Story Line

by Jennifer Grisanti

  Rewrite the log lines for the scripts you have written utilizing this new information. Write five log lines for scripts you want to write.

  After reading Time and Newsweek, write up log lines for the people covered in some of the stories. Write up your log lines using your perspective in their situations.

  Watch the show “So You Think You Can Dance” on the Fox network. Write up a story line for each dance coming from your interpretation of how the dance speaks to you.

  PART TWO

  Dilemma

  Chapter Six

  WHAT IS A DILEMMA? WHAT ARE YOUR DILEMMAS? WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

  The good writer seems to be writing about himself, but has his eye always on that thread of the universe which runs through himself and all things.

  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

  What is a dilemma? Wikipedia offers this definition: “A dilemma is a problem offering at least two solutions or possibilities, of which none are practically acceptable; one in this position has been traditionally described as ‘being on the horns of a dilemma,’ neither horn being comfortable; or ‘being between a rock and a hard place,’ since both objects or metaphorical choices are rough.” Dilemmas provide tremendous opportunity for drama. If you add dilemma to your stories or strengthen your existing dilemmas, it will elevate your writing. We’ve all been through dilemmas. Start to be conscious of the dilemmas you have faced and are facing in your life.

  During most of my career as a TV executive, I analyzed story by focusing on the goal of each story line. It wasn’t until later in my career that I got to know and understand the true value of coupling goal with dilemma. By analyzing story for over 20 years, I have learned that having a clear goal stemming from your dilemma or leading to your dilemma for your central character will give your story a much stronger chance of working. It is when the goal of the story is unclear that things fall apart. I find that most writers have a problem with this area of story because the majority of people are not clear about what their own life goals are. Think about your goals at the moment. Are they clearly defined? If not, think about ways you can clarify them. We write what we know. If we don’t know what our goals are, it will be harder to write toward this in your story.

  In a later chapter, we will explore goal and dilemmas in movies. In this chapter, I would like you to focus on your personal dilemmas and goals. Start by looking at past dilemmas and goals that you’ve faced. When presented with two equally unsatisfying choices, what path have you chosen? What was your goal for this choice? If you start thinking about goals and dilemmas as they apply to your own life, it will make adding truth to your fiction easier. I’m giving you dilemmas and goals from my life as a way to help you understand how to do this. I’m exploring some of my more personal dilemmas as a way to show you that our story is just that, our story. We need to learn to detach from it and draw from it. Your well of personal experience is where you will find emotional threads of possibility that will attract others to your canvas. This is the goal of writing.

  In my own life, I’ve experienced dilemma on several occasions. As I became more aware of its effective use in story, I began to analyze some of the dilemmas I’ve faced. The most recent major dilemma I’ve encountered was probably when I had to decide what to do after my job of 15 years ended. Did I want to continue my corporate climb or did I want to abandon this path and start my own company? If I started my own company, I would be giving up security and going into the unknown. If I continued my corporate climb, I was nearing the ceiling. Did I want to give up security and go into the unknown? This was my dilemma.

  As George Clooney’s character, Ryan, says in the movie Up in the Air after firing a man, “Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it’s because they sat there that they were able to do it.” Even though these words are spoken in the movie to placate, there is a truth behind them. My goal is to show that after losing a job, you can build an empire. I share these words because they set the tone for my dilemma. When I was told my contract was not being renewed, I was a Vice President of Current Programs at CBS/Paramount. I had spent 15 years working for two sister companies. Becoming vice president was my goal when I started as an assistant. Now, the dilemma was do I keep climbing the corporate ladder to senior vice president and then maybe run a company? Or, do I risk going out on my own?

  First, I’ll explore the dilemma from the option of continuing to climb the corporate ladder. If I had chosen to continue in the corporate world, I would have had to make a whole new alliance. When I was let go, I was told, “You’re going to get a ton of offers because you’re so well liked….” Well, needless to say, I didn’t get a ton of offers. I also took into consideration that if I did go to another company, I could just get let go all over again. After something is taken away from us in an unexpected way, we tend to feel scarred and gun shy. So, the possibility of jumping back in headfirst had some baggage attached. This is when I realized that I hated not having control over my own destiny. I, like many of us, am not a huge fan of authority. In addition to this, I also recognized that being in the corporate world definitely made my personal life challenging. I remember my ex-husband saying, “Your job comes first, I come second.” These words made me very defensive. They made my heart hurt, because I knew that there was truth behind them. My job had to come first because he was working in a freelance capacity and my job represented our financial security. I knew that if I continued up the corporate ladder, I could hit the same dilemma again with my personal life. This definitely weighed on me. I had to change my work/life balance. I also considered that if I continued on the corporate road, my climb would likely be cut short by the time I turned 50, because very few successful female careers in Hollywood last beyond age 50. I was 41 at the time of this decision.

