CHARACTER | Stephen Jay Schwartz

CHARACTER - Blog - Murderati

Excerpts:

It all begins with character. If the character is fundamentally real, and if he accepts the world in which he lives as real, and if he reacts to the sometimes odd or bizarre world around him as a real person would, then we will believe the story as the story unfolds.

A plot idea might morph into a character idea, which might suggest a setting, which makes me think of what might happen in this setting, which makes me think about what kind of person would do such a terrible thing in this setting, which brings me back to character.  It always, always, always comes back to character.


Just because a movie is BIG doesn't mean it can't have unique, well-developed characters.  We can all think of five or ten big-budget types that titillate us with action and also bring us to tears with character pathos.


When I spent my years doing development in the film business I rarely read convincingly believable characters.  Most screenplays were plot-driven and the screenwriters who had the plot "chops" usually got more work than the "character" writers.  But often, after the testosterone drafts made their rounds, a "character" writer would be brought in to do a "polish," with the intention of making the characters more believable.


Tackling character problems that late in the game doesn't work, unless the writer goes back to the drawing board to tackle plot and action, too.  You can't simply adjust knobs on a character in hopes of creating new hues and tones.  The characters need to move around in the plot, make decisions for themselves, change the plot if they have to. 

Film producers, for various reasons, want to "lock down" the screenplay.  They'll say "the script is 85% there, we just need you to do a dialogue polish and make the characters come alive."  To me, that's a page-one rewrite.


So, like Freud, we look inward, to our own psychologies.  We can also look at mythic archetypes—certain types of characters who appear over and over again in our folktales, mythologies, biblical stories and nursery rhymes.  Alexandra has written some the definitive blogs here regarding archetypes.  We also learn about character from reading other authors to see how they handle character.  Find your mentors.


Another way to develop great, believable characters is to observe the people who enter your sphere.  Like a good Method actor, look for the little facial tics and the speech impediments and keep those ears open for the little wisdoms that might come your way.

For more:
CHARACTER - Blog - Murderati