Is there any particular concept that screenwriters are not completely grasping?
LS: Many less experienced writers don’t deal with subtext, how to express what’s under the surface. Subtext is hard to get at. But it often comes out when the writer starts working out the transformational arc, from knowing what the character’s feeling and what he’s aware of and not aware of. Another way to get at subtext is what I call the invisible dimension. The character doesn’t know the forces pushing them. For most of Tootsie, he [Dorsey] is unaware of why this journey is so important for his life. When he says to his agent, “I want to do some movies of the week so I can help other women like me.” He is saying, “I want to empower other women.” But the subtext is, “I’m being empowered. I’m seeing my life differently.” He is not fully aware of that yet. He finally gets it in the end when he says, “I was a better man with you as a woman than I ever was with a woman as a man. I just have to learn to do it without the dress.” The invisible dimension has become visible. JL: How would y
