Screenwriting 101: Lesson 5
Character Development
Oft times when people think about a story, they think about the plot…or, in other words, what happens during the story. Which makes sense as that’s generally what you’d tell someone if they asked you to summarize the story.
And plot is important (we’ll address plot in a future lesson)…
…but your characters are the true heart of your story.
Interesting and compelling characters (as well as complex relationships between characters) allow your audience to connect with the story and encourage them to stick around to see what those characters get up to next!
The characters are the real reason we watch. This is particularly true in TV where an audience may be spending seasons with a set of characters.
Don’t believe me? Pick your favorite TV show and take a couple hours to peruse some fan forums and read some fanfiction. You’ll find that the characters and their relationships are some of the most common themes among viewers.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist and the antagonist are the main characters of your story. According to Merriam Webster, at their most basic:
The protagonist is “the leading actor or principal character in a television show, movie, book, etc.”
The antagonist is “one that contends with or opposes another.”
Your protagonist is the central character in your story. They are usually the individual that either changes the most, makes the biggest decision, or causes the greatest impact in the world around them. In addition, your protagonist should be active. They should be causing things to happen which impact the storyline.
Most stories have one central protagonist…with the rest of the characters serving to either support the protagonist or work against them. However, some stories call for multiple protagonists. (And some may even be an ensemble—where all the characters share the story equally! This arrangement is often common in TV.)
Your antagonist is the force which works against your protagonist…hindering your protagonist’s ability to reach their goals. Often this is an actual character which the protagonist must fight against—if your protagonist is the ‘hero’…your antagonist is the ‘villain.’
But the antagonist does not have to be a specific character. Your protagonist may find themselves opposed by nature, technology, society, fate, the unknown, or even themselves.
Secondary Characters
Secondary characters are all the other characters surrounding your protagonist and antagonist (if your antagonist is a character) that contribute to the story. In general, secondary characters either support or inhibit your main characters. But…this doesn’t mean they’re any less important. Just as with your main character, secondary characters should be well developed and active.
Background Characters
Background characters mainly serve to fulfill a function in your story. They can be literally a part of the background (e.g. a crowd at a basketball game) or they may interact with your main or secondary characters (e.g. a cashier at a gas station). But, in general, they do not directly impact the story.
Character Development
Character development is the process of creating a complex, multidimensional character that encourages your audience to connect with the story in order to maximize its impact. Each writer has their own methods which work best for them. Figuring out what works best for you will likely take some trial and error (and may change from project to project).
Universal Characteristics
While every writer has their own method of fleshing out their characters, most writers agree on at least two universal characteristics of successful characters: agency and change.
A character has agency when they are actively making decisions which impact the story. In contrast, a passive character simply exists and reacts as the story happens to them. Active characters are much more interesting and compelling than passive ones.
However, this doesn’t mean that passive characters can’t exist. If your story calls for a passive character, make them active in pursuing that passivity. Force them to make choices and work hard at staying disengaged from the story.
It can sometimes be hard for writers (of all experience levels!) to craft characters with sufficient agency. One reason may be the way we view our own lives—as a series of events happening to us. This is particularly evident in stories which are based on the writer’s own life. But, deep down, we all want to be the person who is out there doing something…making a difference…creating an impact.
The change a character goes through over the course of your story is referred to as their character arc. This can be a literal physical change or an internal one (e.g. change in beliefs, emotional change, etc.)…and the change may be for the better or for the worse.
Occasionally, a character does not change over the course of the story. Instead they change the world around them!
In the end, one of the most important things to remember about change is that…change is hard! Which is why it’s important that your character faces significant challenges in your story. These challenges are what drive the change within (or around) your character
Want and Need
Many writers like to start defining a character through their want and need.
A character’s want is their main external goal. A character’s need is an internal change which impacts them positively or helps them grow as a person.
Let’s look at some examples:
A basketball player wants to win the game…but what they need is to learn to work in harmony with their teammates.
A detective wants to solve a crime…but what she needs is to confront her own family’s shadowy past.
A man wants to find a girlfriend…but what he needs is to learn to grow up and take responsibility for his own life.
