Fictional Writers: Writer Characters in Movies, TV Series and Books Archives - Page 3 of 6

Younger TV Series starring Sutton Foster: Shows with Writer Characters, Doing Crazy Stuff to Follow Your Dreams and Living Like a 20-Something…Whenever

Posted on April 6, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Younger Sutton Foster, Hillary Duff, Debi Mazar (from left). Image via TVLand.

One of my best friends got me hooked on TVLand’s Younger, a comedy series with a lot of heart, spice, humor and an irresistible love triangle.

If you are a romantic, I recommend it. If you’re in your 20s to 50s, I recommend it. But I have to insist on watching it if you are a writer.

Here’s the plot for Younger TV series in a nutshell:

Liza Miller (Sutton Foster) is a 40-year-old, about-to-be-divorced mom with a daughter doing a semester abroad in college in India. She lives with her lesbian best friend (yes, this is an important plot point) Maggie (Debi Mazar).

Liza is eager to get back to work in publishing after a 15-year hiatus. Unfortunately, even her Dartmouth degree can’t save her from the agism and prejudice toward her resume. But when a hot younger guy named Josh (Nico Tortorella – The Following) hits on her assuming she is around his age, Maggie’s inspired to give her friend a makeover. She has the looks and the body. All she needs is a crash course in pop culture, and she is good to go.

Younger Josh (Nico Tortorella) and Liza (Sutton Foster) — Younger’s Josh (Nico Tortorella) and Liza (Sutton Foster). Image via deadline.com.

Soon enough, Liza lands a job as a marketing assistant under the tough 40-something Diana (Miriam Shor) who has a clear disdain for millennials. She is soon taken under the wing of Kelsey (Hillary Duff), a millennial junior editor and she can’t resist dating the lovely Josh.

Now she is working, working out, partying and dating like a 26-year-old. Can she keep this up? Oh, and then there is her divorced, hot 40-something boss Charles (Peter Hermann) who thinks Liza is wonderful. Can she keep it up?

Younger Charles (Peter Hermann). Image via pinterest.

Why Watch Younger?

As a 32-year-old – which makes me an older millennial – it is not that hard for me identify with the “old folk.” In fact, my social media knowledge and love for going out to dance aside, it is often easier to feel more at home with the pains and jokes of the 40-somethings. I’ve always been a fan of reading paper books, and movies and music from the 80s and 90s.

Of course some of it is exaggerated for comedy and it works. But mostly, the show is just blunt and sincere. Even its more extreme characters are people we have run into at some point in our lives. Some of it characters, we’d just love to run into. (Charles and Josh, anyone? And Maggie is literally one of the best people you could have in your corner.) Diana is hilarious with her strict bitch mode, and we root for Liza all the way. Yes, there is a ton of things she could have tried to maintain a certain form of career at home, but she was too busy raising a kid, dealing with a gambling and cheating husband. And sometimes life gets in the way.

The show is the ultimate anthem for breaking the rules that don’t make sense or just seem to serve as annoying roadblocks in your way. And that you are never too old to pursue your dreams, find yourself and find love.

And let’s face it. Love triangles are a lot more fun when you don’t mind either side winning. Although no one is perfect and some episodes in season 3 seem determined to paint Liza as the one with most flaws, I can honestly say I’m a bit more in love with Charles as a character than Josh. Yes, Peter Hermann’s Charles seems like an even more evolved version of Mr. Darcy – a tall hunk with no social interaction problems, a loving father, a romantic who loves Berlin (the band) and someone who reads…

Let’s watch on to see all of these characters’ adventures.

Writer Characters in Younger

Technically, Liza works in marketing. But she is in publishing, reads a ton, and she gets to write and edit for a couple of authors in some of the episodes. We also see a lot of authors and can learn a few things about what not to do when you are signing with a serious publishing house.

Also, nothing quite sets a fire under our writing asses to see the publishing world up close. And we can only work to be one of the most celebrated authors of a publishing house like theirs.

*There might be affialite links in the post.

