to bring me back in. You're DOA at that point.

To show you an example of this, I want to compare the opening 10 minutes of two movies with similar protagonists. In the red corner, we have the Tom Hank's vehicle A Man Called Otto. In the blue corner, we've got Disney/Pixar's Up.

Otto and Carl are strikingly identical. Both are grumpy men at the end of their lives who have lost those close to them and are now angry and closed off because of it. But the way these movies draw the reader in couldn't be more different.

In Otto, we start by watching the title character be a total dick to pretty much everyone. People say hello on the street, and he blows them off. A cute dog walks by, and he tells the owner to make sure it doesn't pee on his stoop. A car parks in the wrong place, and he rips the driver's head off. All the while he pretty much calls everyone he can an idiot.

Point blank: Otto is a jerk. It's really hard to like him!

The opening of Up is different though. It shows Carl's life before he becomes a grumpy old man. It starts with him as a kid, first meeting his adventurous wife, Ellie. It shows them falling in love. Getting married. Buying a house. Getting jobs. And being happy together.

And then it shows Ellie's miscarriage. I'm one hundred percent sure everyone reading this remembers the devastation this scene brings (P.S. go back to my comment above ... this scene has zero dialogue and the emotions are clearly visible and outward. The characters aren't keeping their feelings inside!)

We then watch as the couple come up with a goal to see the world together and saves up money for their trip. But of course, Ellie dies before this can happen ... *snf snf*

The comparison I want to show here is that while both Otto and Carl are mentally in the same place at the beginning of their respective movies, our feelings towards them are entirely different. We don't like Otto because he's an asshole with no context. But we understand why Carl has become so curmudgeonly and closed off because we've seen his story. We've cried with him and empathized with him. We want him to be happy because we know he deserves it, and we know this isn't the type of person he used to be! We like Carl a lot!!

From minute ten on, we're completely behind Carl. We're rooting for him to succeed and want him to find happiness.

I never felt that way about Otto—even when the tragic story of his wife dying was revealed. Because by the time this happened (probably around the end of the second act), I was over it. I was too far gone to care.

Place emotional beats early in your stories. Use them to build goodwill with the audience. You'll need that to get them through the second and third acts.

"But how, Spike?? How do I transcend the page and make the reader actually feel something??"

It's a great question, and admittedly a difficult thing to do. This is what separates the contenders from the pretenders. But I'd challenge you to:

3) CRAFT YOUR PLOT OUTLINE WITH EMOTION AT THE CENTER

A lot of young writers I read these days put plot at the center of everything. And for those of you who maybe need it broken down to its most simple form ...

Plot = things happen to your character.

And that's fine. Every movie is going to have some level of plot. A movie like Mad Max: Fury Road has 100% plot. There's no emotion in that entire film. I personally find that hollow, but that's neither here nor there.

A movie like The Big Chill, is the opposite. That's very little plot and relies almost entirely on character and emotion to carry it. And lots of people love that film.

But no matter which type of tale you want to tell, I would challenge you to think about the story a little differently than what I outline above. Because the formula that I have found works best is ...

Plot = things happen to your character ----> which make them FEEL a certain way -----> based off that feeling, they do something else -----> which makes someone else (or themselves) FEEL a certain way -----> and based off that feeling, that character does something ...

Etc., etc. In a big ol' loop until the movie is done. Do you see the difference there?

Instead of the plot (aka outside sources) motivating the story and pushing things along, in the above example, the character's feelings are the engine. They are causing the characters to take action and agency and make the story go.

At the beginning of Toy Story, Woody has the best life ever. He is Andy's favorite toy, and thereby, he enjoys special social status in the playroom. He is a leader among his peers. Everyone comes to him for advice, he sleeps in the bed (rather than the toy box), and even Bo Peep has a crush on him.

Enter Buzz Lightyear. This is the plot aspect. Woody cannot control that for his birthday, Andy gets a new spaceman toy. And this toy usurps Woody as Andy's favorite. Buzz becomes the new popular guy around town, gets to sleep on the bed, all the decorations change from cowboy to space stuff, and even Bo Peep comments on Buzz's muscles. And how does this make Woody feel?

