Chapter 11: Creating Characters

In order for a movie to sell, it has to be castable. This means, screenwriters must write memorable and interesting characters that actors want to portray. And not just the Hero and Villain – all characters in a screenplay should be “round” characters – lifelike and complex who evolve over the course of the story. You want to avoid “flat” characters with few distinctive traits who don’t really change over the course of the story. This may seem obvious, but how do you create a character that audiences will remember, quote, and want to dress up as for their next costume party?

First off, spend time with your character, get to know them, and eventually fall in love with them. Even the “bad guys” in your screenplay will become like dear children to you. Your characters will look to you for their motivations, thoughts, feelings and actions. In order for your characters to really come to life, they need to have real life qualities.

One way to do this is to list out your character’s traits. Discover their wants, needs, joys and fears. Create their backstory – what happened to them in the past? How has this shaped who they are today? Find images of what your character looks like, where they live, work, their family, friends, favorite hobbies, phobias and obsessions.

The fun challenge is to avoid the stereotype trap, defined in the dictionary as, “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.” You want your characters to be believable, relatable and unique.

You also want your characters to have a character arc – to grow and evolve (or devolve) throughout the course of your story. One way to do this is to imagine who you want them to be by the end of the screenplay, and then make them the opposite at the start. All of the challenges that you throw in your character’s way will help them become their best (or worst) selves in the end.

Try these fun exercises to help you get started.

Roll the Dice Character Game

One way to develop characters from scratch is to roll some dice.

Start by rolling two dice and see where they land. This becomes your character’s age. For example, if you roll a 6 and a 2, your character can either be 62 or 26 – your choice.

Next, flip a coin to decide the sex of your character – if they identify as one. As the creator, this is completely up to you.

The next step is to then go online and search baby popular names by decade. For example, if a character is 26, they would have been born 26 years ago – so that would be 1995 at the time of writing this book. Popular boys’ names in that year were Michael, Matthew, Christopher and Jacob. Pick your favorite.

Finally, search images of “cars” or “pets” or “vacation destinations” and pick a few that you think fit your character.

Now that you’ve got a basic understanding of who your character is, describe them. Why do they drive that vehicle? Where do they live? How did they get their pet and what’s its name?

Now take that character and integrate them into your story. Where do they fit? How do they relate to the other characters? Let your imagination play and have fun getting to know them.

Another exercise is to create Character Bios and Visualization Boards. This is a great way to start seeing your movie and character come to life.