Cause we never knew the character was selfish in the first place. For example, if you wanted to build the flaw of “selfishness” into your main character, but were so terrified of being on-the-nose you only mentioned the selfishness a couple of times in the script, then when that character transforms in the end and becomes selfless, we’re utterly confused. We actively avoid “on-the-nose” to such a degree that we actually create the opposite problem for ourselves, which is that the specifics of our plot, characters, and theme are so vague that the reader has no idea they’re even there.
For a screenwriter, the scariest thing that can happen is someone telling you that your script is on-the-nose.
For a surgeon, the scariest thing that can happen is that the patient goes into cardiac arrest during the surgery. Okay let’s get into it!ġ) Fear of being on-the-nose – For an airplane pilot, the scariest thing that can happen is that all of your engines go out mid-flight. 10/10 means it’s one of the biggest issues in all of screenwriting. But if I need to get detailed, I’ll just adjust the concept and specifics to keep everything private.Īfterwards, I’ll provide you with a ranking of how often I come across this particular issue in screenplays. It’s going to be a little tricky because I can’t share the details of the scripts. I thought it would be fun to share the big lesson I learned (or, was reminded of) in each of the last ten script consultations I did. Which was the motivation for today’s article. But if there’s one thing I’ve come to realize about screenwriting, it’s that you occasionally need to be reminded of things. Of course, most of these things, I’ve already learned. Just like when I review a script on the site, I have “what I learn” moments when I do script consultations as well.