Characters have no interest in your theme for good reasons.
I offer made-to-measure assessment and guidance from the first stages of development on. Over short and long periods, in-person on location and online. I work in Dutch and English. My consulting stretches from feature film, series and documentary to animation and the performing arts. A fair part of my coaching goes into developing the inner architecture of your story or project and enlarging your thinking skills. Storytelling to be understood in a broad sense. Another key portion relates to the specific content, form and esthetics that arise from the backbone of your ambition.
Clients can bring in their specific requests at all times. We set the trajectory together. The ultimate goal is to have your personal urgency, your artistic motivation, the script or plan, and the community of your characters and/or formal elements become joined forces in a distinctive and irresistible project. A project ready for submission or production.
Presumptions and prejudices are a valuable stepping stone. Uncertainty and curiosity are your biggest assets.
A meaningful story or proposition can be expressed in any medium or genre. Genre nor medium guarantees quality as such. Engaging artworks almost without exception explore irreconcilable demands in a universe in which good and bad have become fluctuating or contesting and unreliable forces. Uninspired development leads to illustrating the presumed logic of a hypothetical given. Profound creation however offers the audience an enticing new experience through authentic storytelling. Meaningful stories are intelligently unsettling and exciting in how they go beyond the already known. They work like a prism. Seemingly transparent or confusing at the surface, they break sleepy habits and rusted views by provoking unexpected new lines of vision. Storytelling in whatever form is not an innocent matter. Stories can be highly entertaining, meaningful and powerful. They can be potentially dangerous and ignorant too.
Your plot is not your story and your story is not your theme.
It takes time to build a relevant tale or artwork that will enthrall at the same time. It intertwines layers of storylines, conceptions and/or character developments that intrigue and draw the viewer into its universe. Yet ultimately it pushes a decisive question mark out of the story onto its audience. In that mark lies what people around the globe, whatever their specific background, ideology or religion ultimately share with each other: wonder, confusion and worry – the struggle with effort, understanding and appreciation – the need for connection. Here we find the underlying theme. After the experience is through, its story can resonate with us a little longer. This is why we make and need stories. To get some grip, to connect.
Valuable works in some way involve the here and now.