by Jeff Kitchen
DEVELOPING THE CHARACTER OF ST. NICK
I see St. Nick as a straight-up 8, The Challenger: “the powerful, dominating type: self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational.” His obvious traits include:
Self-assertive, self-confident, and strong: [has] learned to stand up for what [he] need[s] and want[s]. A resourceful, “can do” attitude and passionate inner drive. Decisive, authoritative, and commanding: the natural leader others look up to. Take[s] initiative, make[s] things happen.
One of the things I’m playing with is for Cutter to unexpectedly look up to St. Nick, mainly for his and Senator Hutchings’s astronomical ability to deceive. Some of the attributes above could give St. Nick some good or admirable qualities that make him a multidimensional character and further complicate the plot as well as Cutter’s dilemma.
St. Nick should have substantially negative character traits, since he’s the central antagonist. As described while developing Apollo, the Average 8 can be “swaggering” and “boastful,” “proud” and “egocentric, want[ing] to impose their will and vision on everything, not seeing others as equals or treating them with respect. . . . Confrontational, belligerent, creating adversarial relationships. Everything a test of wills, and they will not back down.” On the Unhealthy side, these individuals “develop delusional ideas about their power, invincibility, and ability to prevail: megalomania, feeling omnipotent, invulnerable.” They are prone to “recklessly over-extending” themselves. These evocative traits—many of which would not have been solidified without studying the Enneagram for this character—suggest a lot of dynamic possibilities for St. Nick, real flaws that make him more human and give him vulnerabilities that Cutter and Apollo can exploit.
DEVELOPING THE CHARACTER OF SENATOR HUTCHINGS
It is easy to categorize Senator Hutchings as a 3, The Achiever: “the success-oriented, pragmatic type: adaptable, excelling, driven, and image-conscious.” I see him as a highly honored senator, so part of his disguise would be his appearance as “adaptable, desirable, charming, and gracious. Ambitious to improve [himself], to be ‘the best [he] can be’—often become outstanding, a human ideal, embodying widely admired cultural qualities. Highly effective: others are motivated to be like [him] in some positive way.” Cutter might find himself mesmerized by these attributes. At his best, Hutchings can be “modest and charitable, [with] self-deprecatory humor and a fullness of heart. . . . Gentle and benevolent.” The more of these good qualities the Senator displays, the more complex and well-rounded a character he becomes. What great camouflage!
In the Average aspect Hutchings can be
terrified of failure. . . . Compar[ing him]self with others in search for status and success. [3s] become careerists, social climbers, invested in exclusivity and being the “best.” Become image-conscious, highly concerned with how they are perceived. Begin to package themselves according to the expectations of others and what they need to do to be successful.
This sounds very much like a career politician. Also consider these traits of an Average 3:
Premeditated, losing touch with their own feelings beneath a smooth facade. Problems with intimacy, credibility, and “phoniness” emerge. Want to impress others with their superiority: constantly promoting themselves, making themselves sound better than they really are. Narcissistic, with grandiose, inflated notions about themselves and their talents. Exhibitionistic and seductive, as if saying “Look at me!” Arrogance and contempt for others.
This connects to the flaws that we just examined in St. Nick—ego problems that could give Cutter and Apollo a handhold they desperately need for the success of their plans.
Looking into the Unhealthy aspect finds that when 3s begin
fearing failure and humiliation, they can be exploitative and opportunistic, covetous of the success of others, and willing to do “whatever it takes” to preserve the illusion of their superiority. Devious and deceptive so that their mistakes and wrongdoings will not be exposed. Untrustworthy, maliciously betraying or sabotaging people to triumph over them . . . relentless, obsessive about destroying whatever reminds them of their own shortcomings and failures. Psychopathic, murder. Generally corresponds to the Narcissistic personality disorder.
