Honesty is the best policy…
No, I don’t base this on the one chance meeting with Guy Pearce… Not at all. His comment simply reiterated what I was pretty sure I already knew. Well… Reiterated probably isn’t the right way to put it… What he told me that night back in Albuquerque was like the one and only time I ever talked back to my Dad when I was a kid. He didn’t hesitate to backhand my ass into the air where I promptly fell on my ass i.e., I talked back – got backhanded. Lesson learned? DON’T DO THAT. LOL.
The infomercial statement had the exact same effect on me… It was just like getting knocked on my ass… It made such an impression on me that I have never hesitated to bring this up to other actors I’ve managed to ask the question to and wow… The overwhelming majority seem to pretty much have the same attitude.
But this post isn’t just about writing a character that a star will love… No. A post like that would only be telling part of the story…
So let’s get going.
Many writers seem to be on one side or another i.e., PLOT vs. CHARACTER. This has always fascinated me because as a writer, what really makes writing fun for ME are the characters that I’ve created. Sure, plot is cool. I would never say that it isn’t but for the life of me, I can’t understand writers that say PLOT drives CHARACTER.
Imagine that. You write a story and screenplay where your plot forces your character to go this way or that way. I’ve read screenplays like that.
They suck.
Why do they suck? Because in these types of screenplays, it’s always about the ACTION. I’ve even read screenplays that had some outstanding action sequences in them. Very unique. Original. Amazing. But the action sequences didn’t work because the characters were like those little Army men you used to play with when you were a kid i.e., they were simply being moved along the plotline as action took place.
They were merely there. They showed up.
You can, almost immediately, recognize that screenwriters that write these kinds of screenplays either follow the mindset that PLOT drives CHARACTER or, they simply don’t know enough about their characters to make them multidimensional.
This is one of the reasons I really like writing that first draft from my gut which is in fact, from my characters’ guts. Yeah, I take the time and effort to create a character on paper before I ever start writing a damn thing. I might even already possess what I KNOW is a great high concept but to me, without a great character to carry out that high concept, I got nothin’.
Don’t get me wrong… I believe in outlines. I also take the time and effort to create a good outline. I use a structure that I’ve managed to tweak that suits my own beliefs but more importantly, SUITS the characters. You can try to say that your story is about the overall incident that takes place but really… That’s not what an audience is going to respond to. Nope. They’re going to respond to your characters. An audience doesn’t sit back in their seat and root for action to take place. The audience doesn’t sit there and root for a twist or turn in the story.
Nope.
They root for your characters. They want to see something in your characters that they can get on board with. They want to see the DECISIONS your characters make when the story twists and turns. Whether you like it or not, the audience sits there and predicts each move that your character is going to make when the plot gets in his or her way. Sometimes they’re right – sometimes they’re wrong. It’s this right and wrong guesswork that helps get the audience on board with your characters unless of course, your characters are simply cardboard cutouts and do things uncharacteristic of themselves. Do that and you’ll probably lose the audience.
So back to plot, outline, and structure…
No matter what your plot, outline, or structure, if you’ve done the necessary character development, your characters should be coming ALIVE right there as you make them do one thing and then the other. If they’re not coming alive, you might want to develop them a little more. You want your characters to come alive and make decisions on their own. Of course this is a bit of a misnomer because of course, YOU are the GOD of your screenplay and you make the characters do what you want…
Right?
Hmmm. Do WE mere earthlings do exactly what GOD wants us to do?
I doubt it. No… We fuck up all the time. We puposely make decisions based on our own predictions of what will happen or what WE WANT to happen.
Your characters shouldn’t be any different than WE ARE.
Let’s face it… If we sat around and did everything we’ve been taught that God wants us to do, WE’D BE BORING. I contend that like us, if your characters do exactly what you want them to do WHEN YOU WANT THEM TO DO IT, they’ll be boring too.
