In addition to avoiding too much physical detail in your character descriptions (discussed in September’s essay), there are other minor elements of characterization that you should pay attention to when crafting your script. The more complex character development issues will be discussed in future essays, but for this month we’ll deal with the tiny technical details that writers often overlook. Here are a few:
Introductions: As mentioned above, resist being too specific in the physical description of your character. However, you don’t want to give us just name and age. We need to know why this character is special. This does not mean you should include long detailed paragraphs describing the character’s background, fears, and hopes, etc. Such passages are appropriate for novels, but film is a visual medium, and so you need to bring your character to life in action. Show his unique personality in the way he responds to the world around him. What your character says and does will have more impact than what you say about him.
Beware of casting your movie in advance. Picturing Tommy Lee Jones as your lead can help you bring your character to life in your head. However, don’t state “Tommy Lee Jones-type” or “Think Tommy Lee Jones” in the description. This marks you as an amateur, not to mention the fact that it will turn off any actor who is not Tommy Lee Jones. Also, avoid copying or even emulating behavioral or speech gimmicks from other movies. Your script will end up coming across as derivative rather than fresh.
“Prop” characters: Give characters names (and attributes) only if they have a recurring role in the plot, or if their names are essential to the story. A landlady who is in three scenes will be more vivid if she has a name and a specific personality (grumpy, nosey, etc.). However, a store clerk or a cop who is only present in one brief scene and never seen or mentioned again should be identified as “clerk” or “cop.” Giving such minor characters names and detailed descriptions will confuse a reader into thinking they are important recurring characters. However, you can still give these minor characters flair and color via distinct behavior and dialogue. Always try to give the actor something interesting to play. Your script will be much richer as a result.
Similar Character Names: Production executives and story analysts read scripts fast, so you want to do everything you can to avoid confusion in your writing. One of the most common confusion points is using characters with similar names. One script may have a Marcy, Mary, Martha and Mark. Another may have Joe, John, Joan and Jocelyn. Notice how when you read those two sentences quickly, your brain slows down to distinguish the names. In order not to break the flow of your story, make the characters names as distinct from one another as possible. Don’t have any that share the first letter. Don’t have any that rhyme (Stacy, Tracy) or that are even close in sound (Darcy, Marla). Coming up with distinct character names is just one more way you help make the characters themselves distinct.
Capitalization: It is standard practice to capitalize the name of the character when we first meet him. Although this was originally for production purposes, it helps with reading as well, because it makes it easy to spot the entrance of a new character. For this reason, it is confusing when characters are capitalized throughout the script or erratically. Again, the reader must slow down and think: is this a new character? However, don’t capitalize the names in dialogue, only in description.
More than one name: If a character’s name is FRANK MATTHEWS, then refer to him consistently as Frank OR Matthews after introducing him. If “FRANK” is used as a dialogue heading, but “Matthews” is used in the description, this will be confusing. However, in the dialogue, other characters may refer to him as either Frank or Matthews, or by a nickname. Description is formal; dialogue is informal.
If a character’s name is Frank Matthews but he is posing as a man named John Walker, then again you want to pick one of the names and stick with it. If we meet him first as Frank, then keep him as Frank, even when he is using his fake name. If we meet him first as John and his real name is not revealed until the end, as a surprise, then stick with John. If he physically transforms, like in THE MASK for instance, then it is acceptable to use another name for the alternate personality, because this will help the reader visualize and keep track of the change.
Adhering to these guidelines will result in a clearer, cleaner script, which will allow your story to shine through and hold a reader’s attention.
