What The Fugitive did right! Does Richard Kimball Have a Flaw?

International Screenwriters' Association 10 months ago

Time Stamps:
0:00 - Intro, Overview of The Fugitive
0:42 - Monthly webinars for writers
1:28 - 12 Things to Brainstorm Before Writing a Page
3:03 - Main Character: Does Richard Kimball have a flaw?
5:47 - Response from Max Timm
8:39 - Story Uniqueness & the Goal in The Fugitive
10:05 - Secondary character
11:11 - Does Dep. Sam Girard have a flaw?
12:21 - Does Girard change in The Fugitive
13:20 - The Ticking Clock in The Fugitive
14:26 - The Setup Event & Inciting Incident
15:33 - Second Act recurring moment… the chase!
17:01 - Recap 17:13 - What videos do you want to see from us?
17:55 - Neil Flynn… janitor & CTA cop!

Max's take on 'character flaw'
It’s tricky to explain the “flaw.” When we think of that word, we think of someone that has something wrong with them. That’s not always the case. It can be a trait or personality type.

Kimball is the type that will always be himself to a fault. So much so that he’s trusted the wrong people and therefore unwittingly allowed them to take advantage of him. He is absolutely hellbent on proving his innocence. You could argue that is a flaw - he is unwavering and unwilling to let go. Does he learn a lesson in the end? Yes. He learns to stick to his guns and trust himself as much as he might trust other people. It’s probably the first time he has ever had to be resourceful in this way - where had to completely rely on himself and only himself in this way. Is all of this extremely clear in the story? Not really. It’s assumed.

The concept of a flaw isn’t really for the audience. It’s for the writer to be able to develop a character and find the moments that will occur because of how we’ve developed the character.

So a flaw doesn’t always have to be a bad thing that needs to be corrected. A flaw is really just a one-word way of describing how someone is, who someone is, and help us writers brainstorm moments that show us who this person is. Ultimately it’s a development tool. 

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