by Jeff Kitchen
Technique and Creativity
People often think that structural technique destroys creativity, but I find it liberating. Look at how creative and focused my process is here. The technique suggests certain things, and from experience I know that it tends to make for good screenplays, so I’m working it as hard as I can. And look how much freedom I have—the story is still wide open in so many ways, even though the story logic and probability are steering it toward some kind of point of inevitability on the horizon. I have tremendous leeway to experiment within the corridor in which I’ve launched this plot. I don’t feel as though I’m trapped in some arcane rules, but as though I have guiding principles that help me steer this careening machine. In The Philosophy of Dramatic Principle and Method, Price says, “Playwriting is a process of thought, not a matter of rules.” Here’s David Mamet, again from On Directing Film:
The purpose of technique is to free the unconscious [Mamet’s emphasis]. If you follow the rules ploddingly, they will allow your unconscious to be free. That’s true creativity. If not, you will be fettered by your conscious mind. Because the conscious mind always wants to be liked and wants to be interesting. The conscious mind is going to suggest the obvious, the cliché, because these things offer the security of having succeeded in the past. Only the mind that has been taken off itself and put on a task is allowed true creativity.
Obviously, I believe in technique—this book is all about it. The tool of Decision & Action suggests that my character’s reaction to the crisis should kick in here. But I’m bursting with creativity—this certainly isn’t paint-bynumbers. Knowing how to use the tools gives me great confidence as a dramatist, and I’m having a blast building this movie.
FOCUSING ON RESOLUTION WHILE CREATING THE STORY
At the point of Decision & Action it seems as though Cutter’s on such a bender that he’s gone over to the dark side for good. He seems to have thrown in with St. Nick and Senator Hutchings, but it’s hard to tell. Mischa may panic: Who is this monster that used to be his father? Apollo may just ride the tornado that Cutter has become, content for it to serve his purposes if only he can steer it. Margarita probably sees her marriage rapidly falling apart. But the savage Cutter may also be taking steps in terms of lying to the FBI, to the CIA, and to Umbotha—all to create some bizarre opportunities to take down St. Nick and Hutchings. The point of Decision & Action should be such a flurry of contradictory lies that Cutter will seem like a lunatic genius. This wild flurry should lead to the resolution, although in an unexpected and refreshing way.
Pulling Cutter Out of the Fire
If Margarita is able to get through to Cutter and steer him back toward a connection with their stable life, he may begin to “snap to” at the crucial moment. If so, then he can kick events in the right direction just when it looks as though all is lost. What about the old switcheroo: A massive quantity of St. Nick’s and Hutchings’s money gets burned up in an accidental fire, with them watching. In actuality, it is Apollo’s counterfeit money, but believing their missing money to be destroyed, St. Nick and Hutchings won’t be looking for it.
Another key action I see on Cutter’s part is divulging the whole truth about the plan at a live TV press conference. Before the public eye, this unprecedented honesty about politics would detonate the Senator’s career. It could turn out that Apollo knows Umbotha because they played as kids together when their dictator fathers visited each other on business. This acquaintance, when added to Cutter’s system of ingenious, interlocking lies, could convince Umbotha that St. Nick is ripping him off. Umbotha would then fly into a murderous rage and punish St. Nick by taking him back to Mambia, where he becomes a highly guarded prison laborer, enduring a fate far worse than death.
The Trickle-Up Effect
The money—it would turn out to be a vast amount—could be mailed out to the taxpayers who make the least money. As Cutter speaks on live TV, this money would already have gone out in the day’s mail. He could tell one last little white lie, saying that St. Nick felt such regret for stealing this money from the American taxpayers that he’s returning it—directly to them. The TV interviewer would claim that Cutter has caused immense chaos by telling the truth, and Cutter would say that St. Nick should be held accountable—except that he’s nowhere to be found. He would say that there will certainly be a lot of happy poor people out there today, and for the wealthy taxpayers who did-n’t get packages, not to worry because the money will trickle up. Cutter, Margarita, and Mischa can start again with a new life. Mischa has been scared straight by this whole affair; the three are a tight family; and three envelopes of cash will soon be arriving in the mail to help them along.
Using Theme
he way in which Cutter resolves his dilemma expresses the theme of the script. (Review Chapter 2 to refresh your understanding of the use of Theme.) What Cutter does is to defeat St. Nick and Hutchings, as well as his own internal demons. The way in which he does this is to burst out with an outrageously creative, positive solution that finally uses his gift of lying for good. Burying his problem didn’t work; he had to transform it into a force for good in order to be truly liberated. He finds his core of integrity, courage, and wisdom, and from that emerges an ecstatic freedom that changes his whole reality.