  The other side of the dilemma was the decision to start my own company. If I started my own company, I would be able to design it from the ground up. I would be able to brand it in a way that both my personal and professional lives could come together. I would be my own boss and be able to treat people the way that I wanted to be treated. This was the plus side of my decision. The challenging side was setting up the business, knowing how to get clients, and learning the skills of marketing and negotiation. I was also dealing with a vulnerable economic climate. It was January of 2008, right in the middle of the writer’s strike. Since my concept involved launching an entertainment consultancy focused on writing, I knew that this was very risky. It also meant starting from scratch. Yet, I knew that I had 15 years of corporate experience. I was taught to give story notes by Aaron Spelling for over a decade and was given the opportunity to learn about story from many top showrunners over the years. If I failed, I could always go back. However, I knew that I could not fail. I could not let the possibility of this enter my mind.

  This is a powerful dilemma that I faced in my life. Ultimately, when I was up for a senior vice president position that I really wanted but didn’t get, I chose to start my own company. So, I chose this side of the dilemma. Once I made a choice, I had to establish my goal. My goal was to create a niche in the market and create a company that could go the distance. I knew that my story background equated to tremendous value in the market. I just had to figure out a way to package it in the right way. After talking with many writer friends, I designed a concept. Essentially, my business is like being a fee-based manager and development executive wrapped into one. However, since I am a consultant and not a manager, I can take on as many clients as my schedule permits. It’s all about purely focusing on the development of story.

  I remember the butterflies that I felt the night before I launched. The next day, I would be sending my website address to over 900 people in the entertainment industry and essentially removing my name from the corporate job list. It was scary and yet exhilarating and empowering in a way that I had never felt. I felt alive. I felt like this was the beginning of a whole new turn in my life. The beauty was that this change w
as going to be on my terms. On my first day, I received 175 emails and during my first week, I booked 20 meetings. Since then, my company has grown tremendously. After two years, I’ve worked with over 200 writers in television, features, and novels. I wake up everyday loving what I do. Did I hit hurdles along the way? Of course I did! We will go into this later when we discuss obstacles. However, what I learned was that the journey from being corporate to being self-employed was like going from entitlement to gratitude. It was the right move for me. I was learning the valuable lesson that we are all exactly where we are supposed to be. It was satisfying because it made me feel like there was a purpose behind my loss.

  Think of dilemmas in your life, both large and small. We probably face small dilemmas much more frequently. The bigger ones stand out. Dilemmas can involve family, school, friends, dating, marriage, and children.

  Having children is a very big dilemma that many people face. Many of us thought that children would naturally be a part of our path, yet for so many of us, this has not been the case. This could be because of dilemmas we faced along the way, like choosing our career over our personal life, dating the wrong people, not making love a priority, not meeting the right people, etc. Many people hit a point in their life where the dilemma they face is, “Do I have a child on my own and face the obstacles that come with this decision? Or, do I go through life and use the energy that would have been spent on my family in other ways?” This is a strong dilemma and can be explored in story lines in so many different ways and from so many different angles. There are many goals that can stem from this dilemma.

  Speaking of dilemmas faced in family situations, as I mentioned earlier, my mother encountered a big dilemma when she had to make the decision to leave her dying father’s bedside in New York to return to her child in intensive care in California, knowing that she could lose one or both of them during the five hour flight. This is a strong life choice. She chose to go to her daughter. I am sure that her goal was not to lose both while she was in the air. Her goal was achieved, she did not lose either at that moment in time. It is in moments like this that we access the true strength of our spirit. These types of moments also build our well and give us more to draw from creatively.

  Another strong and memorable dilemma for me was the moment I realized that my husband was having an affair. Intuition is a fascinating thing. I felt like I knew the night that it happened. Yet, it took three weeks for him to admit to it. During these three weeks, I remember feeling like I had a ball of fire in my stomach. Once the information was out there, I had to decide whether I’d just learn to deal with it or whether I’d ask him to leave. This time, I listened to my gut. When he confessed, I told him that I wanted him gone by the end of the day. My trust boundaries had been crossed. I knew that there was no going back. Oddly enough, the affair did make it easier. It was black and white for me, versus gray. The love that we had built no longer existed. It was dead. I knew that I could not build a life when our foundation was missing. The positive side of this dilemma was that I was clear about my choice. The negative side of the choice was I had to figure out how to heal the huge hole that was left inside of me. So, the goal that stemmed from this dilemma was how to make myself feel whole again after feeling like a part of me was taken.

  The growth that comes out of dilemmas is revealing. For me, my two biggest fears in life were that my husband would cheat on me and that I would lose a job that I loved. After going through both experiences, I feel stronger and oddly more peaceful than I did before they happened. I’m not afraid anymore.

  When we make decisions in which neither alternative seems to be an ideal choice, we have an opportunity for growth and experience. Sometimes, we make the right choice, sometimes we don’t. The thing about dilemma is that if you don’t make the right choice, it often takes encountering another dilemma to force you into a new direction. The new direction could be the actual right direction for you and you may have just needed a few roadblocks before you realized the purpose behind it all.