Give them a life. Make them real. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating… You’ve got to know your characters as well as you know the people in your life… Maybe even better. That means doing the work and making up backstory that may never ever even make it into your screenplay.
When you’re writing your screenplay, don’t let your plot get in the way of your characters… i.e., don’t force a square peg into a round hole. Let your character figure out how to round themselves out to fit… i.e., the character arc.
Ahhh. That brings us back to characters that actors will love.
Write a plot or action driven screenplay and you just might create characters that are flat and do not learn anything. They simply react. A character that simply reacts to their ever-changing environment is almost as boring as characters that do whatever God wants them to do. And before I get any God-fearing screenwriters sending me email about my blasphemy, please… We’re flesh and blood. We are bound to this earth by our flesh and blood therefore, we aren’t boring.
And neither should your characters be boring.
The decisions your characters make concerning your plot need to be honest decisions that the character would make regardless. It’s okay if they make a decision we might not make but just make sure that you’ve sufficiently developed the character so that we believe that they could in fact make such a decision.
Have your characters make a decision that they would never make to begin with and you take us right out of your story and if you take us right out of your story – you take potential actors right out of your story as well.
Making your characters slaves to your plot, robs them of the multidimensionality you want them to possess.
Are you a complex person? Of course you are. Then why aren’t your characters at least as complex as you?
If you’ve taken the time to develop your characters so that they make decisions based on their quirkiness, habits, routines, idiosyncrasies, etc., you’ll go a long way toward creating a character and screenplay that will be original. You’ll go a long way toward creating a character and screenplay that an actor will want to be involved with.
If you’re still not sure how to go about that… Here’s a fairly simple little exercise I learned a long time ago that just might make it a little easier…
Take a memorable character from one of your favorite movies and stick that character into one of your favorite scenes from a totally different movie…
Write it out and see what you get.
One of my early exercises consisted of Hannibal Lecter playing James Caan’s character in THIEF. Picked several scenes and simply replaced Frank with Hannibal.
Think the scenes played differently? You bet your ass they did.
Give it a try.
Unk
Tags: screenwriting character development character backstory The Unknown Screenwriter
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15 Responses to “Honesty is the best policy…”
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Hey Unk!
Great as always… I’m totally with you on this one. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that plot-driven movies don’t work, but that’s a lot.
Although some misinterpreted that and think it’s enough to show a bit of emotion or the hero crying at some point in order to get him out of the cold plot-drive. But it’s not.
Anyhow, nice tips and I really like the idea of that exercise, will try.
Have a good one!
//taZ
Hey Unk,
Great friggin’ post and you hit on one of my pet peeves – screenwriters and directors who believe that WHAT HAPPENS is more important than WHO IT HAPPENS to . . . they’re both important.
Part of this is Aristole’s fault, the Poetics, of course, when he put PLOT above CHARACTER . . . People believed it to be superior as a result.
I dunno. I think character is the audience’s window and without it, the story is frucked. In Ancient Greece is may not have mattered as much, since the chorus was there to tell us what we just missed, but character, to me, is at least the equal to plot, if not more important. Sometimes character is plot, in a way.
I guess I fall into the Steve King camp, who believes, if I recall correctly, that STORY is separate from PLOT (whole bunch of folks believe PLOT is story) – Story is WHAT HAPPENS TO (put in character) and plot is how the story is put together, of which character is the DNA of said story.
That’s my understanding of it, though mayhap I didn’t explain it as well as I could. I’m on a ten minute break from my current opus . . .
Unk, good to hear you expound as always. Yet another beer on me!
All good stuff . . . it somewhat runs together . . . part and parcel (whatever the hell that means). Interestingly enough, nothing reveals the “inner character†better than the actions a person takes. Saying no. Doing yes.
Okay, allow me to think out loud here. I can always ctrl + a + delete later.
