Lou Anders, Hugo-winning editorial director from Pyr books, joins Mary, Dan, and Howard at Dragon*Con for a discussion of the Hollywood Formula. Lou shared this with Mary originally, and she used it to tighten up some of her work. It’s useful enough that we decided to invite Lou onto the ‘cast to share it with everybody else, too.
The formula centers around three characters – the protagonist, the antagonist, and the relationship character. Lou explains how these terms have, in this formula, different meanings than we might be accustomed to.
Among the things that we learn: The Dark Knight has an antagonist none of us could guess, Die Hard and Stargate are third-act movies, and Howard is criminally ignorant of classic cinema.
Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Dervish House, by Ian McDonald, narrated by Jonathan Davis
Writing Prompt: Using the Hollywood Formula, come up with a protagonist, an antagonist, and a relationship character.
Credit Where Credit Is Due: Lou got the Hollywood Formula from Dan Decker.
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