Tips on teasing out the relationship TL

#1

I’ve got good momentum with a script of mine dealing with the conflicting agendas of several film professionals regarding the final cut of a late star’s last film. The OS is very well defined in Wisdom vs. Enlightenment; MC and IC throughlines are also starting to come alive; and I’m psyched about a very tragic Accurate vs. Non-accurate ending.

The major obstacle is that the relationship between the MC and IC is non existent; I find myself just duplicating the conflict in the OS, then realizing it’s not a distinct relationship dealing with Knowledge vs. Thought.

Any practical tips on teasing out the relationship TL?

One thing in trying to tease it out by staring at the Issue is that I kinda fear Knowledge vs. Thought as it’s that one pair to me that always feels like it could be almost anything; but what can you do when you’ve arrived at the one and only storyform - can’t really tell your own mind: “Could you please never land on that pair that daunts you? Thanks!”

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#2

PERHAPS:

Knowledge could be general and available to all, while thought could be an internal tool and kept hidden

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#3

Would thinking more about the Concern of Being help? Perhaps the relationship isn’t between the MC and the IC, but between the MC, the IC, and the dead film star they’re both related to. Maybe one has to be the grieving family member, while the other plays the part of a bitter ex or a jaded agent. In that sort of example, the Issue-Counterpoint tension might be between what the characters knew about the film star (the factual secrets they carried) and what the characters thought about the film star (how those secrets and events colored their opinion of them). "No matter how much she betrayed me… I still loved her! :sob: "

Also… how do the MC and IC have a “non-existent relationship?” :face_with_raised_eyebrow: How does the IC influence the MC? Whatever that vector of influence is, that’s the relationship. It could be parasocial or non-physical, as long as there’s interplay to cause influence.

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#4

If I were illustrating this RS about a marriage, I might say something like:

Jane and John Smith have entered into a fake marriage (Being) as a cover for their roles as spies. At the beginning of the story, they know nothing about each other’s real lives; but as the story progresses, they learn more and more – not just of each other secrets, but of their respective wishes and dreams, which becomes the foundation of their growing intimacy. Thematically, this throughline is asking the question: is it possible to really know another person? And what are the consequences of that knowledge?

The counterpoint is the fear that the more you are really known to someone else, the greater the risk that they will think negatively of you. Partly because of this, the relationship keeps questioning itself.

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