As a character moves along the plotline, he has more and more opportunities to reveal his hidden desires, pursue his one goal, react under stress, continue to be reactive or become proactive, etc. A decision becomes an action. Okay, yeah, Hamlet, I know. Nonetheless, action doesn’t have to be a car chase or knife fight. It could just be buying a toothbrush. Or standing around giving each other meaningful, I-know-you-know-I-know-you-know looks, like at the end of Mystic River.
But we develop our characters. We flesh them out in a draft. We cook up some character profiles, trying to make sure they are true to themselves throughout. ROCKET SCIENTIST doesn’t say “ain’t†and ROLLER GIRL doesn’t worry about the escalating problems in the Middle East.
CRAP. But we must have a contradiction. Because everyone has a contraction. MR. EVIL pets the dog. Rocket Scientist reads Mad Magazine. Roller Girl takes apart computers.
ahahahahaha . . . this shit’s easy!
bwwwaaaa hahaha
Sorry . . . got off topic there. Anyhow, good post and good kick in the pants.
More on contradiction:
I just read, swear to God, that Pope Paul VI was watching American Western movies on his deathbed. But he could NEVER follow the plot. Someone, a cardinal I presume, would continually have to explain what was going on. This one’s the bad guy. Those two are together. No they aren’t friends. ETC.
[...] I’ve read a couple of great posts this morning, one about character driven plots by Unk at Unknown Screenwriter, the other about self defeating attitudes by Taz at Screenwriters of Tazmania. [...]
Excellent advice.
Hi Unk, Great post.
I hear a lot that people map out characters before they start writing… answer questionnaires about what’s their favorite movie, drink and what not.
It got me thinking because the script I’m writing currently has a strong main character (I think it does at least), but I did zero character planning or mapping before I started.
Then I realized, the character is pretty much myself… or parts of myself and others close to me. I already KNOW this person. And the script isn’t about kids just out of college trying to figure out what they want to do with their life. It’s a pretty solid high concept, I think.
I’m just wondering if writing yourself into your script is considered amateurish? I know Woody Allen has made a career out of it, but do you hit a point where you kind of bring yourself out of the writing process and you started looking at your characters more analytically?
Does it differ for different writers? I just came up with an idea for another screenplay in which the character is completely different from myself, in which writing the character first would be beneficial.
In your experience, does it matter if you’re writing yourself or writing a character completely foreign to you?
Writers are people-watchers. Why are they people watchers? Because that’s where the stories are.
And it’s those vignettes of life that stay with us, and the people we meet.
One Slack Martian,
I actually know a rocket scientist who says AIN’T all the time… LOL.
Point being, you want to watch out when you choose/develop a character that might be cliché based on his occupation, it might be a good idea to smash the personality cliché of said character.
Normally, you’ll have more than enough minor characters to supply all the clichés you’ll need but even then, smashing the minor character cliché might not be a bad idea either.
Tom,
I think most every character we have in our screenplays are made up of different percentages of our personality. It’s very normal when you have a protagonist that is very much like yourself, to feel that you know him or her really really well.
And you might.
But having said that, do you want that Protagonist to be just like you? Make decisions just like you?
You might.
I tend to bring to my own characters, those thoughts and actions that I definitely possess but rarely ever use because they have laws against such things… LOL.
Everybody’s different and if you can keep creating great screenplays where the Protagonist really comes from YOU, I wouldn’t have a problem with it at all as long as each screenplay is sufficiently different from the previous ones.
But is it amateurish? Some say yes – some say no. I will say that the majority of screenwriters trying to break in will almost always resort to developing their Protagonist after themselves.
I think what matters most is if you pulled off a great screenplay in the end.
I’ve found that most of the screenwriters I meet that are trying to break in rarely create character bios. Hey, if that works for you — Cool.
It doesn’t for me.
Miriam,
Exactly.
Unk
“Point being, you want to watch out when you choose/develop a character that might be cliché based on his occupation, it might be a good idea to smash the personality cliché of said character.”