How Not to Be A Writer: Lessons from Westworld’s Obnoxious Writer Character Lee Sizemore

Posted on December 16, 2016 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Westworld series starring Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, James Marsden and Jeffrey Wright. Image via imdv.com.

Westworld is an impressive sci-fi, drama and mystery series on HBO. It recently completed its first season, and got nominated for a couple of Golden Globe Awards. I’ll be soon posting my review on my entertainment blog; I’m a huge fan.

The casting is pretty terrific: Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, James Marsden, Ben Barnes, Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris.

But for those who haven’t seen it, here is a brief rundown of what’s what: (No spoilers):

Westworld is an advanced theme park where guests mingle with (and do pretty much anything they want to or with) the park’s residents: Magnificent AI robots that look, act, think and feel like humans. The catch is that they don’t know they are AIs, and the “merciful” creator of the park, Ford (Anthony Hophins) has designed them and the rules so that they don’t remember what they have done or what they have gone through. This causes an infinite loop for them: living the same day over and over again, with the exceptions of what the guests have in mind.

Westworld starring James Marsden and Evan Rachel Wood. Image via HBO.

The “main” AIs are Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve (Thandie Newton). Dolores leads a peaceful existence in their Wild West town with her parents. Maeve runs the brothel.

While some guests prefer family friendly tours and activities, others love wrecking havoc and mayhem: Man in Black (Ed Harris) is on a quest to make the most of it by reaching levels not achieved by other guests. He commits murder, rapes, attacks, tortures….Whatever to get him closer to get to that level.

How Not To Be A Writer: 5 Important Lessons from Westworld

And behind it all is a corporation that has to deal with politics, and the board members are not always pleased with how Ford operates. There is also the work of Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman), the writer whose job is to come up with entertaining AI storylines.

Simon Quarterman, Westworld. Image via pinterest.

Lee is pretty much a guide on how not to be a writer, man or a human being. He’s obnoxious, insincere, closed to criticism, immature, opportunistic, and insincere. Everyone either hates him, is annoyed by him, or just doesn’t give a damn about him.

Ford thinks he is a joke and mostly ignores or changes whatever he writes. The board sees him as a pawn they can use or discard according to what they need.

Most characters on this show possess grey qualities. They are not entirely bad or good. (It can be argued that Man in Black is mostly bad, but that’s another story.) But Lee? Lee is purely annoying.

So if there is anything we can learn from Lee is what not to do. And we do love a good lesson:

Be rude. It’s simple. Nobody likes an arrogant jerk who thinks they are better than everyone. With the exception of jerks who are actually better than everyone (see House), and they we forgive them. For entertainment purposes. I still think House wouldn’t have lived that long in real life.

Just scratch your own back. It is not cool only to be after your own success. You need to consider other people and help when you can. If you are self-absorbed, you’ll end up without great writing jobs or awesome friends.

Kiss ass. Everyone likes a heartfelt compliment. But ass-kissing? Nope. It shows. If you don’t mean it, don’t say it.

Never accept feedback or consider your employer’s needs. You can do whatever you want…on your own story that wasn’t commissioned by other people. But if you were hired to write stories for someone else, you have to accept that you don’t have full creative control. It doesn’t work that way.

Be drunk and destroy company property. No explanation needed, really. He actually pees on the park model and gets witnessed by his boss. Ouch.

There you go. I never understood why and how Lee has his job. And I’m not sure we will find out in season 2. But for people like Lee, good things don’t last for very long.

Which writer characters have you seen on the screen?

Something’s Gotta Give – Life Is Stranger (and Funnier) Than Fiction & How Much Fiction is Your Fiction?

Posted on August 22, 2014 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Something's Gotta Give movie poster — Image via moviepostershop.com.

Something’s Gotta Give is one of my favorite romantic comedies of all time. It’s hilarious, pretty original in a lot of places, feautures one hell of a cast (Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Frances McDormand) and its script is available online for fellow romantic comedy/drama writers. If you are looking for a movie review, or need more (spoilerless) info on the plot, please check out my review post. You can also watch the trailer for a better picture.