  Dilemma comes from all directions in my life. A very close friend of mine, Noelle, recently battled breast cancer. She was my fourth friend between the ages of 30 and 40 who had breast cancer. She had a very aggressive kind of breast cancer. When she received the diagnosis, she was 35 and at the peak of an incredibly successful career. She owned her own company and it was growing by the day. She had a multitude of decisions to make. She knew she had to go through chemo. This was a no-brainer. One of the more difficult dilemmas she faced was whether to get a double mastectomy. If she got one, she would decrease her chances considerably of ever getting the disease again. If she did not, she would run a higher risk of the disease returning. Watching your close friend go through this is traumatizing. Seeing her lose her gorgeous long blonde hair and her eyebrows was a physical way of observing her loss. It made me so angry that so many women are going through this life experience and being forced to lose their hair, and very often their breasts, in the process of recovery. This is a dilemma that confronts you with your own mortality and makes you fully understand the meaning of courage and the meaning of life. Her goal that stemmed from this dilemma was to make the choice that would lead her to the healthiest outcome. I am so proud that she made the decision to have the double mastectomy. Now when I look at her, I notice a new light. She had a brush with the possibility of the end. Yet, what I see coming out of it is a new fire that I believe will be even brighter than it was before. I am encouraging her to write a book about it. We all have a story. Yet, some of us have moments of triumph after tragedy that truly need to be shared.

  It seems as we get older that the dilemmas we face get bigger. Choices we make affect not only the direction of our life but the people in our life. For example, at some point in our life every one of us will have to decide where we want to live. This choice can have huge pluses or minuses for the life that we lead. The place you live in should reflect the type of life you want to live. If you’re from a small town but you have big career aspirations that involve living in a big city, you have to weigh the options in your dilemma. If you move to the big city, you have to pay higher rents or mortgages and very often this means working harder, which takes time away from your family. Yet, you’ll also be able to pursue your dream and hopefully, if you’re lucky, better provide for your family. I would say many artists experience dilemmas in this arena. They wonder if they should continue to pursue their craft knowing that their family is suffering for this decision. They are split between pursuing their craft full time or taking a nine-to-five job and supporting their families in a more secure fashion.

  Because of the lingering effects of a crippled economy, many of us are finding ourselves in a similar dilemma. We’ve experienced a shift in financial consciousness as a nation. It feels like it’s been a year or two of learning what it is to live simply again. The great thing about this is we learn what we need and don’t need. We think we need so much, but do we really? What is abundance? Is it an emotional experience? Is it a material one? This climate has forced us to take a look at our lives and re-evaluate our goals. Our new goals will probably shift as a result of these dilemmas.

  Many of us have experienced dilemmas in a very big way. I encourage you to tap into these dilemmas. This is how you gain the tools to build your story lines. Once you’ve identified a number of dilemmas you’ve faced in your own life, think about the goals that resulted after you made a choice. Also, think about what is behind the commitment to your choice and how you use this to go after your goal. Often, our dilemmas stem from a fear of failure. Yet, some of the most successful people out there had a string of failures blazing the path to their success. These are the stories we need to hear. We want to experience the underdog who suddenly achieves or the guy or girl who loses at one point, but winds up winning so much more at another point. If we can tap into the truths behind our own goals and dilemmas, we can use real emotion in our fictionalized stories. This will make our audience feel less isolated and co
nnect them to our message. This is your goal.

  EXERCISE

  Write down five pivotal dilemmas you’ve had to face in your life. Now, imagine that you took the other side of the dilemma. Write down what your goal would have been from that side and what you think would have resulted from that decision.

  Write down some of the dilemmas faced by your friends and family. Next, write down how you would deal with their dilemmas. Knowing how they responded to their own dilemmas, how do you think they would respond to some of the dilemmas that you’ve been dealt?

  Chapter Seven

  WHAT IS YOUR CENTRAL CHARACTER’S DILEMMA STEMMING FROM OR TO THEIR GOAL

  If you don’t know where you are going. How can you expect to get there?

  ~ Basil S. Walsh

  In my experience, I have come to view the setup of the central character’s goal and/ or dilemma as the most important component of story. I believe that it is the key to the success or failure of your story. When a goal and dilemma are clear, your story has a much stronger chance of working because your obstacle, your escalating obstacle, your mid-point and your “all is lost” moment will all need to reflect back to your goal. If your goal and dilemma are unclear, then you will be unable to structure your story in the best way possible. When I see films that slightly miss the mark, I can almost always pinpoint a lack of clarity in the setup of the goal and strength of the dilemma of the central character as the major offending factor. If the goal and dilemma are not properly established, your audience won’t know what they’re rooting for.

  In the previous chapter, we discussed how to draw goals and dilemmas from your own life experiences. Take a look at these goals and dilemmas and figure out how to fictionalize them in your story. The more that is at stake to lose if the goal is not achieved, the stronger the dilemma will be. Many goals come from dilemmas. You can start your story with a dilemma and have a goal evolve from it. The goal is established once your character decides which conflicting opportunity presented in the dilemma he’d like to choose. Or, on the flipside, your character can start with a clear goal, and a dilemma can develop as a result of pursuing this goal, heightening the emotional stakes. If your audience understands where they’re going, why it’s important to get there, what obstacles stand in the way, and what’s at stake if the final destination is not reached, you will touch them on a deeper level.