True, true. Right you are once again. And those are always your most memorable characters. Just be sure that your hooker with the heart of gold still gives BJs behind the Tasty Freeze. Unless calling her a hooker is just a gag (I can’t stop myself).
Uh, but your rocket scientist friend, uh, do his rockets, like . . . fly?
They’re rockets ain’t they?
Unk
Your posts always make me want to stop and write. Maybe I’ll do that right now. Thanks again for really stirring the soup!
Unk, you touched on something in a response, but not in the post.
One of the best traits of good character is making difficult decisions. Not just decisions. I know 3lbs got tanked and universally panned, but here’s a great character decision. You *have* to feel for this woman.
She’s pregnant and has a brain tumor. They cannot do radiation or the child will die. She decides she’ll just wait it out. However, she’ll probably die before the baby is born. After some tests and surgeries, she has a decision to make:
1) She can not have the surgery, probably die soon after the baby is born, or…
2) She can have an operation that will render her unable to speak ever again, yet, she will die from the tumor in the very near future – her lease on life is as good as anybody’s.
Tom: I don’t think it’s a bad idea to base a character on yourself; however, as Unk said, you need to be as dynamic as the script demands. Typically, real life demands more concern for responsibilities and the consequences of said choices often cause us to choose the more conservative choice. If you are able to put your character (i.e. yourself) in situations with difficult, perhaps horrible decisions and then allow the choice to be a bad one, then there’s no harm. The harm comes when you are unable to allow your character to suffer because of your fondness for them or that “you wouldn’t make that choice”.
Unk, I’d like to know how creating a character bio helps you down the line. Give some examples, etc. I’ve never done them, but I think a lot about my characters. When I write, I have a direction I want them to go in, but most of the time, they veer off at some point. I understand how you can look back at a bio and say, “oh, because they were raised in Idaho, they would do this in X situation”, but I’ve always been under the impression that either you have made their decision for them, or they’re making a new one regardless of any research.
I believe that many actors do an extensive bio so they can take on such traits as accent, demeaner, beliefs, etc. to depict the personality. I just don’t see how it benefits the writing. I know it does, it’s just something I haven’t done, so am unfamiliar. Please… familiarize me :D
great post.
Dave,
I’ve just got Internet access today or I would have responded to your comment… As it is, I will probably only have access for the next couple of days.
Anyway…
I do believe in extreme character bios because to me, the characters ARE the screenplay. A lot of screenplays I read SCREAM inconsistent character decision making and their resulting action and of course, dialogue.
The comment section is way too short for me to dole out everything I bio on my characters but I promise a post on exactly that since I am concentrating on characters for a while.
But suffice to say… In addition to the usual stuff everybody talks about when creating bios, I like to go deeper.
What’s in your character’s refrigerator RIGHT NOW?
What’s in your character’s medicine cabinet?
Does your character pump their own gas?
Does your character order off the menu?
Does your character read the paper?
And on and on and on…
How does it benefit the writing? By knowing as much as I can know about my characters, I am able to keep them acting HONESTLY. They are more authentic. The decisions they make MAKE sense. Their idiosyncrasies MAKE sense. Their relationships make sense.
And on and on and on…
Don’t worry… I’m not saying YOU couldn’t do exactly the same thing by “thinking” about your characters… I’m sure it’s possible… Just not for me. There’s just too much I want to know about them.
As I’ve said more than once on the blog… I ALWAYS go BACK to my characters when the writing just isn’t happening and so far, it’s always been the best move i.e., I just didn’t know the characters well enough.
Which is why, on top of the extreme bios I create, when the writing just isn’t working and I go BACK to my characters, it’s to reveal yet ANOTHER side of their personality to me i.e., now that I know just about all the things I need to know about them I then go back to them and create an incident some time within their life… Their past. I basically write what amounts to a short story about that incident. It could be anything…
That character might have ripped off an employer…
That character might have cheated on his wife…
That character might have had a gambling problem…
That character might have had a late night/early morning paper route…
And on and on and on…
Why?
