Writing Stories from the Unconscious

More and more, I'm becoming aware of a different approach to screenwriting, one I really like.

Writing through the character's unconscious, you could say.

You define the protagonist's existential problem, and the stages of inner transformation he has to go through to reach a resolution. Then the "external" situations come along and confront the character with what he needs in order to change.

These situations don't really need to be "justified" within the story, the way they must be when the hero is simply pursuing a goal.

Even coincidences and deus ex machina (normally avoided in screenwriting) work just fine, as long as they speak to the character's deep-seated neuroses. As if he had called them up himself, and, out of everything that happens, it was only natural for us to focus on those.

To me, that's why the therapist literally breaks his teeth trying to treat the Roy family in Succession, or why Don Draper finds a father figure in Conrad Hilton in Mad Men.

Sure, every good script should have this side to it. But the best ones seem to use it as a starting point.