You may have never seen a movie by Alfred Hitchcock, but most of us will know that he had a fantastic ability to scare us in his movies.
Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director and producer, widely regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Known as “the Master of Suspense”, he directed over 50 feature films in a career spanning six decades, becoming as well-known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo roles in most of his films.
We may not be like Alfred and we may not have the ability to write stories like he was able to. However we all are walking stories ourselves. We only have to be good at telling our own story.
Recently I attended a business event, where there were 3 keynote speakers and then those speakers were joined by another 2 business people to form a panel, which allowed us to ask questions of them.
I noticed that during the keynotes the speakers were very formal, business orientated and quite frankly boring.
But during the panel Q&A session they seemed more relaxed, were more authentic and actually often very vulnerable. They appeared more human, more real and not so fake.
Sorry, yes, their keynotes were fake and in fact most keynotes are fake. When you’re invited to do a keynote, you immediately feel that you have to impress the audience, share something so great about yourself so that the audience ‘buys’ you.
Actually being more human, authentic and vulnerable means the audience buys you instantly. Sure add some suspense like Alfred did, make them suffer a little, but do it in a way that’s real.
Happy screenwriting!