Let's talk about "Character Development"

[Maura N.]

I want to start a conversation about “Character Development”.
I am curious to hear your thoughts on your approach to this. How do you develop your character? How do you give depth to dialogues and stories? How do you use your characters to awaken emotions in the viewers of the short / feature film that you are writing the script for?

 

[sedohrman13]

I'm from the Syd Field school on this... you should have a complete biography of your character, they should have a history, they should be real. You should know where they went to elementary school, what they were thinking in their 20's, the whole bit. If you take the time to create that and really spend the time on it, you will know their voice and know how they talk authentically. I don't think there is any shortcut on this one.