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

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’.

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

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.

Unk

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?

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

And it’s those vignettes of life that stay with us, and the people we meet.

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?