Hey everyone. Welcome back to the screenwriting life. I'm Meg Lofov. And I'm Lori and McKenna. And our listeners

know that character psychology is a really big part of what we talk about on the show. As a writer,

I think of my characters as real people and not just puppets who I create in order to tell my story.

My goal is to be a conduit for them

so that I can tell their story. And for that to happen, I need to really understand, appreciate,

and love my characters as complex, complicated, and human. Yeah, I was drawn to storytelling

because for me, it illuminates what we all go through so that even the person who seems the most unlike us, suddenly through a story becomes us, and we can recognize our shared humanity.

I especially love the transformative journey of films when protagonists must confront a deeply held belief system about the world and themselves, and by doing that, express the human condition,

which is why I know that I, Lorraine and I are just so thrilled to welcome Dr. Dan Siegel

onto the show, whose work complements so much of what we teach on the screenwriting life.

By better understanding why we humans do what we do, we gain insights into our own artistic journey, as well as tools to make our writing more authentic and emotional.

In addition to being an award-winning educator, Dan is the author of five new, Dan is the author of five New York Times bestsellers and over 15 other books which have been translated

into over 40 languages. His work tends to focus on how attachment experiences influence our

emotions, behavior, and autobiographical memory. In short, the stories we tell ourselves. Hi, Dan,

welcome to the show. Thanks, Lauren. Thanks, Meg. Great to be here with you. Thanks for having me.

Thank you so much. I've been a fan of yours for years and years. So it's a real treat for me to meet you in person and get to dig around your brain for a while.

Well, thank you. It's an honor to be here with you. And thanks for all the work you do. And, you know,

bringing stories out into the world is a real important contribution as we face so many

challenges on our planet. So storytelling is the best way I think we can bring change into the world.

I love that. Well, we can't wait to dive in and ask you so we have so many great,

wonderful questions. But first, we are going to do, how was our week or what we like to call

adventures in screenwriting? We'll let Lorian go first. Lorraine, how was your week?

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