✍️Intro to Screenwriting Unit 3 – Character Development

What's Character Development?

• Process of creating and shaping fictional characters in a screenplay or story
• Involves crafting characters' personalities, motivations, backstories, and growth throughout the narrative
• Requires developing characters' physical attributes, mannerisms, and quirks to make them unique and memorable
  • Physical descriptions help readers visualize the characters (tall, muscular, piercing blue eyes)
  • Mannerisms and quirks add depth and realism (nervous habit of biting nails, distinctive laugh)
• Focuses on characters' internal struggles, desires, and fears that drive their actions and decisions
• Ensures characters are multi-dimensional, with strengths, weaknesses, and complexities
• Aims to create characters that audiences can relate to, empathize with, or find intriguing
• Essential for engaging the audience emotionally and making the story impactful and memorable

Why Characters Matter

• Characters serve as the emotional anchors for the audience, allowing them to connect with the story
• Well-developed characters make the story more engaging, as the audience becomes invested in their journeys
• Compelling characters drive the plot forward through their actions, decisions, and conflicts
• Characters' goals, obstacles, and transformations create the narrative arc and keep the audience interested
• Relatable characters help the audience see themselves in the story, increasing its impact and relevance
  • Audiences can identify with characters' struggles, aspirations, and triumphs
  • Relatable characters make the story more meaningful and thought-provoking
• Characters serve as vehicles for exploring themes, ideas, and human experiences
• Memorable characters can become iconic and leave a lasting impression on the audience (Forrest Gump, Darth Vader)

Building Believable Characters

• Start with a clear understanding of the character's role in the story and their primary goal or motivation
• Develop a detailed backstory that shapes the character's personality, beliefs, and behavior
  • Include key events, relationships, and experiences that have influenced the character
  • Consider the character's upbringing, education, and cultural background
• Create a distinct personality with strengths, weaknesses, quirks, and contradictions
  • Give characters both positive and negative traits to make them more realistic and relatable
  • Use contradictions to add depth and complexity (a tough exterior hiding a sensitive soul)
• Establish the character's wants, needs, and fears that will drive their actions throughout the story
• Ensure the character's actions, decisions, and dialogue are consistent with their established traits and motivations
• Develop the character's relationships with other characters, as these interactions reveal and shape their personality
• Show the character's growth and change over the course of the story, as they face challenges and learn from their experiences
• Avoid stereotypes and clichés, and strive to create unique and authentic characters

Character Arcs and Growth

• Character arc refers to the transformation or inner journey a character undergoes throughout the story
• Arcs involve characters learning, growing, or changing as a result of the events and challenges they face
• Positive arcs show characters overcoming obstacles, learning valuable lessons, and becoming better versions of themselves
  • Example: A selfish character learns the importance of empathy and becomes more compassionate
• Negative arcs depict characters falling into darkness, succumbing to their flaws, or facing tragic consequences
  • Example: A once-honest character is corrupted by power and becomes a ruthless tyrant
• Flat arcs feature characters who remain relatively unchanged but inspire change in others or the world around them
• Character growth should be gradual, believable, and a result of the character's experiences and decisions
• Arcs create a satisfying emotional journey for the audience, as they witness the character's transformation
• Well-crafted character arcs make the story more engaging and meaningful, as the audience becomes invested in the character's personal journey

Dialogue and Voice

• Dialogue is a crucial tool for revealing character, conveying information, and advancing the plot
• Each character should have a distinct voice that reflects their personality, background, and emotional state
  • Use vocabulary, sentence structure, and speech patterns that are consistent with the character
  • Consider the character's age, education level, and cultural background when crafting their dialogue
• Dialogue should sound natural and authentic, as if it were a real conversation
  • Avoid overly formal or expository dialogue that feels unnatural or forced
  • Use contractions, interruptions, and pauses to make the dialogue more realistic
• Subtext, or the underlying meaning beneath the words, can add depth and nuance to the dialogue
  • Characters may say one thing but mean another, revealing their true feelings or intentions
  • Subtext can create tension, irony, or humor in the dialogue
• Dialogue should serve a purpose, such as revealing character, advancing the plot, or establishing relationships
• Avoid using dialogue as a crutch for exposition or info-dumping
• Use dialogue tags sparingly and opt for action beats to convey the character's emotions or reactions
• Ensure each character has a unique voice that is easily distinguishable from others in the story

Relationships and Conflict

• Relationships between characters create opportunities for conflict, growth, and emotional resonance
• Establish the nature of the relationships early on, such as family, friends, rivals, or love interests
• Develop the dynamics between characters, including power imbalances, shared history, and emotional connections
• Use relationships to create conflict, which drives the story forward and forces characters to make difficult choices
  • External conflicts arise from obstacles or antagonists that prevent characters from achieving their goals
  • Internal conflicts stem from characters' personal struggles, doubts, or moral dilemmas
• Relationships can be a source of support, comfort, or motivation for characters
  • Positive relationships can help characters overcome challenges and grow as individuals
  • Negative relationships can hinder characters' progress or lead them astray
• Conflict within relationships can reveal characters' true nature and test their loyalties or values
• Relationships and conflicts should evolve over the course of the story, reflecting the characters' growth and changing circumstances
• Use relationships and conflict to create tension, stakes, and emotional investment for the audience

Showing vs. Telling

• Showing involves revealing characters through their actions, dialogue, and interactions, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions
• Telling is a more direct approach where the writer explicitly states a character's traits, feelings, or motivations
• Showing is generally more effective in character development, as it engages the audience and allows for subtlety and nuance
  • Example of showing: A character nervously fidgets with their wedding ring before lying to their spouse
  • Example of telling: The writer states, "John was nervous about lying to his wife"
• Showing allows the audience to experience the story through the characters' perspectives and form their own opinions
• Telling can be useful in moderation, particularly for conveying information quickly or clarifying complex situations
• Balance showing and telling to maintain a engaging pace while providing necessary information
• Use sensory details, body language, and actions to show characters' emotions and motivations
• Avoid relying too heavily on telling, as it can make the story feel flat and less immersive

Common Character Pitfalls

• Creating one-dimensional or stereotypical characters that lack depth and complexity
  • Avoid relying on clichés or stock characters (the dumb jock, the mean girl)
  • Give characters unique traits, motivations, and backstories to make them more authentic
• Inconsistent character behavior or actions that don't align with their established traits or motivations
  • Ensure characters' decisions and actions are justified and consistent with their personality
  • Avoid having characters act in ways that solely serve the plot but don't make sense for the character
• Lack of character growth or development throughout the story
  • Ensure characters learn, change, or evolve as a result of the events and challenges they face
  • Avoid having characters remain static or unchanged, as this can make the story feel unsatisfying
• Overusing exposition or dialogue to convey character information
  • Show characters' traits and motivations through their actions and interactions, rather than relying on telling
  • Avoid having characters explicitly state their feelings or motivations in a way that feels unnatural
• Failing to establish clear goals, stakes, or conflicts for the characters
  • Give characters clear objectives and obstacles that drive the story forward
  • Ensure the stakes are high enough to create tension and emotional investment for the audience
• Neglecting secondary or supporting characters
  • Develop supporting characters to enhance the main characters' journey and the overall story
  • Avoid treating secondary characters as mere plot devices or one-dimensional figures
• Rushing character development or relying on sudden, unmotivated changes
  • Allow characters to develop gradually and organically over the course of the story
  • Ensure any significant changes in character are properly set up and justified by the events of the story