Master Cat Naomi Beaty reveals 2 things script readers can’t get enough of — and one thing writers need to avoid. Listen to how you can, and why you must, nail your Break into Two and Moment of Clarity to transport your protagonist… and your audience… on a journey of transformation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
10 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Thanks for this – really helpful, especially the bit about giving the reader guidance on where the story is going as that’s so easy to neglect when you’re looking to create tension and mystery in a script.
Thanks, V.C.! Glad you enjoyed it.
I think a great moment of clarity happens on Marvels’ Cap Civil War, when Steve hear Agent 13 paraphrases Agent Carter about doing what you think is right even when everybody else says it’s not.
That moment you can see in Steve’s face that is what he’s going to do, and the fate of the movie is set that very moment. No more possibility of talkin a way out.
Awesome! I actually haven’t seen this one, but will keep an eye out for the moment of clarity when I do. Thanks!
Great podcast, Naomi! Thanks! I always like “sound bites” of information that help me focus on one or two things I can do to improve my craft. My favorite moment of clarity is from Shawshank Redemption when Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, remembers Andy’s comment “Get busy living or get busy dying” and makes a choice that will define the rest of his life.
Thank you – so glad you found it useful! And that Shawshank example is an interesting one! Now I feel like I need to rewatch the movie. Any excuse, really :)
Thanks, Naomi! Great reminders… Here’s a moment of clarity I often reference. It’s from a childhood favorite: Hook. A grown-up Peter Pan realizes “I know why I grew up. I wanted to be a father. I’m a daddy! My happy thought, I got it!” This happy thought is what finally sends him soaring, a skill he’d lost when he forgot his identity as Peter Pan. He has been a lousy father and a lousy Peter Pan. But now, entering his synthesis world, he is both daddy and Peter Pan. With the ability to fly, he can now Break Into Three to save his children from Captain Hook! It’s the moment (like you say) that the whole movie has been building up to…
I love this one, Christina! It’s such a great example of how that moment can feel like a pivotal moment in the story – we build to that moment for the whole movie and then everything changes in an instant and all this meaning falls into place. It’s really emotional. Love it!
Jules in Pulp Fiction has his moment of clarity in the elevator after he realizes he’s lucky to be alive after the kid hiding in the closet completely misses him at close range. I think he even later actually calls it a moment of clarity.
That’s amazing! Thanks for sharing — I definitely have to go back and look at Pulp Fiction again now!