Screenwriting : Getting the Audience to Care about a Villain by Maurice Vaughan

Never make the villain "evil" ... by making them evil, and saying "he's evil" you have simply justified their behavior. So do give them a goal, a dream, faults, a value and belief system, and a heart that is caring. The villain has a world view which is believed to be better, and they're willing to convert the masses and create their vision as much as the hero has a world view. No one is born bad, it's the events in the world that shape them to feel, believe, and behave a certain way.

Hi Maurice, like in spiderman, sand man stealing money for his daughters medical bills

Great points, Lindbergh E Hollingsworth! Never make the villain "evil." Unless it's a mockumentary Comedy movie/show and the writer makes the villain like that on purpose, which I might do with my mockumentary sitcom now that I think about it!

Hi, Billy Kwack. Yeah, that can work. It reminds me of Denzel Washington's character in John Q. even though Denzel isn't the villain.

Hi Maurice, John Q, I heard of the movie, never seen it

John Q. is incredible, Billy Kwack!

I'm with Billy, i.e. the popular go-to seems to humanize the villain in some form so there's a potential emotive plea to the audience, despite bad deeds perpetrated. Then you have the "When good (maybe) intentions go WAY wrong (that is by attempting to kill loads of innocent people)" like with Sauron, Thanos, etc. and the writers craft them in a way that audiences are like, "Ehhhh they should still die, badly, and that's cool..." As a sci-fi/fantasy guy I think it's easier to craft victim villains in those genres, e.g. someone is possessed by an ancient force of nature, or an extra-terrestrial entity takes someone's mind over, etc. so the malevolence is not REALLY the perpetrator's fault. Also sometimes effective when the protagonist is forced to kill someone who went bad, maybe a family member, or fellow extra-terrestrial, and there's just utter remorse displayed by the former afterwards.

Those are two great ways to get the audience to care about a villain, Mike Childress! I really like the victim villain idea. The audience could root for the villain to overcome the possession, mind control, etc.

Hi Maurice, football is back

Much like the flawed hero - who wants to do good but makes mistakes and lashes out - a villain should also have their good traits. Not necessarily like a charismatic bad guy who we root for because the hero is a little one dimensional and we want something different, but in a way that is natural and believable. Nearly everyone has good and bad in them, and this should show.

Alex Winstanley I tend to gravitate towards the anti-hero stories, probably a by-product of being a massive comic book fan as a kid reading stuff like The Punisher.

Hi Maurice Vaughan - I think you nailed it when you said to give him relatable struggles and showing his regular life. Show him at his kid's football game, struggling with a trolley whilst doing the weekly shop etc. Or a relatable goal - e.g. if he's a criminal, why does he want/ need the money? Breaking Bad was a prime example of this, where you even side with the criminals and the cops become the villains.

Yeah, I'm excited, Billy Kwack! I have three NFL teams. Eagles, Steelers, and Panthers.

You're right, Alex Winstanley. "but in a way that is natural and believable." It does have to be natural and believable, just like everything in a script. Readers -- and later the audience -- can tell when things are forced.

Hi, Kat Rollinson. Those are great examples! And showing a villain's regular life doesn't have to be boring. A writer should find ways to show a villain's regular life in an interesting or exciting way. I like your tip about giving villains relatable goals!

I would just make the rival peers worse than the main villain.

For example, Scarface is a drug kingpin murderer but he doesnt kill women & children.

That's a fantastic idea, Dan MaxXx!

Its an age old story. The villain is never the villain in their own story. One of the best examples that I can think of is the movie, "Falling Down". Michael Douglass' character, who feels that he's been treated unfairly for a very long time, goes around (toting a machine gun) doing what he feels is right and just to correct things. From the viewpoint of the people around him, he is the bad guy. SPOILER ALERT: At the end of the movie when he's surrounded by police with their weapons drawn, it finally dawns on him that "I'm the bad guy?" I've never been more invested in a "bad guy" than at that moment.

Maurice Vaughan great post! Psychological aspects that appeals, for example the villain may have had a tough childhood, or traumatizing experience in life that triggered a mindset!

Falling Down is an excellent example, Anthony Moore! It's great for studying how to write a villain main character.

You're right, Eon C. Rambally. Adding a psychological aspect that appeals can get the audience to care about a villain. It works for other characters too. I recently rewrote part of a script and took out the main character's tough childhood, but I decided to put her tough childhood back into the script so the audience can care about her more, or at least understand why she's the way she is.

This is something you can have a lot of fun with as a creative. Some characters gain great depth by the show asking whether evil is something primordial that pre-exists or if it created by environment and circumstance. Wicked explores this and is used to give great depth to both characters and stakes.

Awesome Maurice, I'm going with the Lions this season

That's a great technique, Ewan Dunbar! Thanks for sharing it!

Thanks for sharing the tips, everyone!

I saw a ranking that has The Lions as the #2 team in the league, Billy Kwack.

Frankenstein's monster was likely the first villain you felt sorry for.

You're right, Paul Norman Rich. I remember reading Mary Shelley's book growing up and feeling sorry for Frankenstein's monster. I haven't seen a Frankenstein's monster movie in a long time. I plan on checking out Lisa Frankenstein.

Good intentions gone wrong. Good advice. Even in Austin Powers, Dr. Evil -- a cartoon villain -- had a reason for turning evil. Which is hysterical if you saw the movie. He was neglected as a child.

I think it was Billy Wilder that said if you want the audience to like a character have them pet a dog and if you want them to hate a character have them kick a dog. Perhaps using a pet and seeing the villain as a caring being on that level will create some simple empathy for the character.

Great tip, Sam Sokolow! I don't think I've seen that many scenes of villains and animals. I'm gonna use that tip.

