Script Writing: Psychological Perspectives

A good movie or TV show depends on a good script. Unless the characters and the story are real, the result is usually “unrealistic” at best and “stupid” at worst.

The flash and movie magic that action and special effects provide can take the script only so far. Even with shows based in fantasy, science fiction, horror, or action, it’s all about the people. This is what will make or break it. It’s what authors like Stephen King, directors like Alfred Hitchcock, and screenwriters and filmmakers like Paul Haggis know all too well.

Many of our best insights into people come from literature. Scriptwriters create their characters and their stories from their imaginations, but all to often they don’t match real people or the way those people would really think and behave in those circumstances. When that happens, it stops the story instead of moving it forward. Good scripts portray real characters who think and behave realistically.

Also, scripts that involve therapy or therapists usually miss the mark, typically by miles. While the general public may have found HBO’s “In Treatment” entertaining, most therapists saw it as a poor portrayal of what really happens in good therapy. If you want to portray bad therapy, you can do that easily on your own. You may even rely on your experience in your own therapy to do that. If you want to portray good therapy, especially concerning particular issues or people, it helps to have a real psychologist take you inside the room, inside the people, and inside the process.

• BRING YOUR SCRIPTS TO LIFE
  • CREATE REAL CHARACTERS
  • CREATE REAL STORIES
    • True To The Characters
  • BRING TRUE PSYCHOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING TO YOUR SCRIPTS
    • Characters
    • Stories
  • PRESENT PSYCHOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPISTS HONESTLY AND REALISTICALLY

When All Your Best Efforts Haven’t Worked
Maybe It’s Time to Talk to a Professional

Why Wait To Make Your Scripts Better?