This post will concentrate more on the main character Erica, a playwright, and the events that inspire and fuel her latest play (so let there be many spoiers!):

Playwright Whose Real Life Becomes More Interesting Than Fiction:

Erica Barry (Diane Keaoton) is a successful and prolific playwright in her 50s. She’s divorced; her ex-husband is her director – he still directs her plays. She has a 20-something, pretty auctioneer daughter and a sassy, college professor sister (Frances Mc Dormand).

When Erica comes to her house in the Hamptons with her sister to work on her new play, the two women get a huge surprise in the form of 60-something Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) – who happens to a famous businessman/bachelor –who’s dating Erin.

After the initial shock, they decide to stay together in the house, though Harry can’t wait to get out of there. After all, Erica hates his guts. But when he has a heart attack before he can have sex with her daughter, the women rush him to the hospital, and there they meet a young, polite and eye candy of a doctor named Julian (Keanu Reeves). To their shock, he turns out to be a big fan of Erica’ plays and is smitten.

Keanu Reeves, something' gotta give — Yeah, this is Julian. Image via totalfilm

In an ideal world, they would send Harry packing, but he’s neither willing to stay in the hospital, nor is he well enough to go back to the city. So Julian recommends Harry stays closeby, where he can check in on him. So he ends up staying with Erica despite her objections. To make things more frustrating, everybody leaves for the city too, and Erica ends up staying in the same house with Harry, all by herself.

But as she gets to know him, she realizes he’s fun, smart, and quite charming when he wants to be. Despite going on a date with Julian and having a good time, as she and Harry get close, she forgets all about Julian, eventually sleeping with, and falling for Harry.

Harry is shocked by how much he is into Erica, but he isn’t sure if it is all because of his heart attack. After all, he is used to dating much younger women.

When he gets better, he pretty much leaves things undetermined. But when Erica sees Harry on a date with a young woman, she loses it. After dealing with her, Harry has to go to hospital again, which Erica doesn’t know about.

Back in the Hamptons, she gets into a bouts of crying and writing, she finishes her play. She also starts dating Julian (the young doctor) thanks to a chance encounter with her sister Zoe.

Harry seems to be doing OK, on a date with another young woman, when he almost chokes on his food: she’s an actress auditoning for a hilarious part in a play – which is pretty much all about Harry-Erica-Merin-Zoe, just with differently named characters.

When he goes to confront Erica, she seems happy and over him. She tells him the story isn’t exactly the same, until he sees the same scene from the hospital. Aren’t there any differences? There are: in the play, Henry is called Harry. And he dies. And that’s pretty much all Erica changed. She has even used bits of dialogue exchanged between them.

Yep, this is a romantic comedy, Harry is the male protagonist so you can guess he will eventually own up to the fact he’s head over heels with Erica and do something grand to win her back.

How Much Fiction Is Your Fiction, Really?

Many writers believe you need to live interesting and exciting lives to be able to write (well). And I mostly agree. Some of my stories were inspired while I was doing writing-worthy stuff in my life, like staying in gorgeous Santa Barbara for a month, or learning about the true potential of Public Relations from a great teacher.

And while I might not have written a certain event in my life, changed a couple of things and labeled it as fiction, I use a lot of real events in my blog posts. After all, what fun would dating blogging be if we couldn’t dis exes (while keeping names private, obviously) publicly?

In all seriousness, though, where do you, or should you draw the line? Where does your story stop being your own? Is it OK to write a play about your life, without notifiying other parties involved?

And while Harry might have deserved some humiliation, did he really deserve to die in a play about him?

Frankly, I think what Erica did to Julian was much worse than what Harry did to her. She went on a date with him, forgot all about their next date after confirming it, didn’t call to apologize, hooked up with Harry after professing her disdain of him, got back with Julian and ditched him for Harry on her birthday (OK, Julian left her saying she still loved Harry, which was the truth, but still…)So if I were Meyers, I would probably have an alternate ending or an additional scene where Julian wrote a play about Erica and killed her at the end.