Depending on the type of story you’re telling, the character may succeed in obtaining both their want and need, just their need, just their want, or neither. Obtaining both or just their need are usually considered happy endings…whereas obtaining just their want or neither are usually considered sad endings.
Character Poles
Another way to help start defining a character is by looking at their character arc. Or how will the character change over the course of the story?
It can be useful to map out each end of this arc—the character poles. What flaw does your character start with? And how will the flaw transform into a strength which the character will either embrace or reject at the end of the story?
Archetype—Conflict—Secret
Just like real people, characters need to be complex and layered. This is often referred to as character depth. One way to add depth to your characters is through archetype, conflict, and secret.
To better understand this concept, let’s use it on ourselves first. Define yourself using a standard archetype. Are you a learned academic? A loyal companion? An overscheduled stay-at-home mom? A star associate climbing the corporate ladder? Next, list something about yourself that conflicts with that initial archetype, but is also true. Are you a learned academic with a obsession for reality TV? Or a loyal companion who’s actually an introvert? An overscheduled stay-at-home mom whose kids have just moved away to college? A star associate climbing the corporate ladder who desperately wants to switch careers? Finally, think of a secret that you wouldn’t voluntarily tell anyone. This can be a big, life-shattering secret…or something small that you would simply prefer to keep to yourself.
You can do the same thing for your characters. Define an initial archetype for your character (if you’re stuck thinking up archetypes, TV Tropes can be a great resource to spark your imagination). Then establish something that is also true for that character, but conflicts with their base archetype. And then give your character a secret (big or small) that they’re trying to hide.
Conflicting Roles
Another way to add dimension to a character is to place them into conflicting roles.
Again, we’ll practice on ourselves first. Make a list of all the different roles you play in life. Are you a mother/father? A daughter/son? A wife/husband? A nurse/librarian/teacher/accountant/IT specialist/hairdresser/stay at home parent/etc.? A volleyball player/basketball fan/equestrian/bird watcher/nature lover/yoga enthusiast/motorcycle tourist/etc.? You’re certainly a writer. Now that you have this list, consider how these roles may come in conflict with one another. If you’re a mother and an accountant…how does a snow day at school affect your ability to do your job? If you’re a basketball fan and a son…what happens when your mother needs you to help her move into a new apartment at the exact same time as the most important game in the season? If you work full time, how hard is it for you to find time to write?
Your character should also have a variety of roles that they play in life. Crafting these roles so that they often clash not only adds depth to your character, but also provides great sources of conflict in your story.
Character Sheets
Some writers like to fill out character sheets to help them organize their thoughts about a particular character. Character sheets often include important information such as your character’s goals/wants/desires, how they respond to challenges, secrets they want to keep, proudest moment in their life, what their childhood was like, etc. alongside more basic information such as their relationship to other characters, favorite color, food they hate, type of clothing they prefer, etc. If you’re filling out a character sheet, keep in mind that you don’t have to include all this information in your story! At their root, character sheets are a technique for you as the writer to round out the character in your own mind.
Least Appropriate Character to Deal With a Situation
Audiences love an underdog. When you’re designing a character, it’s worth considering who might be the absolute worst person in the world to deal with the situation at hand. Picking the least likely individual to drop into your story not only generates natural conflict, it helps your audience connect with the character.
Consider some examples:
Chief Brody in Jaws must go out to hunt a shark despite his fear of water.
The Lord of the Rings leaves the destruction of the One Ring to a small, peaceful Hobbit.
In Ted Lasso an American football coach is hired to lead a soccer team despite his inexperience with the sport.
Basing a Character on Someone You Know
Another useful shorthand in crafting characters is basing a character on someone you know. This can be someone you personally know or it can be someone you have knowledge of, such as a great actor for the role. Basing a character off an actual person doesn’t mean that you just steal all their life details. Instead, it means that you can pick and choose small parts of the person’s personality, mannerisms, way of speaking, likes/dislikes, etc. and utilize these in creating a new character.
Writing Characters That are Different Than You
Eventually you’re going to need to write a character who is different than you are. Be that a different ethnicity, a different gender identity, a different sexual orientation, a different income bracket, etc.