This is rich material for developing an extremely ambitious, fiercely intelligent, devious, charming, high-powered, gentlemanly cutthroat. While accustomed to respect, power, and privilege as a United States senator, Hutchings will be a dangerous man when his back is against the wall. Notice that when we look at these personality attributes with a specific character in mind, the Enneagram springs to life and we’re able to give our character a full spectrum of dynamic, human qualities.
DEVELOPING THE CHARACTER OF MISCHA
I see Mischa as a 4, The Individualist. Since he is rather unhealthy psychologically, not many of the Healthy aspects look useful. The 4’s Average aspects lead them to
heighten reality through fantasy, passionate feelings, and the imagination. / To stay in touch with feelings, they interiorize everything, taking everything personally, but become self-absorbed and introverted, moody and hypersensitive, shy and self-conscious, unable to be spontaneous or to “get out of themselves.” Stay withdrawn to protect their self-image and to buy time to sort out feelings. Gradually think that they are different from others, and feel that they are exempt from living as everyone else does. They become melancholy dreamers, disdainful, decadent, and sensual, living in a fantasy world. Self-pity and envy of others leads to self-indulgence, and to becoming increasingly impractical, unproductive, effete, and precious.
All of this depiction is very useful, presenting a good palette of colors with which to paint Mischa. Giving him traits that relate to fantasy and imagination, making him “introverted, moody, and hypersensitive,” and allowing him to think that he’s different and exempt from normal rules give him depth and flaws.
Let’s look at Mischa’s potential Unhealthy aspects:
When dreams fail, become[s] self-inhibiting and angry at self, depressed and alienated from self and others, blocked and emotionally paralyzed. Ashamed of self, fatigued and unable to function. Tormented by delusional self-contempt, self-reproaches, self-hatred, and morbid thoughts: everything is a source of torment. Blaming others, [4s] drive away anyone who tries to help them. Despairing, feel hopeless and become self-destructive, possibly abusing alcohol or drugs to escape. In the extreme: Emotional breakdown or suicide is likely. Generally corresponds to the Avoidant, Depressive, and Narcissistic personality disorders.
This is all good material: If he’s “depressed,” “alienated,” “tormented,” “selfdestructive,” and prone to “abusing alcohol or drugs,” I’ve got a lot to work with to build the character of a troubled teenager who can turn either good or bad.
DEVELOPING THE CHARACTER OF MARGARITA
I can see Margarita as a 2, The Helper: “the caring, interpersonal type: generous, demonstrative, people-pleasing, and possessive.” She would seem to have great qualities:
Empathetic, compassionate, feeling for others. Caring and concerned about their needs. Thoughtful, warm-hearted, forgiving and sincere. Encouraging and appreciative, able to see the good in others. Service is important, but takes care of self too: They are nurturing, generous, and giving—a truly loving person.
Margarita is a great wife for Cutter, and we see why he hesitates to put his marriage in jeopardy. Naturally, there are some attributes I can use to flaw her a bit:
[2s] become overly intimate and intrusive: They need to be needed, so they hover, meddle, and control in the name of love. Want others to depend on them: give, but expect a return: send double messages. Enveloping and possessive: the codependent, self-sacrificial person who cannot do enough for others—wearing themselves out for everyone.
So I can see why Cutter might also want to escape from her. If she finds out what Cutter is up to and discovers his affair with St. Nick’s secretary, then she’s going to flip out and be insanely envious. While this
isn’t explicit in the description of a 2, I can take the description further and paint my own portrait of an enraged, jealous woman. I don’t need to draw everything from this resource; it’s a valuable, thought-provoking set of character traits, but there is no need to be limited to it.
DEVELOPING THE CHARACTER OF SHALLOTT
Here’s your assignment: Figure out which Enneagram type Shallott is or should be or could be. You’ve seen enough of him to take a whack at it. Look through the nine types and determine which seem to click for him, or which would make him a rich character for this movie. Which type would be fiercely dedicated to revenge? I’m thinking of having Shallott go to pieces when the going gets tough, leading St. Nick to murder him, so which type would tend to fall apart under pressure? Or more specifically, how does each of the various personality types fall apart under pressure? Don’t be afraid to go against type and explore the opposite of what is expected of an accountant; don’t be afraid to play with who he is. There is no wrong answer, and there are nine right ones.