Jealous as holy hell! Woody fumes at this development! He doesn't like that, through no fault of his own, he has lost this status! The thing he held so dearly!

So, what does that feeling make Woody do? He concocts a plan to get Buzz stuck behind the desk so Andy can't take him to Pizza Palace. Well, that plan goes wrong, and Buzz ends up falling out of the window. And how do the other toys react to this?

Angry! The RV car tells them all about what happened, and every toy in Andy's room turns on Woody—to the point where he must go on an adventure and bring Buzz back or else he'll be exiled forever.

Do you see how this all-time classic film used the feelings of its characters to dictate what happened next at nearly every turn? Again, every story needs some plot ... but the more feeling you have, the better.

4) CRAFT YOUR SCENES WITH EMOTION AT THE CENTER, TOO

I want to dive deeper on this, because on a micro level, this is where I see a ton of writers struggle.

Very often, I'll read scenes that go something like this (and in this example, let's say the story is about a woman escaping a dangerous situation with a domestic partner).

EXAMPLE 1: "PROTAGONIST comes home, knees shaking. She breathes very hard and takes a moment to calm herself at the door. Then, she hurries into the bedroom and pulls out her suitcase. She begins throwing clothes haphazardly into the luggage."

Is there emotion in this scene? Yes. The lead character is very clearly scared out of her mind and is taking action because of it. And there's no talking. So, this is an example of a great scene, right? One that follows all the advice I outlined above.

Wrong. It's actually a pretty mediocre scene, in my opinion. Because the plot is the focus. The core of this scene is what? It's getting the protagonist to pack her bags. It's about the character doing something. And it's over so quickly that we (the audience) don't have time to feel it for ourselves. The emotion is secondary.

Instead, I would propose that something like this is much better:

EXAMPLE 2: "Protagonist's ROOMMATE walks through the front door, scrolling on her phone. She takes two steps inside and then stops. Her ears perk up. There's a sound coming from PROTAGONIST's bedroom. A harried shuffling. Huh??

Roommate approaches the cracked door. The sound of frenzied movement only intensifies. What the hell is going on??

Roommate peaks through, and sees PROTAGONIST zigzagging around, throwing clothes haphazardly into an open suitcase. She's breathing heavily and appears extremely panicked.

Roommate pushes her way inside.

"Hannah, what's wrong?"

Protagonist doesn't reply. Continues throwing clothes into the luggage without any logical thought.

"Hey!" Roommate shouts, "Talk to me. What's going on?"

Still nothing. Protagonist zips up the bag and goes to pick it up.

"STOP!" Roommate screams. It isn't until Roommate grabs Protagonist by the shoulders and spins her around that she finally seems to snap back to reality ..."

Now, why is what I just wrote better than the first example?

For one, I'd say it's because the emotion is present for so much longer. Just saying "character cries," or "character is so angry they smash a plate," doesn't get the feeling across. You need to draw the moment out. You gotta give the reader a long enough chance to maybe feel something, too. That doesn't happen instantly.

Secondly, I'd also say it's because the emotion is the center of the scene. Yes, the protagonist packs a suitcase in both examples. But in the second one, there's a larger question looming. "Why is she so scared? What has got her on edge?" The scene runs through the protagonist's feelings. And that is a much, much more powerful way to write.

Listen, utilizing emotion properly is one of the hardest aspects of writing to learn. I won't tell you otherwise. But it's also the skill that is most likely to elevate your game in the long run.

Study it. Look for it when you're watching content. Borrow from the masters. And make it an emphasis in your rewrites. I promise it will be worth your while to do so.

"Now if you'll excuse me," I say, resecuring my safety goggles, "I have to super glue that wooden chair back together. I swear I'll get it right this time."

Godspeed y'all, and happy writing.

*Feature image from Up (Disney/Pixar)