So how do you portray a character that has a different lived experience than you do with authenticity? The easiest answer is that you ask! The internet is an incredible source of information and allows you to directly connect with a wide variety of people from all over the world.
It’s also important to consider how much this unique identity impacts the story when considering your ability to tell it. A story about a detective who just happens to be transgender takes a different level of understanding and finesse than, say, a story about a transman dealing with the challenges of transitioning…who just happens to be a detective.
Approaching Women Characters
As some (though not all!) screenwriters who are men find writing female characters particularly challenging, a few more notes on characters who are women:
Introductions: Your female characters likely have much more interesting things about them than their attractiveness (or lack thereof). Avoid using this as the basis for their character introductions. Check out this article which highlights some of the issues with how women characters are often introduced in screenplays.
Bechdel Test: Women’s lives do not solely revolve around men, but they are often portrayed this way in movies and TV. The Bechdel Test simply asks if there are two women characters in the script…do they speak to one another…and do they have at least one conversation that isn’t about a man?
Sphinx Test: The Sphinx Theatre Company expanded on the Bechdel Test with a particular eye to theatre…but it’s equally applicable to screenwriting as well. This series of questions asks whether the script features a woman character, does she interact with other women, does she drive the action, is she active (vs. reactive), does she avoid stereotype, is she compelling and complex, and is the story essential and impactful for a wide audience?
Fun! Memorable!
On top of everything else, it’s important to remember that characters should be fun and memorable! One of the main points of TV and movies is entertainment after all! A character’s antics and attributes should be memorable. They should be fun for the audience to watch…and equally fun for an actor to play.
Recommended reading/viewing:
The Screenwriting Life Podcast, Ep. 72: Three-Dimensional Character Toolbox by Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna (free)
The Screenwriting Life Podcast, Ep. 78: Character Poles—A simple but powerful way to shape your characters by Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna (free)
The Screenwriting Life Podcast, Ep. 46: Writing Great TV Characters by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Meg LeFauve, and Lorien McKenna (free)
Protagonist Examples by Jonathan Scott (free)
Can there be two protagonists in your story? by Abigail Perry (free)
The Vital Secondary Character and Their Importance in Screenwriting by Industrial Scripts (free)
Main Characters: Fervent, Urgent, Flawed by Lauren Gunderson (free)
Character as Contrast, Compliment, Battle by Lauren Gunderson (free)
What is an operational theme and why don’t I have one? by Javier Grillo-Marxuach (free)
Do Your Characters Have Agency? by Becky Puglisi (free)
What is a Character Arc in Screenwriting? by Jason Hellerman (free)
The Starting Line: Understanding Character Want and Need by Shannon K. Valenzuela (free)
Wants and Needs and What that Means by Elizabeth Weidner (free)
A Foolproof Character Cheat Sheet by Pamela Koehne-Drube (free)
The Sphinx Test from the Sphinx Theatre Company (free)
How to Create a Protagonist Who is Very Different From You by Michael Mazza (free)
Writing Outside Your Identities Part 1 and Part 2 by Crystal Shelley (free)
The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier (Book I: Ten keys to creating captivating characters)
The Dramatist’s Toolkit by Jeffrey Sweet (Chapter 5: About characters)
Assignments:
Read 1 full length TV or movie script (from Script Slug or the BBC Script Library)
Identify the protagonist and antagonist in the script you’re reading this lesson.
How would you describe them? (both their personality and their physical appearance)
If your script does not have a specific character as an antagonist, identify what opposing force your protagonist is facing.
What does each of them want? Why do they want it? Do they get their want in the end?
What does each of them actually need? Do they get what they need in the end?
What different roles do they play in life and how are these roles in conflict in the script?
What secrets are your protagonist and antagonist keeping?
In what way(s) could the protagonist be considered the absolute worst choice of people to deal with the challenges they face in the script?
How do the protagonist and antagonist change over the course of the script?
Who ends up ‘winning’ in the script? Why?
Identify your favorite secondary character in the script you’re reading this lesson. Why were you drawn to this particular character?
Write your own short script (no more than 10 pages) in which two different roles of a single character are in conflict with each other
Write your own short script (no more than 10 pages) in which a very bland character and a very zany character must interact