You know what’s sad?

I’m going to miss another Dramatica User Group meeting tonight. I’ve never seen the film (which I’ll explain later kind of makes it pointless to go). To add to that, some nice gentlemen rang my doorbell at 4:30 this morning and I couldn’t get back to sleep.

Thanks guy.

There was a time when I would go ever single month. Looking back, my tally reveals:

• 1998 - All 11 films and the Embroidery Class
• 1999 - All 11 films and the Embroidery Class
• 2000 - 10 films
• 2001 - All 11 films (no Embroidery Class)
• 2002 - 8 films
• 2003 - 8 films
• 2004 - 4 films (Embroidery Class)
• 2005 - 3 films

Interesting how it’s tapered off in the last couple of years. Funny, but I can see that the months I’ve missed are right around when my children were born - so I guess I have a good excuse.

For those who don’t know, the Dramatica User Group is a 2-3 hour meeting where the group reviews a film using Dramatica as the baseline. Chris Huntley, co-creator of the theory, runs the show (although sometimes the proficient Sandy Stone fills in). We start out identifying the four throughlines and then work our way through the 12 basic questions.

If you haven’t seen the film, it’s kind of pointless to go (unless you want to just see what it’s all about). I usually rent the film the week before and watch it at least once, trying to answer the questions on my own. I’ve only gotten it right ONCE in 8 years (The Sixth Sense for anyone who wants to know!).

Once we get it down to one storyform, that’s when the magic begins. Chris will go through pretty much all of the appreciations located on the Story Engine Settings report and give concrete solid examples of their use in the film. It’s mind-numbing and enlightening all at the same time. It’s absolutely impossible to take notes fast enough to write it down. But one thing is for sure - you leave the meeting wanting to stay up all night to work on your own screenplay (Which might be a good thing if you have a pesky punk ringing your doorbell at odd hours. You’re gonna be tired either way - at least this way you’ll have a solid screenplay and the satisfaction of pummeling the idiot before he can get away!).

If you’re in the LA area, I would encourage you to go. Details are here. If you want, you can watch the film before hand at 5pm. If you live a billion miles away, you can still participate - rent the film, take your own stab at it, and then check the Dramatica website for the answer within the next couple of days.

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