The Difference between Screenwriting and Personal Writing Human drama has been dissected, crafted and coded for centuries in countries all over the world. In the twentieth century Hollywood has made formulas out of dramaturgy, so that expensive, splashy productions are grounded in the essentials of catharsis and resolution. Students spend so much time analyzing films and learning rules that their scripts are often unoriginal and formulaic.
Originality comes from what is unique about our lives and our imaginations.
The difficulty comes when one tries to convert life experience, memory, fantasy and dreams into very structured drama. We see the story from OUR point of view instead of orchestrating characters who can fight equally and fairly to resolve the conflicts. If we try to live in the mirage, it often becomes a delusion. Memory picks the best of the past and constructs an impossible future with our imaginations. Whenever we try to live a dream, we find something wrong with it.