‘The Great Scene That Never Happened’ – A Screenwriter’s Techniques of Blending Fact and Fiction in Creating a Compelling Character Arc in Biopics

Abstract

The biopic as a genre treads a thin line between fact and fiction. Using the theory and methods of visual storytelling and screenwriting, I will lay open the thought process and the tools of the craft that are employed to create a character arc using historical facts and figures for a movie that will resonate with a modern audience. I will also show how I tried to incorporate the producers’ expectations regarding the subject matter. I illustrate my process and techniques using my most recent screenplay Ushba, which narrates the unsuccessful climb of the eponymous Georgian mountain by a group of Austrian mountaineers, among them a young woman called Cenzi von Ficker.