I linked an article below about the narrative and thematic force behind LOTR - Fellowship of the Ring. Both the content and comments in the article emphasize changes that occur over the course of the film. The Fellowship changes directions with attacks from the antagonist Saruman. After the fall of Gandalf, the team (and audience) heavily questions the journey. However, by the end of the film, this is resolved with hope from Frodo's memory of Gandalf and the team's realization that they must continue to push forward. Even Aragorn accepts his place as king. Frodo accepts Sam at his side.

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Character arcs and theme are top elements to any good story / screenplay / film.

I do watch the occasional drama / comedy. It’s older article, but I only finally watched Don Jon this past week.

I share some of the same ideas about the purpose of film with JGL. Please see the article or below for excerpts. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/joseph-gordon-levitt-don-jon-sxsw_n_2864951.html

On being original but not:
"I tend to think that pretty much every great work of art is a composite of other great things that the artist has seen. I tend to be one that thinks the whole notion of originality is a little bit delusional and a little bit perpetrated by industry because it's at the heart of intellectual property rights. The companies that pay for these things and make money off of these things don't like to acknowledge the fact that your original story is actually the same as the "Odyssey." My whole thing on hitRECord is that we don't put such a premium on originality; it's more about honesty. I think either everything is original or nothing is. If you're honest as a person, every person I believe is unique and original in that way. So, if you're honest, you can tell a story from a heart. This, to me, is a heartfelt story about someone who's stuck in a rut; who's sort of under the influence of a lot of different things: his family, his friends, his church, all the media in the world, the pornography he watches every day. He manages to eventually get out from under that and open his mind a bit. Is that a story that has never been told before? No! It's one of the oldest stories ever: it's a coming of age story. But I hope there's something unique to it."

"I very much do. I think that the movies we watch, the TV shows we watch, the books we read, the songs we listen to, all have a very significant impact on our identities, our beliefs, our culture and our perspective on things. It's interesting because in our culture, nowadays, we tend to think of it as, "Oh, it's just entertainment. It doesn't matter." I don't think that's true at all. Even if a movie was just intending to just be entertainment, it's not."

Whether or not intended, a film portrays a message. What is yours? Does your film have a theme?

The Robot Assassin Nightmare

(Piranha II) was to be produced in Jamaica. On location, production slowed due to numerous problems and adverse weather…Ovidio ordered Cameron to do the close-up the next day before he started on that day’s shooting. Cameron spent the entire day sailing around the resort to reproduce the lighting but still failed to get the close-up. After he was fired, Ovidio invited Cameron to stay on location and assist in the shooting. Once in Rome, Ovidio took over the editing when Cameron was stricken with food poisoning. During his illness, he had a nightmare about an invincible robot hitman sent from the future to kill him, giving him the idea for The Terminator, which later catapulted his film career. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron

 

You never know when you’ll find inspiration. Once you do, stay motivated.