If there’s one thing to learn from this video, and there’s a lot, it’s that conflict shouldn’t exist if you must compromise your character to achieve it. The creative team behind Jurassic World understood this principle (though they certainly didn’t use it to its potential). It was clear from the get-go that Claire’s misbehavior was her obsession with her career. She’s the typical workaholic. The scene where the ops team gets slaughtered by the hybrid-rex dinosaur is central to her arc. Is she as bad as this guy makes out? Is she a worthy symbol to all the heroic, female, action starlets that preceded her? If box office receipts alone answer that question, they prove that audiences don’t care about that kind of nuance. They want to see shit blow up. They want to see people get eaten by dinosaurs. They want carnage. They want a dark space to escape and not think about their problems for two hours. And they want two beautiful faces on the screen when it all goes down. You, the aspiring screenwriter, don’t have that luxury. Listen to Mike Hill and others that speak to and challenge your sensibilities.
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