Tag: scriptnotes

ScriptNotes, My Novel & The Curious Case Of The Female Villain


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Because my novel is meant to be something of an vaguely allegorical rant about the Trump Era, I need an Ivanka Trump. As such, I doing something that Stieg Larsson didn’t do in his original Millennium series — have a female villain.

I have this “female villain” for a number of reasons. One, because I want to slyly rant about Ivanka Trump being so fucking complicit and also because I want a more realistic depiction of human nature than the all-women-are-heroes that was found in the Millennium Series. And I need a female villain because that’s one way to show the “bad guys” side of things without reveling some pretty huge secrets that I want to hide from the audience until the Third Act.

So, that’s how I realized I needed a flawed female character.

This is even more interesting when you realize the screenwriting podcast ScriptNotes just recently talked about this very thing. In general, there is a huge dearth of female villains. This is probably because, well, one, male writers struggle to write accurate depictions of non-villain women and there’s a real danger of coming across as a misogynist if you don’t do it right.

But I’m an idiot, so I’m going to at least TRY to have a very flawed, very complicit female character in the novel I’m working on who is aware of some very dark things that her dad is doing, but does nothing to stop him. At least, that’s the vision at this point.

Notes On ‘Scriptnotes’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really enjoy the “Scriptnotes” podcast, but I do have some…notes. My chief beef is the very strength of the podcast is its weakness — it’s two very accomplished, successful and knowledgeable guys talking about what it’s like to be be two very accomplished, successful and knowledgeable guys.

As such, sometimes they are rather….patronizing…to the serious concerns of people who are just starting off in the business. The show seems more for people who actually have a career in Hollywood than someone who aspires to have a career in Hollywood.

But you can’t be all things to all people.

I guess I’m suggesting that there’s a market for a Scriptnotes for extras who aspire to be screenwriters. Or something. A program that takes novice screenwriter’s concerns about IP theft seriously, that kind of stuff.

Yet, in general, I find Scriptnotes interesting. I sometimes feel like a street urchin with my nose pressed against the glass of the podcast as they talk about their careers, but lulz.