10 Screenwriting Lessons You Can Learn From Jurassic World

5. Give Your Characters Proper Arcs

Any established screenwriter or screenwriting teacher will tell you that one of the fundamental rules of screenwriting is as follows: give your character an arc. In other words, how does you character change between the first page and the very last? How do the events of your movie aid in transforming your character from point a) to point b)? And Jurassic World is essentially a lesson in how not to write characters. The first problem is that most of them - the majority of the main and secondary characters, at least - are archetypes with no depth. It's okay to use an archetype if you can offer audiences more as the film goes on, but Jurassic World's characters - for the most part - don't change. Remember how Alan Grant changed in Jurassic Park? He went from a kid-hater to somebody who understood their appeal. Jurassic World attempts to replay this arc with Clare's character, but it never rings true because it happens all too suddenly. There's no growth. Owen, on the other hand, stays exactly the same from start to finish. No change. But arcs are what make movies great; movies - blockbusters, especially - with characters who remain the same are rarely successful on a narrative level, so make sure when writing your own script that you set goals: what your character starts out believing, and what they end up believing by the time the credits are rolling. Then map their journey.