Screenwriting 101: Aaron Tracy

“I once had a playwriting teacher who told a fun story about character. She said the director of Midnight Cowboy simply decided that Jon Voight’s character never received any kind of physical affection from his mother when he was a child. And that’s what informs every moment of his present life: his intense need for physical touch. Makes sense, right? Whether or not it’s true, I’ve always loved that story. I try to find details like that for each of my main characters.”

— Aaron Tracy

From Go Into The Story interview, July 2011

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