Sam Sokolow That's essentially the entire John Wick franchise! An assassin, who should in theory be a bad guy by nature, is transformed into the protagonist of the story because of a pet (topically at least).

Well we all remember Severus Snape. What a genius writer J.K. Rowling.

Watch the Sopranos beginning to end.

Thanks for the tip, Eric Christopherson. I need to watch the Sopranos beginning to end. I've only seen a few episodes. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from watching the entire series.

I remember in "Léon: The Professional" thinking how clever it was that the writers got me to like Léon, a little bit at least, when they showed me Léon watering a plant. Something so simple, yet suddenly this man who did such despicable things had me liking him, at least a little — I at least accepted he was a fellow human being.

I don't have villains in my stories — my protagonists, they are their own antagonists. I want to challenge myself to branch out and write a story with an honest-to-goodness baddy, tearing up the place and ripping through my protagonist's life like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (which I've never seen and I need to correct that deficit).

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a great movie to study for that, William Parsons!

Maurice Vaughan, always appreciate the comments. Anyone remembers "Freddy Krueger's" childhood?...Nope not me!!

I don't remember Freddy Krueger's childhood, but I do remember one of the movies mentioned it, Eon C. Rambally.

Same here Maurice Vaughan. Same here.

Mystery, Mystery! That's the catch. His childhood and even existence is just that. Compels one to want to know and understand his personality. Is he just part of a 'Dream World" or Imagination , a dimension, or does he also exists in reality, another dimension? Many characters takes on this "interesting" and "compelling" persona, in different genres! Mind gripping isn't it!

Dr. Evil: "My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard, really."

Interesting Maurice. I find that when I see those kind of films, it so interconnects with what many call mental illness LOL... ! SO it is, I find very helpful to give a real backdrop to some deeper past of why this villain IS a villain. What makes a villain? We can say the same about mass murderers and such... IT compels us to really find some kind of empathy in SOME way... even if its warped right?!!

I believe there was another film called ? THE JOKER? did the writers also give a look at his regular life and you see how one can become a bit twisted? Not sure if that is the one... but it was really deep and really twisted...

I think villains need to be given more of an in-depth character of past history...than just a bad guy... otherwise, it lessens the interest of HOW can one become "so dark"..

I say, make sure the villain has some real life issue that creates such a distortion, that its hard (or easy?) not to understand why he or she is the way they are... because for me, that is what I am always wanting to connect as far as the dots... to get a more rounded view of the meaning behind the whole film. Hope that helps?

GOOD seeing you again Maurice! I send everyone to you to say hi to Maurice for me!! (and I say to them, but I also tell them, he'll probably say hi to you first!!)... I hope they are telling you...

Here's my line I give them... to say... "OH some crazy girl Sherri told me to say hi to you from her" LOL....

Great truth EON!! Yes, helps to know all those details.... for sure!!

Arthur Fleck ceases to be a human being for whom we might feel empathy and descends into a one-dimensional stereotype. The film uses Arthur's childhood trauma as well as his struggle with mental disorder as a means to earn sympathy from the audience, rather than disgust at his actions.

Analysing Joker: an attempt to establish diagnosis for a film icon

Maurice Vaughan I typically write a short character bio of my antagonist with the goal of finding and building direct opposition (for conflicts)with my compelling protagonist.

I toss the antagonist's bio and write the story but, oddly I do have one antagonist that is so much fun to write that they had to go into a different world as the Protagonist.

Sometimes the baddie turns into a goody in the end like Darth Vader and Kylo Ren in Star Wars. But to forgive them comes the complication of all the bad stuff they did. Vader did not order the destruction of an entire planet but he stood by nonplussed. Yet he is shown as a hero in the finale in ghost form Anakin Skywalker.

This is how I have done in my new screenplay.

Pauline is the main character. She is partly bad, but changes to the better, so there is a happy end.

Uncle Gunpowder is her boss at the CIA. He is bad. He wants to murder, to make sure that his wife starts to show him respect. The wife is never seen, but she sure scares him.

Bertha is the remaining bad character.

At the same time, Pauline and Bertha fail to force the good guys to help.

So in act 3, Bertha and Gunpowder try to kill each other, but run out of munition.

So Bertha commits suicide. A long time in prison is all she can expect, instead of visiting the man she has recently fallen in love with.

Pauline aims her handgun at Gunpowder, showing that their toxic relationship is over. After humiliting him, she says "you murdered my daughter". Without saying a word, Gunpowder commits suicide in a way which in practice means that he confesses the murder.

So there is a reason why Gunpowder is evil. And there is another reason why Bertha is evil. And they have the courage to punish themselves.

Good seeing you again too, Sherri ZImmerman. I find it very helpful to give a real backdrop to some deeper past of why this villain IS a villain as well. That's one of the reasons I need to outline a script and not just jump right into writing the script.

I write a character bio for the villain too, Paul Rivers. It's about a page sometimes, and I don't use all of the things in the bio (like I do with other things in my outline), but it helps me know the character and think of things for the script.

I like seeing the baddie turn into a goody in the end, Paul Norman Rich. Sometimes the writer can work that out during outlining, but sometimes it takes writing the script or rewriting the script to figure out that the baddie turning into a goody is better for the story.

Agreed with your comment above Maurice. Though Im not near done my rough draft screenplay to pass on to my producer to put into professional script writing...

I find... though ive got a simple outline started, it seems writing it in full script makes it easier ... i guess because you really get more into the story?

"I find... though ive got a simple outline started, it seems writing it in full script makes it easier ... i guess because you really get more into the story?" I know what you mean, Sherri ZImmerman. I can outline all I want, but I don't see some things about the story until I write the script.