The audience experiences the force of Cutter’s unstoppable exuberance, his indomitable, transcendent new energy. This is a theme of life, freedom, energy, happiness, health, integrity, and the power of creation. This theme is very much the heart of the story—what the story is really about—and properly done, it can resonate deeply with the audience. In essence it’s a creation myth, a shamanic self-transformation; it’s the conception of new life, the discovery of an oasis in the midst of a barren desert.
THE VALUE OF KNOWING YOUR THEME
Knowing the theme—having it in my bones—helps to govern the shape, tone, and energy of the script. This begins with Cutter miserably trying to suppress his gift. There’s an entire growth process from nothingness to exuberance. The theme reminds me to make him quite stuck emotionally when the audience first meets him, to establish as great a contrast as possible between how he starts out and how he ends up.
However, this screenplay is not a lecture on life, energy, or integrity. It’s a rollicking comic thriller about a guy who finally harnesses his troubling natural energy for something good. Do I infuse the script with this by constantly reiterating it and beating the audience over the head with it? No way. That would be the ruin of this movie. Trusting that the theme will emerge organically at the end of the film, I have each part of the plot do its job, using the full arsenal of my craft as a dramatist to tell the story itself as well as possible.
QUOTES EXPLORING THE THEME OF GOOD OLD ST. NICK
I gathered the following quotes to provide insights into the story—to root me more deeply in the theme, the characters, and plot as the script continues to grow.
Character is the governing element of life, and is above genius.
— GEORGE SAUNDERS
Sanity is madness put to good uses.
— GEORGE SANTAYANA
The charm of the best courages is that they are inventions, inspirations, flashes of genius.
— GEORGE HALIFAX
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
— SOPHOCLES
Not even hell can lay a hand on the invincible.
— PARMENION
In great straits and when hope is small, the boldest counsels are the safest.
— LIVY
The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.
— LEON TROTSKY
We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.
— IRIS MURDOCH
Lay me on an anvil, O God. Beat me and hammer me into a crowb
ar.
Truth is the cry of all, but the game of few.
— GEORGE BERKELEY
Truth is a clumsy servant that breaks the dishes while washing them.
— KARL KRAUS
The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you.
— SØREN KIERKEGAARD
Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.
— JAMES A. MICHENER
Truth-telling frightens me. Lying confuses me.
— MASON COOLEY
[Note: If you’ve followed the detour previously, then you may wish to skip over Chapters 10 through 12, and continue from Chapter 13]
Using the 36 Dramatic Situations
s we develop our original screenplay in Part Two, the 36 Dramatic Situations will be incredibly useful in opening the floodgates of possibility. While this certainly can be as chaotic as it sounds—the fact that it shakes everything up is one of this tool’s greatest strengths—this process of trying on all the situations for a fit is also very methodical. A special effort is made to explore all the possibilities, permutations, and ramifications of each situation as it pertains to our rapidly expanding plot. Turning over this new ground exposes dynamic and fresh story options, energizing the entire script development process. Essentially, the 36 Dramatic Situations are a mineral-rich fertilizer feeding our rapidly growing story.
EXPLORING THE 36 DRAMATIC SITUATIONS TO OPEN UP OUR STORY
Let’s go through the 36 Dramatic Situations to stir up some ideas. It’s important to be wide open to any and all possibilities at this point, because the story is still brand new and unformed. This is a time of rapid, explosive growth—the sky’s the limit. Even though some solid ideas are shaping up, anything goes—including the original premise, if something better pops up. Using the suggestive power of this tool in conjunction with imagination and a sense of how to steer this story, the work becomes part intention and part voyage of discovery. Review the list in chapter 3 while thinking about this unformed story. See which situations jump out at you, bristling with energy and suggesting story possibilities.
1. Supplication
Cutter will clearly be asking and begging for help in dealing with both Apollo and St. Nick. Since he’s now a churchgoer, he’ll be literally praying for guidance from God. If he can talk to his wife about what’s going on, he’ll also be appealing to her for guidance. For her part, she’ll definitely be pleading with him not to get involved, because she knows where it will lead—to all his old addictions ruining their life together. If she doesn’t know about the scheme, then she’ll beg Cutter to tell her. She will also be praying for him because she knows something’s wrong.
Cutter will beseech Apollo to let him off the hook, and he’s begging for his life, his marriage and his wife, his son, his happiness, his sanity. He knows that crossing St. Nick could get them all killed, or possibly a fate worse than death. In return, Apollo is also begging Cutter for help: He needs Cutter’s skills in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take down St. Nick. What if, in addition, Apollo is in trouble with St. Nick? He will plead his case even harder. Meanwhile, Cutter’s son begs for a glimpse of Cutter’s old life, which Cutter in turn implores him to forget about. He wants his son to embrace a normal life, and not to get dragged into the criminal world. He’s trying hard to influence Mischa positively and to show him by example how to live a good life. Cutter also perceives that much of his son’s behavior is a cry for help.
