A Story Is A Hero's Struggle Against An Obstacle To Reach A Goal - Christopher Riley

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Christopher Riley is a professional screenwriter who co-wrote with his wife Kathy Riley the award-winning German language courtroom thriller After the Truth. The Rileys have written scripts for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Mandalay Television Pictures, the late Sean Connery’s Fountainbridge Films and Robert Cort Productions. Christopher produced the independent action-thriller Red Line and executive produced the web series Bump+. He is the author of the classic screenplay format guide The Hollywood Standard, now in its third edition, and teaches screenwriting at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The Riley's latest book is The Defining Moment: How Writers and Actors Build Characters (through Michael Wiese Productions).
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[@filmcourage]

"A story is a hero's struggle against an obstacle to reach a goal."

[@suzygirl1843]

Why do protagonist always have to be white even when the setting is in Africa or China?

[@panskipants]

@@suzygirl1843 depends on audience & who is going to see the movie. Also, the types of characters you have will often dictate the kids of audience or people who would be interested in the story. In short, white characters were used to appeal to a white audience, who in all likelihood have disposable income to buy a movie ticket, concessions, etc. Part of the diversity push is about inclusivity, but also the realization that black, brown, female, and gay audiences exist and have money too. 💰

[@suzygirl1843]

@@panskipants True. This is why I am not baffled by internet trolls who cry about inclusivity - acting like minorities aren't a normal element of society. Like Black Panther, it has to be African in order to shut people up about why the majority cast is black. In Hairspray as well, it is specifically ABOUT segregation. Like how are you going to avoid casting black actors in either context?

[@joshuagarner4677]

That was a beautiful quote and metaphor about the characters being the flowers blooming in the stories 👌🏾

[@calebsanchez5651]

When he started talking about a multi-protagonist story, I got excited because that's the kind of book I'm trying to write. Then he said that it's much harder than a plural-protagonist story... Yay... The challenge still seems awesome, though!

[@seanferguson5460]

I've watched dozens of your interviews. I've been so focused on the pleasure I get from your guests that's it's only just occurred to me the pleasure they must get from speaking with an intelligent and informed interviewer about their work and the things that they have learned in their careers.

[@BrianCam.]

That comment made in the beginning was wonderfully stated. I definitely resonated with that.

[@AnthonyKoonce]

Prof. Riley! 🙌

[@crazyantmedia8587]

Sometimes a good story, does not mean a happily ever after for all of our characters. We give them hardships and love and pain and adventure BECAUSE we love them so much. If you stick a character in a safe room for the entire book or movie or show, people will stop reading/watching. Our characters deserve LIFE, not just survival. Love this video so much! 🔥🔥🔥

[@dbgirlfilms]

OMG yes!!! 🔥🔥🔥

[@codinghusky5196]

Take the new movie, Maverick. SPOILERS: It ends with Tom Cruise fading into the sunset, well deserved not fresh but still usable pussy at his cock, a foster daughter at his knee, and a life of plentiful fucking after evening bike rides with the Lady Spoils in nigh future. How much more POWERFUL, memorable, impactful and awesome would this movie be if it ended with his empty casket funeral?

[@organismx]

crash and traffic are movies that have made a big impression on me for that very reason. Love that way of story telling.

[@suzygirl1843]

Crash was a terrible story. Is it the one with Terrence Howard?

[@G360LIVE]

In my first creative writing class, the first assignment we were given was this: Put two characters in a room, and make it so each character has something the other wants but can't get. So, from that basic assignment, we were being shown what makes a story, and that is conflict. A hero's struggle against an obstacle to reach a goal doesn't necessarily mean there's conflict. I mean, you can have a hero struggling to climb a wall to reach a goal on the other side, but that's not a story. The story is the conflict the hero experiences, maybe within himself during that struggle or even outside conflict from those attempting to stop the hero from climbing the wall.

[@DovieRuthAuthor]

Thanks so much for your insight, Chris. I always learn so much. I'm in the midst of editing a mystery I had set aside for a couple months. With fresh eyes, I am now able to see those defining moments that push the characters along. I was a little surprised when I identified the turning point for a snarky character, and as a result, ended up feeling a little sorry for her. SMH

[@Tom_Roberts]

Great insightful interview.

[@lavawingsplays1627]

I needed this

[@loboneiner1034]

Heat (1995) would be a good example of a multiple protagonist movie.

[@thenot-so-smartfox4145]

I'm a simple man, I see Blood Diamond, I click. Such a great movie, it's one of those stories that really stay with you! As always, your interviews never disappoint Film Courage!

[@stephencarter7266]

Cool movie perhaps if you're a "white" guy, cringy movie if you're a "black" guy with any kind of manly pride.

[@thenot-so-smartfox4145]

@@stephencarter7266 hmm, what makes you say that?

[@stephencarter7266]

@@thenot-so-smartfox4145 Well, I felt like I got the old _bait & switch_ when I paid to see this movie. I knew DiCaprio was going to play a _cool, roguish, dangerous self efficacious character_ that typically go to white fellas, but I was still hopeful that Djimond Hounsou would be a little more of a bad-ass considering the life of his own son was at stake; but alas Hounsou character had _less of a masculine role than the female lead_ . In fact he wasn't even the one to kill Col.Coatzee after the Colonal take his son hostage. I left the theater feeling queasy from contempt. Nah, this was a feel good movie for white guys, feel bad movie for black guys. A typical liberal wet dream of a film.

[@suzygirl1843]

Funny how it's about a white man in Africa. Why can't white people watch movies with actual African protagonists in their own country? It made the locals look bad.