This has been a tour through the use of the Enneagram in building an actual script. You can see how I used it in various ways, driving on its strengths but not being a servant to it. I’ll definitely look to other sources as I continue developing these characters, but I find in the Enneagram a remarkable resource that exposes a fascinating spectrum of possibilities for character development. I can utilize a character type wholesale or make a combination from among several. Remember, in this chaper I’ve only worked from The Enneagram Institute’s Web site descriptions; explore any of the books mentioned in Chapter 4 to delve quite a lot deeper.
Using Research and
Brainstorming
esearch and Brainstorming can come in handy at any point in constructing a screenplay. As you develop each aspect of the story using the Key Tools, you may find it helpful to stop and seek out relevant material—any information that could unlock greater possibilities and lift your ideas into the next phase. Research and Brainstorming can be unavoidable when you don’t yet have enough information to continue—or when you’re overflowing with ideas that just can’t wait.
This chapter shares with you some of my research on this developing screenplay, followed by a brainstorming session. As discussed back in Chapter 5, good research can meet you halfway. You’ll see this premise in action here as I score an important find that literally provides me with a major piece of the plot. It wasn’t anything that I was looking for or even remotely considering for the story, and if I hadn’t stumbled over it in my research I would never have suspected its existence. Let’s see what I found and how it can be built into this evolving script.
SOURCES AND RESOURCES
St. Nick is trying to buy a bank, but one of the things I ran up against right away was my unfamiliarity with banking beyond the normal savings and checking accounts, loans, ATMs, and so on. As for the certification process involved in purchasing a bank, I know less than zip.
First, I searched the Internet with the terms banking, bank examiners, bank fraud, and banking regulations. I spent hours and found much that was interesting, along with plenty that was boring. I knew so little that I didn’t even have specific questions yet. I found everything from radical conspiracy theories on the Federal Reserve to rules and regulations tedious enough to put the average reader to sleep in minutes.
Next, I went to the Los Angeles Public Library’s Web site and located 2,537 books on banks and banking. Looking through more than half of them in the catalog (typical of the amount of legwork it takes to find quality material), I found an author, Stephen Frey, who specializes in writing banking thrillers the way John Grisham writes legal thrillers. I checked out two of his books on tape, The Insider and The Vulture Fund, which I listened to in my car (an excellent way to do research in what might otherwise be downtime). Both books were fascinating and useful. I also skimmed a book on bank management and another on how to create your own international bank, both of which had points of interest. I even watched a History Channel show on banks. All these resources helped to deepen my understanding on this topic so crucial to the screenplay.
Additionally, I asked if any friends or acquaintances know any bankers and got two hits. One friend’s son-in-law, a bank examiner for the FDIC, directed me to an extremely useful government Web site with information on what a bank must do to get certified. And a client of mine who works in a bank put me in touch with a banker, bank examiners, and government banking officials. So with a little digging I found somebody who knew somebody. Now I was getting some specifics direct from the source—from people in the know.
EUREKA!
My biggest score through researching was a book from the library called Shell Game: A True Story of Banking, Spies, Lies, Politics—and the Arming of Saddam Hussein, by Peter Mantius (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995). A real find, this book is about a banking scandal in the late 1980s. The Atlanta branch of the Italian Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (this was known as “the BNL scandal”) used a system of bogus agricultural loans to Iraq through which more than $4 billion was funneled into Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs. The evidence indicates the tacit complicity of the CIA and the White House in an end run around the American public to provide support to Iraq in their war against fundamentalist Iran. It was a means of covert foreign policy in the same behind-the-scenes manner as the Iran-Contra scandal. I lifted the agricultural loan concept straight from the book and added my own twists, which gave me part of the core mechanics for the story. This is an excellent example of good research meeting you halfway. In light of this information, I created the character, Umbotha, who you’ve already met in my Writer’s Notebook. He sprang directly out of this particular piece of key research.
MORE RESEARCH
As I built this story, I took lots of different forays into research, which is very much part of exploring the possibilities in a good idea. For instance, I checked out great liars in history and in literature; Baron Von Munchausen was one who I looked at with intriguing results because his lies were so colossal. He helped to catapult me out of thinking small and into some unusual prospects that probably wouldn’t occur to me on my own. As I’m developing a script, reading and watching things in a similar vein puts me in the zone for that particular type or style of storytelling. I find it useful to expose myself to everything and anything in the genre.
I also investigated a bookstore specializing in mysteries for any books about phenomenal liars or caper stories. The owner led me to Nobody’s Perfect, by Donald Westlake (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977)—one of those crime stories in which everything goes wrong. While this book didn’t have much to do with liars, it was full of wackiness, stupidity, ineptitude, complications, miscommunications, and double-crosses, which set my brain spinning with comic possibilities.
Then I saw the movie The In-Laws, a remake that unexpectedly turned out to be a gold mine of research. In it, a completely crazed and unpredictable spy (played by Michael Douglas) drags a panicky, straight-laced podiatrist (Albert Brooks) into an adrenaline-fueled espionage adventure. This story line opened up a world of electrifying possibilities for me. I had begun to fiddle with Apollo as a really flamboyant character, but it was just an inkling—an attempt to go against type and not make him the grim, thuggish hard-ass you’d expect in that role. As the movie got rolling, it occurred to me that there’s a real correlation between The In-Laws and Cutter’s story. The following section switches to the Writer’s Notebook format for a brainstorming session.
A BRAINSTORMING SESSION EMERGING FROM GOOD RESEARCH
The In-Laws made me realize that I could take Apollo much, much further than I had initially imagined. He was a spark, but Michael Douglas’s character in this film was a dazzling sunburst by comparison. It got my imagination reeling. Apollo could be so off-the-hook, so fun to be with that my whole concept of the film got blasted into another dimension. He could be exciting, brilliant, gleeful, fanatical, perceptive, dangerous, unpredictable, free, adventurou
s, maddening, inspiring, inscrutable, intoxicating, energetic, joyous, deadly, and giddy—which are the types of moods, traits, and emotions I’m looking for to grip the audience. You see this in film characters like Owen Wilson’s Dignan in Bottle Rocket, Max Bialystock in The Producers, Maude in Harold and Maude, and Long John Silver in Treasure Island, among many others.
The main thing is that these characters are total rascals, rogues, mischief-makers, and scoundrels. Like Loki, the Norse god of mischief, they’re troublemakers but can also be bringers of life. If Cutter is intent on his honest, “normal” existence but is secretly bored and frustrated with it all, then the more bored and frustrated he is, the more susceptible he will be to Apollo’s infectious energy. Has Cutter lost his spark, his zest for life, his spirit? Won’t it add to his dilemma if Apollo isn’t just trying to derail his lifestyle, if instead he also represents an irresistible call to adventure and to life, the call of the wild? Knowing this, Cutter would struggle that much more to fend off Apollo, certain that once he takes that first step, it will all be over.
I suddenly saw how much more fun I could have with a story like this, with a character like this, and I started thinking about who this cell-mate could really be. Perhaps he’s an old con who knows everything and everybody. If Cutter spent years in prison with him, wouldn’t he have learned Apollo’s entire body of knowledge? What is Apollo’s background? What are the craziest possible backgrounds? Was he a dictator’s son? A race car driver? A spy? A pool hustler? A karate champion? A safecracker? An aristocrat? A mercenary? Does he have a history of insanity? It’s fun to explore the extremities in any genre, but this type of story positively begs for it.