Every success of one child is viewed as a personal failure or a slight to another. 5. Dialogue Strategy: "Subtext as a Weapon" In family drama, people rarely say what they mean.

The best family dramas refuse a hero and a villain. The mother who manipulates might also be the only one who pays for the grandmother's nursing home. The deadbeat brother might be the only one who shows up to the hospital. If you can make the audience hate a character one minute and weep for them the next, you have mastered the complex family relationship.

Two adult children from different sides realize they are exactly alike, leading to a strange rivalry where they compete to be the "favorite" of the parent to spite their own. The Catalyst: