Why creating a character profile is a bad place to start (and what to do instead).
You may have heard that in order to create a great character you should start with Profile.
Maybe you were told to ask questions about your character, such as:
• How do they feel about their bodies?
• Who was their best friend in high school?
• What songs do they sing in the shower?
etc.
You may have also heard that your character should have external/internal goals, wants/needs, fears, fatal flaws, skills, etc.
The problem for aspiring screenwriters is that while much of this makes sense in theory, it can quickly become abstract and confusing.
Not only that, it often means the author gets into trouble. Wormhole backstory And forgetting the basics of what makes a character interesting and believable.
Rather than focusing on how to write a character profile, let’s look at a simpler, more streamlined, two step process You can go through it when you first come up with and create a realistic character.
Rather than creating a character profile, identify their distinct personality traits.
The first step is to list your Core cast and provide a brief description of each person’s distinguishing personality traits.
Go through your protagonists, antagonists, important characters, and minor characters and write a sentence for each character describing what they do and what they do overriding character traits They show it to the world.
For example, you can write:
• Suburban Dad: Early 40s, advertising executive, depressed
• wife: Over 30 years old, real estate agent, domineering
• daughter: 16. High school student, satirist
• Daughter’s best friend: 16. Cheerleader, vanity
• New neighbors: Over 40 years old, former Marine Corps colonel, macho
• wife: Over 40 years old, mentally ill, vacant
• son: 17 years old, high school student, smarter than his peers
Obviously, a character can not only have multiple personality traits, but can also be macho, cold, homophobic, violent, etc., but for the purposes of this exercise, it’s best to stick with an obvious feature This best sums up how they present themselves to friends, family, and strangers.
A good way to approach this question is to ask yourself, “What impression would you make of this character if you met them for the first time?”
You don’t have to be too creative with these features. As you can see from the example American Beautythe basic personality of each character is not that surprising.
The real estate agent was lively. Teenage daughter is sarcastic. Cheerleaders are vain. Ex-military men are manly, and so on.
The point at this stage is not to worry about making them unique or super interesting, but to hone in on their distinct characteristics.
Next, add a surprising contradiction.
Now things get more interesting than just creating a boring old character profile.
Pick each character’s obvious personality traits and add a A surprising contradiction to them. This is usually Completely opposite A character’s obvious personality traits, and often (but not always) things they hide from others.
exist American Beauty The role description now looks like this:
• Suburban Dad: Early 40s, advertising executive, depressed, but also Has a repressed and wild side
• wife: Over 30 years old, real estate agent, domineering, but also extremely insecure
• daughter: 16. High school student, satirist, but also sensitive
• Daughter’s best friend: 16. Cheerleader, vanity, but also insecure virgin
• New neighbors: Over 40 years old, former Marine Corps colonel, macho, but also with homosexual yearning
• wife: More than 40 years old, mentally ill, empty, but also Know the son better than the father
• son: 17 years old, high school student, smarter than his peers, but also Dealing drugs
More examples of more interesting mini character profiles.
Let’s look at a few more examples from different movies where the author takes a stereotypical character and then subvert our expectations Embody the character by adding surprising contradictions.
• Ripley She is an ordinary female crew member, but also An excellent warrior. (alien)
• grandfather Over 80 years old but also Smoking heroin. (Little Miss Sunshine)
• Jules and Vincent They were two violent gangsters, but also Comedy two-act play (pulp Fiction)
• indiana jones He is a bold adventurer, but also Afraid of snakes and a respected university lecturer. (Lost Ark Guide)
•Hannibal Lecter is a sadistic serial killer, but also Very smart. (silence of the lambs)
These conflicts between us initially thought It’s about a character that we later discover what gives them depth and makes them interesting. Just like real people.
You don’t have to listen to all the old advice about creating character profiles…
Instead of listening to the same boring old advice of creating a character profile that lists things like your protagonist’s favorite brand of cereal, use this technique with your screenplay characters and watch how they come alive.
By all means, feel free to delve into the characters’ backstories and start writing notes about their lives before the story begins, but we recommend not doing so until you’ve established who they are and what their purpose is. main contradiction yes.
This helps establish well-rounded and believable scripted characters more than providing a character sheet for the writer.
For more tips on screenwriting concepts, dialogue, structure, and more, check out ScriptHackr, our practical online screenwriting course.
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What do you think of this alternative to writing a character profile? Have you used this approach yourself with your characters? Let us know in the comments section below.
Like this article? Read more about the characters and how to write the script…
Why your screenplay character feels “flat” and how to fix it
How to Write a Screenplay: Secrets to Beyond the Ordinary
Protagonist-Villain Conflict: Why It’s a Conflict Between 3 Characters Instead of 2
Character Description Examples: How to Engage Readers
[© Photo credits: Unsplash]
