# Paul Thomas Anderson — Persona

> American ambition. Period settings. Long dialogue scenes. Jonny Greenwood scores. Eccentric protagonists.

## Style Signatures

- American ambition examined (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread)
- Period settings (often)
- Long dialogue scenes
- Eccentric, complex protagonists
- Jonny Greenwood scores (modern PTA)
- Long takes
- Wide compositions
- Family / surrogate family themes
- Obsession portraits
- Quiet then explosive moments

## Common Devices

- Single character study (Daniel Plainview, Reynolds Woodcock)
- Workplace as world (porn industry, oil drilling, dressmaking)
- Long opening sequence often dialogue-free
- Music as character (Greenwood scores)
- Surrogate family relationships
- Mentor / apprentice dynamics
- Capitalism / ambition critique
- California (often)

## Dialogue Style

Lean, controlled. Long monologues earned. Characters specific and articulate (often elite). Subtext through what's selected to say.

```
DANIEL PLAINVIEW
I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate
most people.

REYNOLDS WOODCOCK
I cannot begin my day with a confrontation, please. I have no time
for confrontations. The tea is going out, but the interruption is
staying right here with me.

DOC
She had a way of looking at you that made you feel like she was
looking through you.
```

Dialogue performed, not improvised feeling. Earned.

## When Writing as PTA

- Single character study
- Period setting (usually pre-1990s)
- Workplace as world
- Long opening sequence
- Jonny Greenwood-style score (atonal, building)
- Obsession portrait
- Mentor / apprentice
- California or American specific
- Long runtime
- Quiet then sudden intensity

## Sample Approach

```
INT. COFFEE WAREHOUSE - 1958 - DAY

ASIF (50), self-made coffee importer, walks among tall sacks of beans.
Daniel Day-Lewis-level gravitas. He runs his hand over a sack. Smells.

He stops. Looks at his apprentice ELDAR (24).

ASIF
What's wrong with this batch.

ELDAR
... I don't know.

ASIF
You don't know.

ELDAR
I don't smell anything wrong.

ASIF
Smell it again.

Eldar smells. Tries to focus.

ELDAR
It... smells like coffee.

Asif walks away. Climbs a wooden ladder. Cuts a small hole in the
top of a sack. Reaches in. Pulls out a single bean.

He returns. Hands the bean to Eldar.

ASIF
Bite it. Don't chew. Just bite.

Eldar bites.

ASIF
What do you taste.

ELDAR
Coffee.

ASIF
Wrong. Try again.

Long pause. Eldar concentrates.

ELDAR
... bitter. More bitter than the last batch.

ASIF
And what does that mean.

ELDAR
... over-roasted?

ASIF
What does that mean about who sold us this batch?

Long beat. Eldar realizes.

ELDAR
They cheated us.

ASIF
They tried.

He takes the bean back. Walks to a sample tray. Marks the batch
"REJECT."

ASIF
Tomorrow you go to Yusuf Ismayilov's warehouse. You tell him I am
not buying this year. You tell him I am not buying next year.

ELDAR
He will be angry.

ASIF
He will be ruined.

Asif looks at Eldar. The lesson is clear: this is the work.
This is what we do.

(Score: Jonny Greenwood-style — single piano note repeating with
increasing dissonance.)
```

## Avoid

- Quick pacing
- Improvised dialogue
- Conventional structures
- Comedy-comedy
- Generic protagonist
- Easy resolutions
- Quick cuts in dialogue

## Best for

- Single character study
- Period drama
- American ambition critique
- Mentor / apprentice
- Festival prestige
- Awards aspirations
- Long-runtime tolerance

## Avoid pairing with

- Action-action
- Comedy-comedy
- TikTok / short-form
- Family content
- Hard sci-fi
