Psychology for Screenwriters. Building Conflict in the Plot

Working on a screenplay, like any creative endeavor, mostly happens intuitively, and many film professionals believe that artistic freedom and analysis are incompatible. William Indick vehemently disagrees. Analyzing theories of psychoanalysis — from Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson to Maureen Murdoch and Rollo May, the author supports the concepts of famous scholars with examples from well-known films that feature their timeless themes: love and sex, death and destruction, fear and anger, revenge and hatred. By examining the motives, latent desires, and complexes that drive the characters, Indick evaluates the successes and failures of authors, which ultimately cannot be hidden from the audience. After all, the viewer empathizes with the character, identifies with them, shares in their journey of transformation, and achieves catharsis.