Screenwriting : Blog: "5 Tips For Creating Great Characters In Your Screenplay" by Maurice Vaughan

What's up Maurice

Thanks for sharing, Maurice Vaughan! Great blog by Sara Sparrow today. I tend to notice when developing with writers that their protagonists don't have any discernible When thinking about great characters, I always like to develop flaws from their personal trauma or past injuries. Like most real people, authentic characters have flaws come from personal wounds. And really good screenwriters pick at those wounds over the course of the narrative.

How's it going, Billy Kwack?

That's a great tip, Jason Mirch! I'm using it for the characters in my next project.

Pretty good Maurice, I know how to draw, so creating characters are easy for me

Cool, Billy Kwack. Do you create character bios for your characters?

A little, if I did a TV series yes, so people would like to see character origins

My wonderful acting coach once told me, "DD, take a perfect person, give them trauma, give them conflict, and throw them in a damn near impossible situation to get out of..and WALLA! You have a great, but complex character to immerse yourself into.

That's a great exercise, DD Myles. I'll try it.

I used to focus on the flaw/trauma, and still do, but in the last couple of years i have started making sure that there is always something of “me” in the character that connects to that flaw/trauma. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, something simple as “not feeling heard” or career struggles. Just something so I’m writing from a perspective that is more inside the story and character, rather than one that’s more omniscient. And no one has to see or notice it’s there except me, but i think my writing has become better because of it.

I disagree with the first point. Likeable is great for Pixar. Joker, is a counter example. Was Arthur likeable or did we just sympathise with him. The Protagonists in “Cruel Intentions” not likeable. Likeable and relatable are not the same. But we must be able to see a reality in a character.

Flaws, I see as a superficial way of understanding a character. If you think of them as complex and human you are much better off as a writer. This is much harder. But you will benefit from it.

Write great dialogue. I always look at advice and think is the alternative a real option. If I have two valid options and someone advises me of a better choice, that is good advice. Is writing bad dialogue a valid option?

Emily J, I've noticed that a lot of my scripts have me in them somehow. In the characters, a past experience, a flaw, etc.

Make them real, and make them TALK realistically. So many movie characters now say things and do things that normal people just don't do! Part of that is Hollywood's disconnect, but most of it is just bad dialogue. Say it out loud, or even rehearse it with a friend.

You're spot on, William. I read my dialogue out loud and listen to it with the Speech Control tool in Final Draft 12.

I love this! Characters are always where I start when building my scripts and stories.

Most of the time I start with character or theme when building scripts, GiGi.

Hey, Maurice. I didn't even know Final Draft had that feature. Might need to check it out!

character is action. Maybe for theater when every word spoken is crucial (they actually cant change anything without playwright's blessing), but we are writing for the camera... at least I am. Less words the better.

Dan MaxXx. I'd have to disagree with you there. There are many examples in film and TV where a scene of just two characters talking is one of the most entertaining scene in the whole story. 12 Angry Men is 90% dialogue, and it's a fantastic and riveting film! The early seasons of Game of Thrones had many excellent dialogue-only scenes, and when they got rid of the those, the show suffered. Of course, there were many reasons why the show suffered, and then died, then crashed, then burned, then exploded, then exploded again, then was buried in a poor man's grave with no wake and no tombstone, but less-dialogue-more-action was one of them.

You're welcome, William.

"There are many examples in film and TV where a scene of just two characters talking is one of the most entertaining scene in the whole story." William, I think that happens for many reasons: we're invested in the characters so even when they speak it's interesting/entertaining, the characters are interesting/entertaining, the topic they're talking about is interesting/entertaining, there's conflict, dramatic irony, etc.