Description
There is no shortage of screenwriting manuals, courses, and consultants. Yet, many of the most commonly used character and plot development concepts, such as emotional change in main characters, are not well understood. For example, what are character emotions? Do only the character’s emotions change or also her actions, goals, values, etc.? How do they change? This lack of precise definitions and relational understanding of central concepts often leads to difficulties when learning, teaching, and practicing screenwriting, including communication problems among writers and with screenplay readers such as editors and producers (see also Cattrysse, 2004).The conference paper will argue that an interdisciplinary approach applying behavioral (and other) sciences to screenwriting research can help (begin to) solve these problems. Specifically, the paper suggests that behavioral science offers evidence-based insights about real human beings (e.g., about the nature and content of emotions, social values, etc.) that are also relevant to the development of fictional characters. Also, it is argued that a scientific approach to developing screenwriting concepts can produce more precise definitions, from which more concrete yet flexible writing tools can be developed, and which enable us to empirically test these concepts and their effects on story appeal (e.g., do audiences indeed prefer stories with character change, which types of change, are there gender differences, etc.) (see also, e.g., Cattrysse, 2004, and Eder, 2010, who have long called for empirical testing). The proposed approach will be illustrated, amongst others, with examples from my own research and teaching.
| Period | Sept 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Screenwriting Research Network Conference 2023 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Columbia (Missouri), United StatesShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |