How Does A Writer Find The Emotional Core Of Their Story? - Naomi Beaty

BUY THE BOOK - The Screenplay Outline Workbook: A step-by-step guide to brainstorm ideas, structure your story, and prepare to write your best screenplay - amzn.to/38uXIGA
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Naomi Beaty is a screenwriting teacher, screenplay consultant and author of Logline Shortcuts: Unlock your story and pitch your screenplay in one simple sentence.
She is a former development exec-in-training at Madonna and Guy Oseary’s Maverick Films, working on projects like Twilight, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and The Stanford Prison Experiment.
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[@Gorboduc]

1. The Goal - what they want 2. The Stakes - what is lost if they fail to get it 3. Inner Drive - what's motivating them to get it 4. Misbehavior - flawed strategy to get it

[@guywainer4028]

I think coming onto this channel implies you are a story nerd. Especially if you watch the ones with writers. I love hearing different insights into storytelling and the narrative process. I am definitely a story nerd. Anything to help improve my writing.

[@filmcourage]

Do you spend a lot of time trying to get better at story? Are you a story nerd?

[@insanejughead]

Yes, and the issue with my tendency to "try to be better" ends up with a good amount of self doubt and hesitation to continue writing. However, I enjoy writing as I can vividly imagine the scene and how I could capture it on camera with all factors being considered (lens perspectives, sound environment, movement/composition, and lighting/production design)

[@southlondon86]

@@insanejughead Hi do you not see the script as a movie in your mind anyway? I do and thought every other writer does too...

[@insanejughead]

@@southlondon86 Yes, I do. By no means do I stop writing. I just don't write fluidly and consistently every time I sit down to it. If you reread the second part of what I said earlier, I do envision the writing as a movie, with all the hurdles taken into account; it is my entire motivation to write.

[@southlondon86]

@@insanejughead Yes sorry, that was a silly question from me! I keep having other writers ask me how I come up with my scripts and I am baffled when they tell me they don’t visualise it as a movie with camera angles/lighting etc. Are you a director too?

[@insanejughead]

@@southlondon86 I have directed one short, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm writing my next one, and of all the problems I'm facing, the worst is casting. Having nearly no budget and working solely with interested friends, trying to keep them involved and cast toward their strengths is a pain...

[@karakurie]

I like what she said about not automatically bringing something to the story and to work on it. My stories kept being really fun and interesting but with anticlimactic endings and I studied endings more and I realized I didn't understand the fundamentals and had to reread them and now I get it. Endings should be mirrors of the beginning, and the climax changes the information. Thinking like that makes it easiet to keep writing and writing better stories

[@noteem5726]

If you're talking about how to make a better ending then just like in Die Hard the characters NEED to have a tight bond at the end of the movie that's brought together by the events of the movie.

[@camilabautista9843]

loved this comment

[@natm5224]

The end of Die Hard actually reminds me of samurai and ninja stories where the moral is that the reason society asks men to be macho, to be strong is to serve a real purpose and not just empty Alpha posturing. When a person is strong physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, only then they are able to protect the lives of their loved ones. So that's the reason why John needs to be a macho man - not to be a dominant caveman who overpowers and controls his wife but who is her support, her Rock of Gibraltar, her protector. And that's why the movie works so well. Plus the wife punching the reporter at the end because she is his equal, his other half, that's the whole point of their relationship.

[@HowTheNovelStarts]

Absolutely love the Naomi Beaty videos and her approach of unlocking the mechanics of storytelling. I've been working on fundamentals like this for some time in my novel and it's so edifying to hear her talk about it all this way. And I realize now that I, too, am a story nerd! It's such a positive and beautiful thing. You guys need to make some T-shirt merch that says "I AM A STORY NERD" :)

[@juanchitaro5380]

I get the feeling that a certain degree of story nerdiness is almost always necessary to create a commendable story. What are the odds that you happen to be a good writer by instinct alone? You might do well for an amateur, but you will probably run into a thousand common mistakes you could have avoided with a little research or analysis of other's work. I believe most people know this, some are just probably more willing to dive into the unknown, more prompt to take risks than those who think for hours before taking a step.

[@Thisiscinemalist]

Having said that, to find the balance between conscious decisions and instinctive decisions is one of the most difficult things I find to achieve at a professional or even semi-professional level.

[@clintonlewis2547]

I agree and strongly disagree. Historically we have had hundreds of great story tellers that have little or no education as we perceive it today. I fell a better way is to say that being great is helped by engaging not just your talent but ability to learn.

[@juanchitaro5380]

@@clintonlewis2547 i totally agree :D but i say that thinking of the writer of today, what is a useful state of mind and what isn't. It's hardly ever useful to assume you'll be the exception. A strong sense of humility to accept the knowledge of those who walked this path before is essential (for most, geniuses excluded; plus one will need it to deal with the inevitable waves of criticism that are going to come no matter what.

[@MRJDXTRA]

Very festive of you Film Courage to have a video about Die Hard. *The Ultimate Christmas Movie*

[@filmcourage]

Nice! Wish we could say we planned it that way.

[@ccwoodlands1565]

That’s a helpful and detailed breakdown of “how” the emotional core is played out “over” the story. But, I would suggest going up a level before diving deep. Michael Hauge framed the emotional core in one phrase. It’s the journey from the hero’s identity (the mask that s/he wears) to our essence (who we really are). Hauge also put it into one sentence: I’ll do anything to meet my goal but don’t ask me to ________ because that’s not who I am. And the “blank” is what the hero is struggling to realize and become. That’s the emotional core.

[@sebaceous]

wow. she just gets right down to it. So much good advice in the best way to communicate it.

[@filmcourage]

Naomi is excellent

[@wattpadusergeek342]

Took notes from this one. That bit about the evolution of an emotional arc was quite informative. Thanks Film Courage.

[@dianadeejarvis7074]

I see Naomi's book is free on Kindle today (12-29-20). No idea how long that will last. Downloaded and looking forward to reading it!

[@AnontonioTalesFromtheCrypto]

She is so good!! This was so helpful!!!

[@ewilson8504]

Thnx for clearing that up. It’s the Nakatomi Building- the office tower on the Fox lot.

[@universe2823]

Great advice

[@TheFeelButton]

All my time! Cheers Film Courage!!

[@JCPFILMS]

Now I want to watch Die Hard. 😎

[@Rubrick23.]

She's wrong bro. Die hard is about a wife who leaves her bad ass husband because he doesn't make enough changes her name and has sex with a coke head. Then that coke head who gets shot in the head tells john he doesn't make enough money for his wife to be happy aka the privet bathroom and the Rolex watch and he walks in her office like he's her man.

[@ActronJimmy]

Fr haha I was thinking the same. I watched it when I was a kid.

[@georgeofhamilton]

That’s a pretty articulate analysis by her.

[@southlondon86]

Ah Die Hard, my favourite Christmas movie 🍿

[@mariuszludwinski4511]

Is sacrifice the fifth, stealth element of emotional core?

[@azia3337]

I love to hear any advice regarding writer

[@davywilliams8048]

Nakatomi Plaza

[@AndreaClinton]

I didn't get that from Die Hard. I got that he learned he loves his wife more than he thought & he's ready to put their marriage 1st.

[@Rubrick23.]

No! You guys are both wrong. His wife left him for a better job because she thoughts having a man who made a cops salery wasn't good enough she changed her name slept with the coke head who talks about her office bath room and the expensive watch to let john no he wasn't shit! He came down to see his kids and sleep on the couch....aka the part she say you can sleep at the house she wasn't ready for him because instead of picking him up she decided to go to the party alone with out his name on the door.

[@AndreaClinton]

@@Rubrick23. I still got that he realized how important his wife was to him. In what you're saying, it's just she realizes it also🤷🏽‍♀️

[@georgez9897]

I think I heard her say 'right' about 50 times

[@SpOoNMaN77]

Shame you couldn’t have gotten a more meaningful thing to comment on out of of this.

[@Rubrick23.]

She's wrong about die hard john came back to see his kids. His wife left him for a job and they haven't seen each other since. There is a point in the movie that she's been sleeping around with the coke head and he rubbed his face in it about the privet bathroom and walking into her office like he's fucked her on the desk then the watch seen. By that time he's showing john he's been up is wife skirt

[@insanejughead]

Right right! She's completely engaged in the interview, so this is of no concern. Haha! However, I am bothered by people that say "um" or "uhh" every two seconds, so I understand why you picked up on the "right" so often.

[@LeonAllanDavis]

Emotional core? What's that? Was Agatha Christie trying to find the "emotional core" of Hercule Poirot? Uh, no. It found her! Over time she grew to hate the pompous, arrogant, vain little twit. She actually lost control over how she wanted to write him. This sort of thing happens a lot. You might write a scene where your character is supposed to display a certain emotion but the character rebels and insists on doing something else. Instead collapsing in tears and reaching for comfort food, the character gets angry, goes for a gun, and kills the tormentor. Totally unexpected. Ergo, the emotional core of the character finds you.

[@AmericanActionReport]

Die Hard 1 is a married man's fantasy set to film: That your wife would have more respect for you if you saved her from a passel of terrorists.

[@tolvfen]

Maybee this lady can look over alots of stories?

[@ch355_]

defending the story nerds! 🤍🤍🤍