The proposed caper obviously demands that Cutter lie (which is part of the fun of the story), but he’ll probably struggle to keep it under control, begging his addiction to stay dormant. Yet at the same time, isn’t part of him pleading to be set free? Cutter is somewhat frustrated and bored with his tidy, law-abiding life. A ravenous beast circles his campfire at night, cajoling him to drop this domesticated charade and return to the life of the wild. The part of him that feels trapped, dead-ended, broken down, and claustrophobic secretly desires to break out. Part of Cutter’s dilemma is that he’s really wants to take St. Nick down. He will be begging for an opportunity to find the chinks in this monster’s formidable armor, strip him financially, and get him in trouble with the law—to destroy him, betray him, and ruin his life. Cutter is imploring the gods for a handle on this guy.
On the other hand, St. Nick will be asking for help in entering the lucrative world of legitimate banking in high-level shadow government circles. He’s desperate to jettison his stone-age criminal ways for the space-age, street-legal robbery that the government doesn’t prosecute and can even covertly be party to. Had he known this all along, he would have started years ago, saving himself trouble with the police and the lowlifes who now populate his world. The way into the VIP club is revealed when one of the crooked senators with whom St. Nick does business clues him into the variety of legal ways to fleece, plunder, and pillage that yield dividends rather than grand jury investigations. St. Nick is desparate to get into this club, making him especially vulnerable at this particular moment. His desire for legal larceny causes him to lower his defenses as he moves his illicit assets into legitimate financial circles.
Let’s get a look at the subheadings of Supplication:
A. Fugitives imploring the powerful for help against their enemies.
Assistance implored for the performance of a pious duty, which has been forbidden.
Appeals for a refuge in which to die.
B. Hospitality besought by the shipwrecked.
Charity entreated by those cast off by their own people, whom they have disgraced.
Expiation: the seeking of pardon, healing, or deliverance.
The surrender of a corpse, or of a relic, solicited.
C. Supplication of the powerful for those dear to the supplicant.
Supplication to a relative in behalf of another relative.
Supplication to a mother’s lover in her behalf.
Fugitives imploring the powerful for help against their enemies seems evident in this script. Apollo is asking Cutter for help against St. Nick. Is Apollo a fugitive? It’s a possibility that could complicate things in an intriguing way. If he’s on the run from St. Nick, then he’d be asking Cutter to pay him back for saving his life. The fact that Cutter is a stand-up guy (which we tend to want of our hero) means he cannot refuse Apollo. Perhaps Apollo is lying about his life being in danger, but Cutter might not know that until later.
Hospitality besought by the shipwrecked is an interesting subheading. Being shipwrecked is a vivid, poetic image suggesting loss, pain, isolation, and desperation. As we said, Apollo could be in big trouble with St. Nick. Cutter, too, would be in a somewhat helpless situation once he infiltrates St. Nick’s inner circle and would be seeking help of any kind. Also, in this story both Cutter’s wife and his son would harbor feelings of loss and abandonment.
Supplication of the powerful for those dear to the supplicant would be active in this plot if Cutter and Apollo’s scheme falls apart and St. Nick catches onto them. He may take Mischa hostage, causing Cutter to beg for his son’s life. In such an instance, Cutter would be looking for Expiation: The seeking of pardon, healing, or deliverance, another subheading of Supplication.
Do you see how looking at many different aspects of the emerging story through the lens of Supplication provided new ideas and clarified others? Using the 36 Dramatic Situations helps with exploring, taking inventory, testing ideas, and looking for ways to shake things up. New possibilities could shatter the developing plot and tumble it into a whole new story. Perhaps everything done so far was just a stepping stone. Never be afraid to challenge all your script ideas to the very core. You may end up with two scripts, when by following an odd thread you create an entirely new story. Using this tool without fear can help you become an explosively creative storyteller with substantial craft as a dramatist.
2. Deliverance
When the
story starts, Cutter has been rescued by his wife from a life of crime. He is trying to rescue himself from his former criminal habits, which are closing in on him again, and he’s also trying to rescue his son from a potential life of crime. Cutter’s focus is on deliverance in the same way an alcoholic depends on AA meetings to stay sober. He’s trying to preserve his family life by increasing his income, being a good husband, and trying to have a baby. He’s also helping his church and being a responsible citizen in his community.
Perhaps Cutter can pull off this caper by delivering himself from Apollo’s trap, or by destroying St. Nick. St. Nick is seeking his own deliverance into the lofty world of legal thievery, a kind of heaven where the streets are paved with gold and the CIA helps you fleece the marks. He’s right on the edge of having it made—being admitted into this exclusive club by getting the bank certified—and he’s jumping through all the flaming hoops to pass the test. Perhaps Apollo has stolen a huge amount of counterfeit money and is seeking a way to pass it or foist it onto someone. His deliverance will depend on how much pressure he’s under to get rid of it, which in turn will determine how hard he pushes. Does his life depend on it, or is he just greedy?