Gloucestershire Director and co-Constellations frontman Richard Tierney chats with his colleague Mark McKergow about how the Constellation Script development can affect a script. |
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Richard Tierney: Let's start with the headline; how does a Script Constellation benefit the production?
Mark McKergow: Script Constellations explore the dynamics of a story. It allows the screen writer to gain a first hand experience of their creation which can't be done in any other way. It's a way of putting it out there and exploring the subtlety, and range of nuance in a story. The writer or producer gets to play with it and open up loads of possibilities which show why some of the things they were trying to do didn't work, alternative paths to pursue and additional ideas to work with.
RT: Are you able to predict the outcome of a Script Constellation session?
MM: No. When you start to use this kind of analysis on a piece of writing you quickly become aware of the interconnected nature of the work. Alone in your writer's garret it can seem easy to alter one thing about one character in one scene. In a Script Constellation the interaction of each character can be seen at a distance. Change in one impact all the other characters. The result is more rounded characters, and a story which contains a greater "inner truth". And now that I think about it, this is one of the many benefits writers have reported in Script Constellation work; the ability to get your story out of your head and manifested in a physical space.
RT: And what is your role in this?
MM: I'm a trained Constellator, so I'm the only one in the room who needs to know the process, everyone else can just turn up and "be". I host and run the process, ensuring that the ‘client' for the session gets answers to the questions they bring about the script.
RT: So can you try to do what I have failed to do, and describe what exactly happens in a Script Constellation?
MM: The client (as we call them) is usually the writer or sometimes the producer. Their desire is to explore the dynamics of the story in some way, and the sessions usually start with a specific statement or question that the client wishes to explore. Then they choose, from the participants, representatives for each of the main characters in the story. With the help of the Constellator the client will then carefully position the representatives in the space (usually a big room or rehearsal space) to reflect the story at a certain point. As a footnote, the representatives do not have to be or act the characters, so remind me to come back to that later.
RT: So what does the writer - or client - do then?
MM: At that point their physical involvement is simply to sit and observe, usually they start writing. Writing a lot.
RT: So is this the point that you, as the Constellator proceed with the constellation?
MM: Yes - I then start by interrogating each representative about their experience of the Script Constellation. The representatives know nothing of the story, except possibly a two line description of the overall arc, and a similarly brief description of their character, but in my experience it is uncanny how feelings emerge. Quite clear, quite relevant feelings. This is often the first time the writer has heard his characters speak with their own voice and the results are often surprising, both in the knowledge they seem to have - knowledge they were not told in the short description - and the insights which come as a surprise to the writer. The representatives need no training to perform this role, and yet they become an incredibly rich resource on which the writer can draw. It is extraordinary how much detail emerges which is in line with the writer's thinking, and how this insight alone can expose possible outcomes, and reveal possible problems with the story.
RT: So that describes the story at a certain point, can you then explore other points in the story's time line?
MM: Better than that, you can move freely through the story, and back story, to find points of conflict, you can constellate the end of the story and then work backwards to the opening scene, you can allow the characters to move the story forward themselves and explore any number of "what if" questions. At each point in each scenario I would - as Constellator - find out how each character's representative is feeling about where they are, where they've been, and where they want to go.
RT: You said it's not just characters that can be constellated.
MM: Yes, thank you, it's possible for me to constellate almost any aspect of the story. For example we often take the protagonist and constellate their attributes, it's also interesting to constellate the writer and their own relationship to the story, or we can constellate the challenges the characters might face. We can even constellate the production of a film or play - to help the process along. In the past we have had constellation representatives for "the future" or "Spain" or "global warming" it's quite interesting as a writer's tool to be able to ask questions of inanimate objects or abstract constructs, and see how the characters react to them. The results are always interesting and useful in preparing next drafts.
RT: So what do writers leave a constellation session with?
MM: That's a more difficult question to answer specifically. The writer is the creator of the universe of the screenplay, so he or she comes loaded with all the intellectual knowledge that this creation deserves. The representatives come with none of that, and the interesting part of a constellation is the meeting of those two; the knowledge and the innate feeling of the representative. The writer comes away with some of the thinking confirmed, and some of the representatives take things in a totally new direction. So it's a very personal experience with a very personal outcome.
RT: How long does a session take?
MM: Again it varies, but on average we would spend a couple of hours on each screenplay. No more than half a day - which could include several different constellations of different aspects of the story. At the end of that time the writer has reams of notes, all of which need to be digested carefully. I would suggest that if more than half a days' work were required then another half day several weeks later would be the way to move things on.
RT: Where did Script Constellations come from? Who thought it up?
MM: Constellations have been used as a family therapy mostly in the German speaking world in the 70's and 80's. The main proponent is Bert Hellinger, and there are other strands of the discipline. The work draws on the psycho-drama therapies of Jacob Moreno and others. I follow the work of two other Constellation pioneers: Matthias Varga and Insa Sparrer. When Constellations are used in therapy the object is to achieve resolution. Hopefully at the end of a therapy session each of the participants have come to some resolution and place of peace. When we run Script Constellation sessions it's a different endeavor and we are often doing exactly the opposite; encouraging discord and conflict in order to create interesting scenarios. The Script Constellation is there to clarify which conflicts we are dealing with. The story decides how and if to resolve them.
RT: What training do the participants need to participate in a Script Constellation Workshop?
MM: There is only a need for one trained person in the room: The Constellator (and I'm one) everyone else simply needs to be present in every sense of that word. The surprising thing about constellation work is how we all seem to know innately how to do join in as representatives. I have never had a participant or representative who could not do the job they were chosen to perform. Once a person has participated in a constellation workshop they discover this innate ability and often start noticing it in other areas of their lives, but even if they choose not to the work remains as vibrant and exciting each time it is done.