10 Screenwriting Lessons You Can Learn From Jurassic World

3. Seriously Consider Who Gets To Dies - And Why

One of the most inherently bizarre moments in Jurassic World occurs when Zara, a British assistant character with absolutely no defining character traits or personality, is given what is the most horrific death in the film. First of all, she's picked up by a pterodactyl, dropped at a height into a pool below, before she's attacked again by diving pterodactyls, picked up, dropped and finally gobbled up by the mosasaraus. Given that this character was neither a hero or a villain, or anybody the audience had invested in, it seemed totally at odds that said character got such a gruesome and lengthy demise - the Jurassic Park equivalent of a Final Destination death. It's at this point that - as a screenwriter - one must consider the implications of killing such a non-character in such a gruesome fashion. Firstly, it comes across as plainly nasty. Secondly, it all comes down to a death being earned; in blockbusters, there's a sacred rule that concerns itself with whether a character deserve to live or die. And based on what Zara did over the course of the film, her death felt like major overkill. Screenwriter John August was so shocked at this death that he wrote about it on his website, and even went as far as to lay out a lesson:

"Early deaths help establish the rules of the world. Late deaths create closure. It€™s the middle deaths like this one in Jurassic World that are often the most challenging. Too mean-spirited, and you risk turning the audience against you. Too generic, and you€™ve lessened the stakes for your hero."

Zara's death seemed out of place, cruel (given that she was a very, very secondary character) and - worst of all - it had no real impact or effect on the protagonists.