That’s fine. You also totally lost me with your comments on “because we are not dealing with real people”….(Maybe that’s because I try to listen to my characters and feel them like they are real or maybe that’s because I am primarily a novel writer and not a screenplay writer) As about the girl, it was an example made up in 2 seconds and maybe not the best one, but, well, I would put it in a screenplay with some similiar situation where she went to do something that endangers her health and life (meaning something physiological) because her soul/psyche needed it. That’s what I meant. And you also totally lost me with that last comment, I don’t even understand what you mean. (Irrational crazy behavior on any level? Well, ofcourse you could, but that was not my point)
Maybe we don’t get each other, or maybe I’m taking what you said too literally and you are taking what I said too literally…I’m just trying to figure out to which degree one should plan a character and to which degree it should emerge from your subconsciousness naturally…

Some other good questions for the character:

What do you do?
Who are you?

For some characters, they will give the same answer to each question. They “are” what the “do.” Usually someone married to his job.

Other characters will have quite different answers for each. These would be considered self-actualized characters or characters with a sense of self.

Also ask:

What is your goal for this movie?

and

What is your goal for this scene?

I know that’s getting into some heavy meta-type questioning, but let the characters get personal with your story.

Anyhow, thanks for the uber-fantastico posts on character.

First of all, I’ll take your word for it… i.e., “in real life it doesn’t always really function in that way.” If you notice in my post, I leave this debate to the experts… LOL.

I’m a screenwriter. As a screenwriter, I can tell you that to have my characters act in a very similar manner is just fine and to be honest… I don’t want to go too much deeper than that BECAUSE we are not dealing with real people… We are not dealing with real characters…

We’re dealing with characters WE’VE CREATED. Having done so, we can MAKE them do anything we want but to simply make it a little easier to understand and maybe just a bit more logical, I think Maslow’s Hierarchy fits the bill quite nicely.

You COMPLETELY lost me with this statement, “Or your character is girl who was just left by her boyfriend and she desperately needs something to make her whole again, so although she worked all day and hadn’t eaten anything, she goes and makes a tatoo. Although it is forbidden to make one if you haven’t had something to eat. Because she needs that more than food in that moment.”

I think you’re taking the pyramid WAY too literally… LOL. If she’s alive and in no particular situation where she would actually need to worry about anything physiological, then who gives a shit?

Why would it be forbidden if you haven’t had something to eat? Would you really put this in a screenplay?

Bottom line…

I offered it up as a simple starting point. Most characters screenwriters come up with are NOT going to start their characters out at the bottom. Additionally, I think you’re incorrect about complex, unpredictable, irrational, crazy behavior… I could EASILY come up with these kinds of behavior within ANY of the levels.

It is that simple.

Unk

For example, your character is scholar philosopher. For him, self-actualization is a priority, before love. Or your character is a Nobel prize winner, who after winning the Nobel prize discovers that now that he has his self-actualization need fulfilled, what he needs is love. Or your character is girl who was just left by her boyfriend and she desperately needs something to make her whole again, so although she worked all day and hadn’t eaten anything, she goes and makes a tatoo. Although it is forbidden to make one if you haven’t had something to eat. Because she needs that more than food in that moment.

So my point is that it’s not all that simple. Human beings are far too complex than Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and I guess the best moments of characters in movies and books are the school example of such complex, unpredictable, irrational, crazy behaviour. So, maybe, it isn’t always that clever to stick to Maslow. Just a thought.

Besides that, I must admit that discovering your web-site gave me a lot to think about (about my characters in stories).Thanx

I linked twitterpated for you… LOL. Yeah, it’s better to just read it — take a step back from it… Read it again. It starts to sink in which is much better than explaining every detail because it’s ambiguous enough to mean different things to different writers…

Chris…

You never know…

Mary Anita…

Hmmm. I’ve gotta think about that one… It would explain a lot… LOL.

Josh…

No rules.

MovieQuill…

No wonder I’m so fucked up… I THOUGHT you were supposed to take LESS shit the older you get… Ah well… Too late for me to change…

Khid…

Welcome…

Unk

I do have one comment, though… “twitterpated”? Heh heh.