We love frameworks around here, and Steven Rogers provided us with a great one with I, Tonya when it comes to character introduction. In this story, the main characters are introduced with the use of real interviews that were conducted with Tonya Harding, her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, her mother Lavona Harding, her trainer Diane Rawinson, her bodyguard Shawn Eckardt, and a journalist Martin Maddox.
For a story based on real events, it seems like a compelling way to present the characters succinctly and clearly. Even for a completely fictionalized story, it’s an interesting model to emulate. Within three pages we get a good sense of who these people are and their roles in the story we are about to discover.
The Character Introduction Scenes
INT. TONYA HARDING’S HOME – KITCHEN – DAY
Title card: Tonya Harding. Former Olympic Figure Skater.
Present day TONYA HARDING, 44, overweight with the same haircut she had in 1994, glares warily into the camera.
INT. NANCY’S TANNING AND HAIR SALON – DAY
Title card: Jeff Gillooly. Tonya Harding’s ex-husband.
JEFF (GILLOOLY) STONE, middle aged, nondescript, glances suspiciously at a boom over his head.
JEFF
That’s very close, by the way… Just saying.
INT. LAVONA HARDING HOME – LIVING ROOM – DAY
Title card: Lavona Harding. Tonya Harding’s mother.
LAVONA (HARDING) GOLDEN, 70’s, wears a moulting half fur coat and A LIVE BIRD on her shoulder. She talks to her bird.
LAVONA
This is my little man. You my little man? (Then to camera) That’s my 6th husband right there. The best of them!
HOME MOVIES – HARDING FRONT LAWN – DAY 40 YEARS EARLIER
Grainy home movie film. Lavona’s husband Al Harding plays with 3 year old Tonya. Lavona is disinterested.
LAVONA (V.O.)
Tonya’s my 5th child from husband number 4. She was always a handful but I loved her and I guess we spoiled her. Which is a goddamned hat trick when you haven’t got shit your entire life. Still. I drove her to competitions and practices. I sewed her all her costumes.
CLOSE ON MODERN DAY LAVONA.
LAVONA
But to her, her mother’s a monster.
INT. RAWLINSON’S HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – DAY
Title card: Diane Rawlinson. Tonya Harding’s coach
DIANE RAWINSON, late 60’s, sits in her well appointed living room with a studied grace. She’d fit in any Ralph Lauren ad.
DIANE
Generally people either love Tonya or are not big fans. Like people either love America or are not big fans. Tonya was totally American.
INT. TELEVISION SCREEN – DAY
Title card: Shawn Eckardt. Tonya Harding’s ex-bodyguard.
On a TV screen marked ‘Evidence’ a late 1990’s interview with SHAWN ECKARDT, obese and delusional. Not a good combination.
SHAWN (V.O.)
Originally Jeff and Tonya wanted to take out Nancy Kerrigan. Take her out. I popped up and said there’s other ways to disable people. So. You’re welcome.
INT. MARTIN MADDOX’S NEWSROOM OFFICE – DAY
Title card – Martin Maddox. Hard Copy Reporter 1989-1998.
MARTIN MADDOX, oily personified, relishes being on camera.
MARTIN MADDOX
I was a reporter for Hard Copy, a crappy show all the ‘legitimate’ news outlets looked down on- then became.
He laughs at his own joke.
INT. NAIL SALON – DAY – CLOSE ON MODERN DAY JEFF
JEFF
At 27 I was the most hated man in America. Maybe the world- with a moustache I still can’t apologize enough for. My name was a verb. Like, if you bash someone in the kneecap, you ‘Gillooly’ them… That was cool though.
INT. TONYA’S HOUSE – DAY – CLOSE ON: MODERN DAY TONYA
TONYA
What’s people’s impression of me? That I’m a real person. That I didn’ ever apologize for growin’ up poor or bein’ a red neck which is what I am. In a sport where the friggin’ judges want you to be this old-timey version of what a woman’s supposed to be. Um. For bein’ the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel. So fuck ‘em.
The Deconstruction
I believe we can separate these scenes into four major sections.
The Introduction of the Main Characters
In this first section, Tonya Harding, Jeff Gillooly, and Lavona Harding are introduced. Three scenes in the present day, three title cards to reveal the main characters to the viewers, plus their descriptions filled with the specific tone we will find throughout the story, and a piece of dialogue for two of our characters.
