Screenwriting 101: Chris McCoy

“It is such an art to be a good actor, and many actors are so internal. If they really care about the material, they are thinking about it in terms of motivations: ‘This happened, and therefore I am in this emotional place, which means I am doing this.’ There are times when you are writing, when you tell yourself, ‘Okay, I know I need to have a certain kind of scene here to tie the script together structurally.’ But the character motivations in that scene have to make sense. It can’t just be structural filler, or else solid actors will call you out on it.

These actors are taking their job seriously and unless you can look them in the eye and tell them exactly why something is happening and why their character is in the place where they are, then you are not doing your job. Your characters always need to want something, need to care about something.

You need to be able to communicate those motivations with an actor. Directing gave me more insight into how actors look at scripts, and knowing the kinds of questions they’ll be asking puts a little bit more pressure on me as a writer, because I need to have those answers. Understanding some of the methodology of actors is something that I feel like will inform my future screenwriting, because one way or another, a movie doesn’t get made unless you have actors in it.”

— Chris McCoy

Go Into The Story interview, November 2015

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