When you use things from your life in your writing, where do you draw the line?

For more writer characters, check out my Writer Characters category.

Man of Steel’s Writer Character Lois Lane and Her Compelling Conflicts: Protecting Your Subject, Falling for Your “Subject” and More

Posted on June 20, 2013 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Thanks to Man of Steel’s story, this is both a “Compelling Movie Conflicts” and a “Writer Characters in Movies” post.

The 2013 Superman reboot Man of Steel is a pleasant addition to the superhero movies with its brilliant cast (Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon, Amy Adams, Henry Cavill), a satisfactory (back)story and some great effects that unfortunately didn’t exist in the time of Christopher Reeve (Superman from 1978).

However one of the things that made me like this Superman movie a lot more than all the other Superman movies (and this coming from a Reeve & Donner fan) and many other comic book adaptations is that there are several compelling “writer” conficts that are relatable.

Now, you can read the plot and movie review here. But I’ll provide strictly Louis Lane-related plot points (and conflicts) below:

Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is an award-winning journalist sent to a military base in Canada to observe the weird craft (ruled out as a submarine) found. There she follows one of the new workers (Clark Kent, played by Henry Cavill) there as he finds the answers to his origins. He gets to save Lois’ life and then disappears, working to improve his abilities.

But when Lois’s boss refuses to publish her story (that doesn’t sound plausible), she leaks the story other channels, and then looks for Clark herself. Up to now, including the story, he’s a mystery man whose identity and background are unknown.

When she finds him (or he lets her find him), and Clark explains her the reason for his hiding the truth, she decides to keep his secret. But then Zod, the killer of Clark’s biological father, sends a threatening message: Either humans give Clark to him, or he destroys them all.

Lois is arrested by the FBI, but she isn’t exactly willing to talk. Clark doesn’t trust Zod, but he agrees to turn himself in for the safety (and freedom) of Lois.

Then Lois and Clark find themselves on the spacecraft of Zod. He tries to persuade Clark to join their plans of recreating Krypton on earth, but Clark doesn’t want anyone to be killed. On the craft, Lois gets to “meet” Clark’s father, and learns some critical strategical information.

From then on, Lois becomes an integral part of the team determined to stop Zod from destroying everything.

The Famous Writer Character: Lois Lane

amy-adams-lois-lane-man-of-steel — Amy Adams as Lois Lane, searching for Clark. Image via flicksandbits.com.

Lois in Man of Steel is the ideal journalist. She goes to whereever her leads (and curiousity) take her, no matter how dangerous things might be. She then writes about her experiences without holding back, and gets frustrated at her boss for not giving her the green-light, even though her story sounds, quite improbable. And when she can’t make herself heard through the publication she works for, she gives her story to a guy who is famous for writing stuff like that- even though this could cost her her job.

But when she learns why Clark has been hiding who he really is, she keeps his secret- even if it eventually leads to her arrest. When Zod asks her to come on board with them, she willingly leaves; and this has nothing to do with the story.

Of course the more Clark and Lois know each other as a person, they more connected they feel. So we have a mutually protective, risk-taking and loyal relationship combined with a lot of attraction.

And as much as things got very complicated and dangerous, all ended well for both characters. But things could have gone really wrong for Lois, had she been a real person and her “subject” not a superhero.

She could have lost her job, the guy she wrote about would probably be less sweet and understanding about her story, and none of them would probably survive such dangerous situations.

But it makes for a fun and appealing story. The romance is delightful because it includes friendship, chemistry, understanding, loyalty and bravery. Lois proves to be more into her story than her career (and her life), which is really admirable (though this would probably send her parents to an early grave.) And she has the courage to step up when the world needs her.

Of course Man of Steel isn’t just for writers. But with all the Loises I have seen on both TV and big screen, Amy Adams’ is the coolest and most likeable. She is also a lot more than a damsel in distress.

How far would you go for your story? For your subject (love)?

And did your stories ever bring you real life romance?