Just so I can keep peeling back layers of this character’s personality. None of this stuff might never even make it into the script but I know my characters and when we stumble and it’s just not coming out like it should, I go back and kick them in the ass by giving them a past.
Sometimes, giving them a past ends up changing the bio… For me… When this phenomenon happens, that’s when the characters really start to shine.
Hope that helps…
Unk
Trust me when I say that I applaud the work in creating a bio. What I can’t crack is how having an empty fridge determines what my character does? Of course, I’m using an arbitrary example here from above.
What it looks like, from my perspective, is that the bio gives you plenty of information from which to create scenes. If he’s got an empty fridge, maybe he has to go out for groceries, but the closest place is where his ex works, so he goes across town. Too bad that’s where he meets… blah blah.. Of course, that sounds really good to me now LOL
What I’ve been doing is using my story/plot. I start writing and I have something in mind, but invariably, as I get into it, the characters will change my mind and want to do something different. I’ve never thought about characters being held to a bio just because people have so many inconsistencies and contradictions. I just make sure that they’re not waffling, ya know?
I’m very interested in reading more on your bio’s, character creation process, etc. There was a time when people talked about character development I equated it with small/indie/character movies. What I’ve come to believe is they’re all character movies, some just bigger than others. It all boils down to “it’s a story about a guy/girl who…” ain’t it? It’s big or small depending on what comes after who. Big = who can’t lie for 24 hours (and he’s a lawyer with a big case) and Small is maybe = gets out of prison and decides to visit the vacation spot she’s been hawking while in jail.
Keep the good stuff comin’.
Dave,
You’re trying TOO HARD… LOL.
First of all… The bio is like structure for the screenplay only it’s structure for the character. An empty fridge could mean a myriad of things…
The character always eats out…
The character is a workaholic…
The character can’t cook…
The character is never home…
And on and on and on…
Also, I would never presume to tell anyone to do what I do. What works for me might not work for you. Screenwriting is very subjective. I BELIEVE that writing an extreme character bio works for ME — therefore it DOES in fact work for me.
On the other hand…
You THINK about your characters all the time (so do I) and you believe that works for you, therefore it does.
Years ago when I was just starting out, I never did the bio thing and even though I managed to bang out and finish screenplays, I have always felt there was something missing.
Talking to some really outstanding screenwriters, one of the things I discovered that seemed to be consistent was that they were all creating these character bios.
I started doing the same thing and my writing immediately improved. To be honest, I rarely even LOOK at the bios. I don’t sit there when I’m wondering what the character does next, looking at the bio to give me some kind of epiphany… Basically, I simply use it to construct as COMPLETE a character as I can.
By the end of the screenplay through 2 to 6 drafts, I might end up with 25 to 30 pages of bio on the main characters most of which (yes, even an empty fridge) never makes it into the story.
So why all the work?
Again for me, it’s subjective and a decisive mental process that I go through simply to KNOW the character BETTER. Revealing MORE about a character to myself, normally has no effect on the script other than an authentic and consistent character.
I don’t ask myself questions like, “Okay, if he has all zebra-striped furniture in his living room, how does that make him decide what to do next?”
I don’t use the bios in that way at all… It’s simply an EXERCISE for my subconscious which is ALWAYS WORKING IN THE BACKGROUND 24/7. I feed my subconscious more and more info on my characters and I believe, my subconscious is continually working in the background 24/7 so that when I come to a fork in the road where my character needs to make a decision and ACT, my subconscious pulls it right out.
Another way to look at it is having your characters doing their own thing even when you try to make them do what you want.
Happens to me ALL THE TIME and apparently happens to you. That’s obviously a good thing. Well, I believe that the more I know my characters, know their past, know their idiosyncrasies, etc. etc., the EASIER TIME THEY WILL HAVE doing their own thing.
And for me, it works.
Unk