”It’s really important to pay attention to the things that are around you, to the people you know, that are happening in your community, that you’re watching on the news, or anything that’s coming into your life, and realizing that those are the kernels, the nuggets of gold for you,” says Caran Hartsfield.
You probably have that uncle, grandfather, auntie, sister, or whoever who was an incredible character. That often gets overlooked. The real people in our lives that are great characters, or those real moments that happen between two friends on a Tuesday. Write those things down. Use those little golden nuggets to create great scenes.
“It’s so much easier to use real people than to make this Frankensteinian, made-up person that you’re really basing on other films that you’ve seen. You have the luck of knowing the people that probably only you know.” Hartsfield explains. “I don’t know them; most screenwriters don’t know them. You know them. I don’t have the life experiences you have. Most screenwriters don’t have the life experience you have. That’s what’s so exciting. We all have the stories that only we can bring.”
“The world is not monolithic. The world is not homogeneous. Art has always reflected life to a certain extent. The notion that it should not be diverse is insane,” says Seith Mann. “I think that there are so many different and wonderful stories out there, and the more diverse the talent base telling those stories is, the more different, interesting stories that you will have.”
We all benefit from hearing stories from multiple voices. From gaining insight from characters and worlds that have a lived experience that is not necessarily our own. Then, at the same time, it’s important for people to see themselves and stories. If you have a marketplace that doesn’t reflect anything but a particular demographic, that makes it harder for different people to identify with those characters. It’s difficult for them to be truly invested in those stories, which is, ultimately, what is behind all the human need that we have for this illumination that comes from storytelling.
In Hollywood, there’s a profit motive. Hollywood’s going to make more money if it draws in a greater audience, and part of the way you do that is to have diverse storytellers telling different stories. It isn’t rocket science.
