working with a character that is intelectually bright but outside of that she's as dumb as they come (i.e.. you could insult her and she wouldn't know it, socially inept) at the moment i've got it written so that she purely comes across as dumb but as time goes by you pick up on hints that she's actually very smart. Do you think that would work?
Screenwriting : Working with a character that… by Sarah Walker
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make sure she's successful in her work life. it would make more sense. hope it helps.
Thanks!
extremely intelligent people typical are dumb when it comes to common sense and that could make for a very funny and entertaining show/film.
Just a thought and I don't know if this is useful or not... I've worked as a legal editor in a major publishing company and certainly some of my colleagues were an incredibly talented legal writers etc but socially they were incredibly inept: One had a desk that resembled a public dump with a pc on it, the other had o.c.d (functioning but both relied very much on having a set structure to their day (eg you could time them to the minute on their entry to work, lunch etc)). They both may have had some low-level autism or aspergers but generally people with the intellect but social ineptitude have some form of issue like this. Essentially for them the world is a difficult place to function in and it's about 'creating a safe place'. Don't know if this is something to consider?
Very good points, I think that could help her a whole lot!
Thanks! that was very useful.
No problem at all Sarah - glad that I wasn't simply rambling. Peter
I knew a guy from India who had a P.H.D. in physics. He used to hang with us to meet girls. His social ineptitude was at times embarrassing but more often humorous, much like SNL's "wild and crazy guys". We all knew why he was socially challenged; he was from India! WHY your character is an idiot savant would have a great bearing on how an audience feels about her. "Rainman" was born that way, but there could be any number of causes for such a condition. An intriguing concept. This could be a great premise for humor as well as drama.
An ex of mine in college was straight A's but outside of an academic environment, she would walk into walls. Very sweet woman and intellectually great at debates, but real life seemed to confuse her. So, it sounds pretty real to me.