Another scriptwriter with something to say

I read an interview with a screenwriter, jack Sekowski, and he said:

It's frustrating since I go to the movies and see that most of the stories told are fairly simple. So why am I driven to make things more complex...thereby giving myself more work? I don't know the answer to that.

I sometimes feel exactly the same, but the truth is that even what seems very simple and straight forward on screen is the result of complex thinking, of narrowing too many ideas to one crystal-clear story. A simple movie was once a complex script in someone's mind. How to make the complex into simple, that's the craft of screenwriting.

Enneagram of Personality: 9 types of characters

Lately I found this page on wikipedia, about the Enneagram of Personality. It's a very comfortable way to look at your script's characters and understand their personality pattern. There are nine patterns: The Reformer, The Helper, The Achiever, The Individualist, The Investigator, The Loyalist, The Enthusiast, The Challenger, The Peacemaker.

The Enneagram describes those personality patterns, including character's motivation, healthy- and unhealthy state of being, fears etc.

I find it extremly helpful for screenwriters to use such tools, as George Clooney says in Up In The Sky: "I stereotype. It's faster".