Case studies
issues… and in the case of the sexually aggressive woman co-worker
a worst-case scenario for losing his virginity.
Every character in The 40 Year Old Virgin is defined by their
viewpoint on romance, and their story purpose is to show a different
aspect of relationships. When Andy is interacting with David
(obsessed with his lost love), he’s exploring a different aspect of
romantic relationships than when he’s in a scene with Jay (married
guy who cheats). None of these six characters duplicate each other’s
point of view, so our protagonist can learn from each of them. He
could end up becoming any of them if he follows their advice—so
each offers him a window on his future potentialities.
ROMANTIC CHOICES
We also have two main women roles in the film: Beth, the
nymphomaniac who works at the bookstore next door (Elizabeth
Banks) and Trish, the nice woman his age who is a customer in the
store (Catherine Keener). These are two extremes—and both offer
solutions to the virginity problem. He can either have wild pointless
sex or enter into a serious relationship. Lust or love? Both characters
have a story purpose. If you were to leave out the bookstore girl The 40 Year Old Virgin writers Steve Carrell and Judd
who symbolises lust, our protagonist would have no choice but
Apatow discuss how to reduce the number of characters
love. Without the lust choice, the story is over—why doesn’t he
just hook up with the nice woman?
CHARACTER ISSUES
A side effect of limiting your cast: less characters means more Now that we have our 15 speaking roles, we’re going to go back to
time spent on developing each of them. More time for the that “production value” question. If a producer is paying for a day
audience to get to know the character, and less confusion between of COP #2, he expects to get a full day’s work. “Make a meal out
them (“Is that Karl or Sam? Her husband or that gardener?”) If of it,” they’ll tell you. That means make sure that character is in
you have 30 characters in a 90-page script, each character gets five to eight pages of the script, usually all at the same location.
about 3 pages! Hardly enough time to get to know and care about Limiting the speaking roles and extras in your script is one of the
them. Limiting your cast can actually improve the script’s quality. most important elements in selling a script to a budget-conscious
Even when I’m writing my big budget specs, I try to limit my producer. It is also a good way to make sure your script is focused
cast. What is the purpose of this character? on important characters no matter what the budget. n
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- David A. Price’s bestselling book The Pixar Touch (Knopf, May 2008)
www.moviescopemag.com 51
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