Characters

[temerson]

So I'm working on a script right now that has gone through so many evolutions, it's practically sickening. But, in conjunction with producing a television show, I've come to a realization:

Characters exist as nothing more than screen images.

The script I'm working on is very autobiographical (with permission and, surprisingly, enthusiasm from the real-life people portrayed in each character). I've been so busy working on keeping the characters true to life that I forgot one thing: I'm writing for an audience, not my friends and family. My characters, while funny to me and my friends, are way too inside jokey. I've had to broaden them, stereotype them a little more, so that people can relate to them and, in turn, care about them because they "knew people like that. I knew 'that guy' back in the day."

I realized this about myself and my writing when I was trying to produce a television show for a friend of mine who was the writer and director. He was so entranced with the characters, their backstory, and whether they would react or talk in a certain way, that he became too cornered when he tried to write them, and refused to give development execs any ground on which to show him what would work and what would not work. SInce then, I've quit producing the show. It has gone nowhere.

Characters are important. If your audience does not care about them, there's no point in making a movie. But remember, characters are for your audience, not your own personal jokes.

Any thoughts on this?

-T

 

[tenxtone]

I haven't written much, but I've worked some in production and post. Anyway, here's my reply. Write for the purpose that you intend. Is it to sell it and make a specific demographic group laugh? If so, there's your guidelines. Is it to make a home video for you and your friends? Then leave all the inside jokes in there. Chances are, you're trying to sell it, so you gotta make it accessible to the potential audience you're seeking.

Now, at the end of the day, you have a few new obstacles... you can't water something down so much that it's not funny to anyone. Another, is that you may change something so much that you don't creatively feel it anymore. But, writing, as much as an art, it is more of a craft, and I think you can find ways around this. By the way, Stephen King's "On Writing" is one of the best books I've read on writing. I'm a big King fan, so ultimately, extremely biased.

peace

 

[Lazlo]

I don't think you should write anything unless it means something to you. Otherwise whats the point? If there's no audience, then invent an audience with amazing characters. I say characters and not plot because if you have REALLY developed characters and understand everything about them, then their thinking and decisions will drive the plot. If you've ever noticed, the best books, and the best movies are CHARACTER DRIVEN, not plot driven. Going back to the first idea though, I do think you have to have an audience in mind as you write, but that you shouldn't let the audience tell you what to write. You should direct your screenplay (or book or whatever) at the audience YOU want and not let your audience compromise the significance of the story.

I realize that was kind of ambiguous... So here it goes...

There will be people anywhere that like your movie if it has an important point and something meaningful about the whole project (unless your doing sitcom in which case there is little meaningful about it, which isn't to say its bad, but just different). I guess all I'm saying, is have YOUR target audience in mind, but don't wonder whether they'll like it or not... If you have good characters then you'll have a memorable piece that people will like.

 

[MarkG]

I'd say poorly-developed characters (or, worse, unsympathetic and uninteresting characters) are one of the biggest sins of low-budget and amateur movies: certainly creating good characters is the biggest problem that I have with script-writing, I'm trying to sort that one out now before I blow $10k on shooting a feature next summer.

 

[Michael]

Ok, this is the first time I am developing a character. I need your help. Here's a smple of my character. Of course I have to do some polishes in speech and style, it's just a rough version. Her name is Alice. Do you think it's ok so far?

Alice’s biography and environment

Alice was born in New York but grew up in Maryland. When she turned 4 her parents moved to Maryland because her father was offered a job with an acceptable salary. Now he works for a company as a programmer, developing Software for computer games. In New York he wasn’t satisfied with his job. He wrote programs for air conditions. His wife Cindy works at the same boutique like the one she worked in New York for. They sold their house and bought a new one for almost 500000 Dollars in 21742 Washington county in Maryland.

Alice is 5,5 foot high, has blond Hairs and blue eyes, very smart, knows what she wants. For example she has a good memory for names and faces. She is a humble person and demonstrates deep interest in people and her environment and respects persons, who have authority like teachers, physicians and so on. She has a very close relationship to her parents. Her parents are concerned about her, maybe because she is the only child they have. Already in elementary school she turned out to be a good student. And so she continued until she graduated from High School. Sara’s mom Cindy in earlier times, before she was pregnant with Alice, had a miscarriage and suffered a lot under her crisis. Today Alice is twenty years old and studies social science. She is still single and feels unhappy about that, although she is very pretty and has a good character. Besides her study she does babysitting two days a week to get some extra money. Of course she gets enough from her daddy but she really loves kids and wants to collect practical experiences for her study. She takes care of a 6 years old boy, handsome face, his mom, divorced, a very close friend of Alice. Some times she takes him with her for window-shopping at the mall, while his mom is at work.
Alice tends to be ironic in speech, loves to add to certain situations a funny sense, well, that’s the way she is. She loves about her own jokes she is telling and doing. Every morning at breakfast she reads the newspaper and wouldn’t miss any issue.

Michael

 

[timely]

Does Alice have any weaknesses? She seems kind of like "Miss Perfect" to me. Even basically nice people have things about them that aren't so nice. Maybe they are self-focused, or flighty, or introverted, or a worrier, or disorganized. I think Alice would be a better character if she had some faults.

 

[Michael]

Thank you for your comment Timely. Yes I should ad some weaknesses. I forgot about that.

 

[Leichurt]

Characters are really hard to get right, its one of the most challenging things about writing for me. Ill get to caught up on 'what would happen next' without thinking about how the characters ive built up so far would react if they were real, like Lazlo said 'their thinking and decisions will drive the plot'.
Im a short film maker mostly, and building character in a short time can be even more difficult. The most effective way ive found is to have a difinitive situation in the plot, and the characters reaction to which will reveal all that the audience needs to know about them. Trying to build character through dialogue alone is tedious, and far to time consuming for the condensed format. Of course you could just go for obvious stereotypes, but thats boring, and not very satisfying from a writing point of view.
Its often like a writer has to become an actor in order to get the most out of their characters. You have to step into their shoes and react as they would. I read out-load, in the guise of the character im writing, alot of the dialogue i write to see if it sounds right. Actually hearing the things they say can be a great help.

 

[pdisante]

>>Today Alice is twenty years old and studies social science. She is still single and feels unhappy about that, although she is very pretty and has a good character.

I think this is an area to explore more deeply, because it has so much potential to reveal character and motivations. Alice is only twenty, and yet she's unhappy that she's "still single." Twenty is very young to be married, especially today. So did she have this expectation all of her young life--that she would be married, say, by the time she was eighteen? And if so, who put this notion in her head? Her mother? Her dad? Or was this some deadline she imposed on herself? Where did this rigid notion of when she ought to be married (in regard to age) come from--family tradition, which was then reinforced by one or both parents, for example? Or from other outside sources/forces pressuring her?

And now eighteen has come and gone. Is she facing a crisis of expectations unfulfilled? What does she think ought to happen next? What will she do if it doesn't (see questions immediately below)?

Also, if Alice laments that she's still single, does she somehow consciously punish herself? Or is she subconsciously sabotaging herself with each new boyfriend, because deep down she does not really want to be obligated to this "marry young" expectation?

You have tons of character-revealing possibilities here. Of course, they don't have to be the bulk or heart of your story, but they "inform" the character/characterization. Psychology of character is one of your best tools in effective screen storytelling. Great characters, I would argue, are what audiences really love and remember most about their favorite movies.