What a great way to kick off the new year — talking to screenwriters who are ready to get in there and win in 2007!
I was invited to speak this past Saturday at the Alameda Writers Group (AWG) by Chris Dellicarpini, the new President of AWG, and Paula L. Johnson, who made me feel so welcome — and we had a packed house. The motto of this mixed assembly of screenwriters, novelists, and journalists is “Write. Sell. Repeat.”
Sounds like my motto.
Little wonder I met so many kindred spirits — and had such a ball.
Rosa Graham is a writer with a passion for comedies, which is why she founded http://www.findthefunny.com, a site dedicated to getting the comedy script more respect! She will be holding a comedy script contest with which I hope to be associated and I couldn’t be more pleased. All laughing. All the time.
Hey, that’s my other motto!
I also met the great Karl Iglesias, author of one of my favorite screenwriting books, Writing For Emotional Impact. Karl, whom I’d never met, and I discovered we are on the same page when it comes to storytelling; look for me to be a guest speaker at his UCLA class soon. I also heard from Michael Lent, author of another fav of mine, Breakfast with Sharks. Michael’s now a writer/producer with a great new film about to go out to distributors. Michael is the coolest guy out there, and was a big inspiration to me when designing the cover of Save the Cat! I thought, “If only it could be as good as Sharks!! ”
But here’s what I didn’t do well enough for Alameda: I feel like I did not connect enough. I usually give out both my email address when I speak. And l forgot this time. I will make a new New Year’s resolution not to forget next time. But if anyone would like further information from me: [email protected] is a start.
And one last item: Here’s a creative exercise for your week.
In the course of my speech I gave a little preview of my new book, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies, in which I talked about “genre” — or at least my take on it. This book challenges Robert McKee’s Story, and will blow the lid off genre once and for all by giving writers the specific types of stories that audiences love — and what makes them tick. I am very excited about this and talk about it alot nowdays.
After the speech, a nice young lady asked me, since I had talked about the mythic aspects of story, if I thought Harry Potter is going to die. Rumors are ripping through the Internet on this topic. The final installment of that great series is due soon and everyone is guessing the ending. So, screenwriters, what do we think? Will Harry live or die? Does Harry need to die based on how he was set up at the beginning? Let’s see what we have on the ball. And thanks again to AWG for this and all the great interactions!!
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I believe Harry will have to die, because I think that he and Valdemort are one and the same.
Blake,
No, I don’t believe Harry will die. Even if he and “He-who-must-not-be-named” are one and the same, it will be the evil side that will be burned away and the hero made new and whole.
I think Harry’s on the classic Hero’s Quest – in that he must complete the circle, i.e., begin at “home”, journey into darkness, defeat his greatest fear, and return “home”, changed. I think he will come very, very close to death (not that he hasn’t in every installment of “HP and the….” so far) and perhaps even journey through the Dead Lands, but he must, in the end, take up his mantle as Leader of the Those Who Remain, after the smoke of battle clears. I believe he will become Headmaster of Hogwarts. I also believe that Dumbledore cannot be truly dead. He is the Obi Wan Kenobe of this saga, and as such, he must return, even if it’s in another form, to complete his training of the young magical Jedi. I’m betting that we find out that Dumbledore and Snape are in cahoots on the whole murder scenario, and that the plan is to make Snape look like the greatest supporter of Voldermort in order to get him in closer to V. as a spy. They fake Dumbledore’s murder, D. goes into hiding until the right moment, S. becomes V.’s right-hand man, and Harry’s ascendence to the “crown” is cemented in the process.
Although, I could just be smoking grass. Ya never know.
Enough.
:)
Joe
HI,
I don’t think Harry Potter will die, since we’re in America and most of us love happy endings. Just like the final installment of “Lord of the Rings” when the hobbits return to home to find their happiness or resolve from their inner conflicts. Maybe Harry Potter will find himself at home with peace of mind and blend into society to move on to his next level in this life.
Best, Richie
PS, Blake, way to go! Keep up your good work!
Will the story end with Harry dead? No.
Will Harry “die” during the story? Well that would be a different thing (given Snapes’ mention in the very first book of “stoppered death”).
It’s interesting that you mention this right now. My friend Janet Scott Batchler (who is a screenwriter) just put out a book (called What Will Harry Do?) that is all about what we might reasonable expect for the last volume of the series. She analyses the things that JKR has set up and paid off throughout the series (there are quite a lot of things even from that first lecture of Snapes’). And then she tries to determine what things in the books are set-ups that have to be paid off in the last book.
It’s an interesting study of the art of the set-up, even aside from the whole Harry Potter part of it.
Myself, in looking ahead, after reading the third volume, I knew that Dumbledore would die. (Oh, and JKR has said in interviews flat out that Dumbledore IS dead.)
I also predicted that Harry will be betrayed by someone close to him – which has not happened yet. I also predicted that that someone would be Hagrid – inadvertently, perhaps, but I think he’ll do it.
And also, because the conflict of good & evil on this scale is costly, someone dear and precious on the “good” side will die. My friend Jan contends that it might be the twins, or Arthur Weasley, or Bill Weasley. I, however, believe that it will be Mrs. Weasley.
But it’s fun to make these guesses, because JKR writes so well that you know that certain “types” of incidents will happen, but not just how or with whom it will happen.
***
It was good to see you on Saturday, Blake. I thought you did fine! And even though I “knew” the stuff, listening to you talk, pieces for a couple of stories (on the back burner right now) fell into place. That’s always neat.