Good morning from the warm shores of Prince Edward Island. It’s finally Spring! Its also been a year since we’ve last spoke. Lots has happened since then and there’s lots to cover. Let’s get into it.
For starters, I spent most of this past month in my immediate neighbourhood. A snap election was called in my home province of PEI and I volunteered with our provincial Green Party. That mostly amounted to knocking on doors and getting a sense the issues facing islanders. As you can imagine this is pretty time consuming but its also really fascinating (I heard/endured a long rant about flouride in the water turning people gay, so that’s fun!). Other than the weird interactions, I met so many wonderful people in the last few weeks and got a sense of the real problems facing my neighbours. Sadly the candidates I volunteered with didn’t win but so it goes. The work doesn’t stop just because my team lost.
Also, I got a puppy!!! Astra came home with us on Friday. She’s a nine-week-old Golden Doodle and she’s gonna be a big girl!
I know it’s been a year since I’ve sent a newsletter. In the intervening months I married the love of my life, worked tirelessly to produce an indie film, and wrote hundreds of pages of script. Which is to say the past year has been really busy, so much so, that I found myself asking what I wanted to achieve with this newsletter and I didn’t have a clear answer.
In that time away, I’ve realized I write this because I just want to connect with like-minded people. Whether that’s through my work or through a mutual love for art - both are fine by me. It’s becoming harder to connect with like-minded people without some rich asshole showing up to the party and ruining things (I’m looking at you Twitter!!!). So we’re back to weekly communications until further notice. Sorry about the extended hiatus.
Since we’ve last chatted I’ve written two full miniseries, a Swamp Thing and (two) Batman stories, released a short arc on X-Men Unlimited, and had a screenplay I wrote Nationally recognized by Telefilm Canada (the same public funding company that financed David Cronenberg’s early films!!!).
This week we’re talking
Writing Craft: “The Want” and “The Need”.
Previews of upcoming projects
Alma Katsu’s The Hunger
Zac on Cinema: Rituals (1977)
Writing Craft:
“The Want” and “The Need”.
There’s this old adage when it comes to writing: “don’t give the audience what they want, give them what they need” which is often applied as a broad sentiment to the overall structure and resolution of a story. Though, I think it also applies to the character (or characters) driving the narrative.
Think of it like an iceberg, the want is the goal above the water that’s overtly stated (and connected to the plot). While the need is everything beneath the surface that’s emotionally driving the character. Whether or not the need is addressed/fulfilled hinges on the type of story you’re telling. But getting to the heart of that need will help you create a complex character who feels fully realized on the page.
For sake of an easy example let’s look at Barton Fink (1991). Spoilers for the film to follow. So if you haven’t seen it by now, too bad.
The film takes place in 1941 and follows the up-and-coming Broadway playwrite Barton Fink as he’s hired to write screenplays for a big Hollywood studio. Barton is obsessed with writing and the craft surrounding it. He is immediately above his assignment to work in Hollywood because he sees “the pictures” as lowbrow entertainment. Over the course of the film his goal is clear: he wants to write.
As is typical with any narrative, just about everything you can imagine prevents him from getting what he wants. He can’t seem to write. Barton is neurotic, he is obsessed with the struggles of “the common man”, he finds great difficulty immersing himself in Hollywood’s culture. He’s easily distracted. There are lots of detours along the way but essentially this is the heart of his character - the want to write.
But when we probe a little deeper we see that Barton actually needs something much different. Over the course of the film, Barton seems strangely connected to a painting of a women that hangs in his spartan apartment.
Barton’s unhappy with Hollywood’s desire to make broad, profit-driven art. He’s sickened by the types of things they want him to write and he ultimately can’t bring himself to follow “the formula”. But that painting offers him an escape. It’s hanging there on the wall, offering the a dream of another life.
It’s through staring at the photo that we start to understand his need. Barton needs some kind of escape. He needs to fulfill his desire to connect to “the common man”. When Fink ultimately does go ahead and write a screenplay in a fever of productivity - its flatly rejected. Fink is told he’ll remain under contract until “he grows up a little”. Dazed, Fink wanders out to a beach and sees a woman just like the one in his treasured painting. She assumes the pose from the painting and bird falls into the ocean - dead.
It’s no secret that the Coen Brothers wrote Barton Fink while struggling to write the screenplay for Miller’s Crossing. So the whole movie is asking questions about the purpose of art and the creative process. And of course, Barton Fink is at the centre of all those questions.
Obviously this is a very broad and very quick look at the complex process of creating a well-rounded character. But I think it’s worth asking questions about what drives your character below the surface. The want is often driven by the plot of a story and isn’t enough to make a character feel real. The need is an added emotional component that can either go fulfilled or unfulfilled depending on the type of story you’re telling. .
Upcoming Comics Projects
Here’s what I’ve been up to lately.
PROJECT TIAMAT
An eco-horror maxiseries with Hayden Sherman that’s slowly coming along. Should be out in the early months of 2024. Hayden is doing the line art and painting every single page. It’s really a sight to behold. We’re halfway through the second issue right now but here’s a little tease from #1.
PROJECT DECAY
A neo-noir crime series with Jok. We’re motoring through the first issue right now. Should have more in the way of a formal announcement in the next few months. Here’s some pencils!
PROJECT FLAP
A work-for-hire adaptation of something that’s rather near and dear to me. Should have more to share next month. For now, here’s the first mood board.
Alma Katsu’s The Hunger
I recently finished Alma Katsu’s excellent historical horror novel The Hunger. It’s a reimagining of the legendary Donner Party’s wagon train trek from the midwest and into California. Even if you know the story, Katsu’s characters are incredibly compelling and there’s some excellent supernatural flourishes that create vivid, horrific imagery that will be with me for a long time. Like the title and subject matter suggests there’s obviously cannibalism but its also about the different types of hunger that drive us and ultimately consume us. Highly, highly recommended.
Zac on Cinema
Rituals (1977)
Now streaming on Amazon Prime (Canada).
I’ve been consuming tons of backwoods horror recently. You know the type, a group of friends get lost in the wilderness, they struggle to survive and eventually stumble on some unspeakable horrors. RITUALS is perhaps one of the best examples of the genre that’s synonymous with DELIVERANCE. And for my money - it’s just as good, if not better.
It follows five doctors as they go out on a wilderness retreat in Northern Ontario. They trek out deep into the woods and things seem fine until one morning they wake up and everyone’s boots are gone. Things go downhill from there.
What strikes me about Rituals is the incredible mean-spirited take on the character’s plight. These old friends are constantly bickering and at odds with one another about what to do. The fact that they’re all doctors is never lost within the narrative and drives a lot of the conversations about their dire circumstances. The atmosphere on screen is suffocating even amongst the beauty of the outdoors. And Hal Holbrook is a force to be reckoned with.
If you’re looking for an undiscovered gem in the five friends fall into hell sub genre, look no further.
Bye for now
That’s it for this week. Hopefully you’ll be around when I send the next one of these. We're back to weekly communications on Tuesdays. So mark your calendar and tell your friends!
Until next time, be good to each other.
- Z
Nice, glad to have you back!