INT. TONYA HARDING’S HOME – KITCHEN – DAY
Title card: Tonya Harding. Former Olympic Figure Skater.
Present day TONYA HARDING, 44, overweight with the same haircut she had in 1994, glares warily into the camera.
INT. NANCY’S TANNING AND HAIR SALON – DAY
Title card: Jeff Gillooly. Tonya Harding’s ex-husband.
JEFF (GILLOOLY) STONE, middle aged, nondescript, glances suspiciously at a boom over his head.
JEFF
That’s very close, by the way… Just saying.
INT. LAVONA HARDING HOME – LIVING ROOM – DAY
Title card: Lavona Harding. Tonya Harding’s mother.
LAVONA (HARDING) GOLDEN, 70’s, wears a moulting half fur coat and A LIVE BIRD on her shoulder. She talks to her bird.
LAVONA
This is my little man. You my little man? (Then to camera) That’s my 6th husband right there. The best of them!
The Introduction of an Important Relationship
The relationship between Tonya and her mother is a major piece of the story. It makes sense then that the next section alludes to this strained relationship.
HOME MOVIES – HARDING FRONT LAWN – DAY 40 YEARS EARLIER
Grainy home movie film. Lavona’s husband Al Harding plays with 3 year old Tonya. Lavona is disinterested.
LAVONA (V.O.)
Tonya’s my 5th child from husband number 4. She was always a handful but I loved her and I guess we spoiled her. Which is a goddamned hat trick when you haven’t got shit your entire life. Still. I drove her to competitions and practices. I sewed her all her costumes.
CLOSE ON MODERN DAY LAVONA.
LAVONA
But to her, her mother’s a monster.
I love how Lavona shows herself to be completely disinterested and then proceeds to rant on how much she did for her daughter. Talk about fully encapsulating her personality with an unembellished image and an absolutely incompatible piece of dialogue.
The Introduction of Secondary Characters
At this point, we know who our main characters are and the kind of relationship our protagonist has with her mother. Now it’s time to introduce the secondary characters who play an important role in the story. We find the same structure as we did in the first section.
INT. RAWLINSON’S HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – DAY
Title card: Diane Rawlinson. Tonya Harding’s coach
DIANE RAWINSON, late 60’s, sits in her well appointed living room with a studied grace. She’d fit in any Ralph Lauren ad.
DIANE
Generally people either love Tonya or are not big fans. Like people either love America or are not big fans. Tonya was totally American.
INT. TELEVISION SCREEN – DAY
Title card: Shawn Eckardt. Tonya Harding’s ex-bodyguard.
On a TV screen marked ‘Evidence’ a late 1990’s interview with SHAWN ECKARDT, obese and delusional. Not a good combination.
SHAWN (V.O.)
Originally Jeff and Tonya wanted to take out Nancy Kerrigan. Take her out. I popped up and said there’s other ways to disable people. So. You’re welcome.
INT. MARTIN MADDOX’S NEWSROOM OFFICE – DAY
Title card – Martin Maddox. Hard Copy Reporter 1989-1998.
MARTIN MADDOX, oily personified, relishes being on camera.
MARTIN MADDOX
I was a reporter for Hard Copy, a crappy show all the ‘legitimate’ news outlets looked down on- then became.
He laughs at his own joke.
A notable element worth mentioning in this section is Shawn bringing up the incident with Nancy Kerrigan. With one piece of dialogue, the writer masterfully briefs us on the remarkable event the story delves into.
An External View into our Characters
The fourth and final section is about what Tonya and Jeff think is people’s impression of them after all is said and done. It provides us with an additional sense of their character and how they view the infamous event and themselves.
INT. NAIL SALON – DAY – CLOSE ON MODERN DAY JEFF
JEFF
At 27 I was the most hated man in America. Maybe the world- with a moustache I still can’t apologize enough for. My name was a verb. Like, if you bash someone in the kneecap, you ‘Gillooly’ them… That was cool though.
INT. TONYA’S HOUSE – DAY – CLOSE ON: MODERN DAY TONYA
TONYA
What’s people’s impression of me? That I’m a real person. That I didn’ ever apologize for growin’ up poor or bein’ a red neck which is what I am. In a sport where the friggin’ judges want you to be this old-timey version of what a woman’s supposed to be. Um. For bein’ the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel. So fuck ‘em.
Conclusion
This is one of my favorite character introductions. It’s simple and yet delivers on so many levels. Definitely one to keep in our toolbox.