The document discusses what makes a good character for a screenplay. It states that good characters have drama and conflict that reveals their personality through their actions. It emphasizes that characters should have a dramatic need, individual point of view, embody an attitude, and often go through transformation. The document provides tips for developing characters, such as knowing their backstory, hopes, fears, and ensuring they are active forces that drive the plot rather than being passive. Overall it focuses on how characters can engage audiences by portraying universal human emotions through adversity and conflict.

1.  Think of an interesting character from a
movie.Who is the character?What makes the
character interesting?

2. Wolf: “Just because you are a character
doesn’t mean you have character.”
–QuentinTarantino and Roger Avary
Pulp Fiction

3.  A good character is unique as a person.
 A person is defined by what he does, not
what he says, it is his actions that determine
his character.

4.  Good characters are the heart and soul of
your screenplay.
 The story is told through your characters and
this engages the audience to experience the
universal emotions that transcend our
ordinary reality.
 The purpose of creating good characters is
to capture our unique sense of humanness,
to touch, move, and inspire (or even terrify)
the audience.

5. “All drama is conflict; without conflict, you
have no action; without action, you have no
character; without character you have no
story; and without story, you have no
screenplay.” –Syd Field

6. “All drama is conflict; without conflict, you
have no action; without action, you have no
character; without character you have no
story; and without story, you have no
screenplay.” –Syd Field

7. Take-aways:
 Drama is Conflict
 Physical or EmotionalViolence
 Conflict forces action which reveals character.
 Story is dramatic conflict in action
 Conflict = a “want” or “desire” plus an obstacle
 Great stories are about adversity.
 No conflict, no story

8.  You need to know your character inside and
out.
 You need to know their hopes and dreams
and fears, their likes and dislikes, their
background and mannerisms.
 You need to know their personal history.

9.  Your character must be an active force in
your screenplay, not a passive one.
 If your main character is too passive, then he
or she often disappears off the page and a
minor character will leap forward to draw
attention away from the main character.

10.  Have a strong dramatic need.
 Have an individual point of view.
 The character personifies an attitude.
 The character often goes through some kind
of change or transformation.

11.  Dramatic need is what your main character
wants to win, gain, get, or achieve during
the course of your screenplay.
 It is his purpose, his mission, his motivation,
the force that drives him through the
narrative action of the story line.
 The dramatic need of the character may
change during the course of the screenplay
based on events.

12.  “The world is as you see it.” –YogaVasistha
 Point of view is the way a person sees, or
views, the world.
 Every person has an individual point of view.
 Point of view is a belief system, and as we
know, what we believe to be true, is true for
us.

13.  Attitude is a manner or opinion and
encompasses a person’s behavior.
 Examples of attitude are being socially or
morally superior, being macho, always being
right.

14.  Does your character change during the
course of your screenplay?
 What is the change?
 Can you define it?
 What lesson did she learn?