“My world is not spectacle and explosion. It’s two people talking.”

Words of writing wisdom from Taika Watiti.

Did you know that on Aristotle’s list of the six elements of Drama, Spectacle is last in importance?

Plot, Character, Thought, Diction, Music, Spectacle

Yet, Hollywood all too often puts Spectacle first on their own list which is how we end up sitting in a movie theater surrounded by bombast … but feel nothing about what’s happening on the screen.

That’s why I love Taika Watiti’s quote.

If you can find the drama between two characters talking … you can find the heart of the story. And with that, the emotion it elicits in the audience.

Stories need to entertain. But equally as important, they need to make the audience FEEL something. Like this:

Or this:

Or this:

Or this:

As writers, the surest path to accomplishing that is explore the text and emotional subtext of character interactions …

Including two people talking.