[@thenot-so-smartfox4145]

@@stephencarter7266 I see what you mean, but my take on the character is that he is simply a civillian and a good man by nature, and the movie paints him as pure and innocent (mostly for the contrast with dicaprio's, for sure), and it made sense to me that he couldn't partake in the action because, well, it's just not his reality. I wouldn't expect myself to manage to do half of what Archer does on the movie. And in the end, solomon does kill the militia's leader that was responsible for corrupting his son, filled with the rage and protection instinct for his family. I think it's more of a poethic license that Archer got to kill the colonel because of all their history together, and how it was basically saying that he left that life for good. I understand where you come from though.

[@murrynathan]

I swear, somebody mentions the movie CRASH in just about every one of these videos. Betcha someone could base an entire channel on that one movie!

[@SHNASTDOG]

Not necessarily. Sometimes It's the opposite. The villain is the one with a goal and must overcome the obstacles. The obstacle to the villain's goal is often time the hero. The hero doesn't need some ambitious goal. Many times a hero is by necessity and a response to someone else's over reach or evil goal.

[@wonderfullgamernmb1]

While that initial line is "pretty", it also begs the question of "philosophy" of every writer in how he or she want to approach the story and its relationship with the characters. The question being: Does the story/or plot exist outside the bounds of characters motivations, arcs and flaws? Or is it fueled and motivated by characters and, therefore, making the story and plot external manifestation of internal world of the characters?

[@codinghusky5196]

I would say the only POSSIBLE answer is, really, #2. And it has nothing to do with "philosophy of the writer"; it has to do with the fact that if a writer does #1, they are a BAD writer. Characters ARE the story. Make a simple experiment: - pick 3 people you know. make sure those are people you spend a lot of time with and know them well. Did that? - write the following short story: the person enters a fast food restaurant called "Halid's Kebab" and orders a hamburger. They are rudely told off by an annoyed and clearly hostile... host, this is a Turkish fast food restaurant and does not serve American food. A minute later, a girl at the age of 7 walks in. Write the story 3 times, each with a different friend as the person ordering the burger. See how each story is different, depending of the protagonist's character? Now, of course, you can streamline ANY story to a certain specific outcome. But it will NEVER be the SAME story. Exercise: - continue your stories so that the girl's father, a rowdy happy go lucky and visibly intoxicated Slav comes in carrying a bag of beers. The story ends with the 3 new friends happily drinking together while the girl is eating her kebab. Make sure each of the 3 stories keep your friends firmly IN character. If that requires the police to come in, then so be it.

[@forrestredd2706]

@@codinghusky5196 This adheres to the same idea I tried to possess in my earlier comment, a character writes the story, without them the story doesn't exist. If the story is the obstacle on their way to the goal, and each of these stories is different depending on the character, then the characters are not in service to the story, it is completely the other way around. The characters write the story through their personalities, decisions, and actions or inactions. The story doesn't determine these things, they do.

[@elsoul8321]

American Gangster is another good example of a muli-protagonist studio film. ...although at certain times during the movie it felt a little forced (just following both stories & watching them intertwine)

[@askarsfan2011]

The Sun nourishes the flowers and helps them bloom and grow, but the flowers never get so big that they block out the Sun and render it invisible. Fans who expect writers to abandon their stories and just worship at the feet of a single character because that character is a "fan-favorite" are delusional. Unfortunately, there are too many of such fans online.

[@theglanconer6463]

Completely agree with Christopher. It's the same point the Critical Drinker's makes time after time. It's all about the story. You can make a movie with the best actors and actresses in the world but if the story is cr*p the movie is cr*p. It's the beginning, the end and everything in between. I hope one day Hollywood will replace the activists , hire good story writers again (including writers who can adapt a story (instead of injecting their own politics and sensibilities into it) and give them the necessary freedom, because it's been hard to be a movie fan these past few years).

[@suzygirl1843]

Plenty of great stories about POC that you don't watch. Ever seen Boyz in the Hood or Set It Off?

[@praxis22]

You had me until Frodo. It's actually all about Sam, and how he carries Frodo, spiritually and physically. How he continues. Amazing book.

[@codinghusky5196]

the... anyone saying "LotR is actually about THIS ONE SINGLE PERSON" has missed the ENTIRE point.

[@plisskenetic]

Barbie and Ken?? He should've said Hot Toys

[@gospelrecordz3506]

I'm done with all these conceptual abstractions. Myself, I don't learn learn anything from them. If others do, fair enough.

[@johnstrawb3521]

@Film Courage Far, far too simplistic, to the point of being false. A good story involves intelligent, interesting, compelling people with competing imperatives pitted against each other in the pursuit of something there just isn't enough of--- whether that's love, money, a woman, a home...

[@toddpacker1015]

Your characters don't have to be intelligent

[@forrestredd2706]

I disagree wholeheartedly about the story being the sun and the characters the flowers. A bad story with good characters can still be interesting, a good story with bad characters loses all potential interest. If anything, the characters are what make a story, not the other way around. Now, it is arguable that a story is required to make a character interesting in the first place, but that should be the setup and backstory of the character, and not necessarily the story that you are writing. Two great characters sitting at a table talking about what they had for dinner can be gripping, even if it is nothing but a character building moment (See the scene with Christoph Waltz at the beginning of Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds). A character, and more specifically and importantly, a good character is absolutely necessary in gripping an audience, a good story isn't, necessarily. Many very successful anime are examples of this. A story can be bland and uninteresting, but a good character can throw it into a whirlwind of emotion. I remember one writer who said "Your characters should write the story." and I agree 100%, it is their decisions and their actions or inactions that create the story as it progresses, and as far as I am concerned, they are the catalyst to the story. The story helps the characters grow, but only because their decisions are what propels it.

[@brahbro5447]

Lotr isn't a story about a heroes journey at all