© Copyright 1991, 1999 Blake Harris. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Chapter Four
Developing
Characters and Motive
Many methods and systems have been put
forward to help writers develop the main characters in
their scripts.
Some writers will lay out all the essential
aspects of a character such as his motivation and his
background in table form. Others will make random
notes as a character develops. Still others will
simply think about a character until they feel they
know and understand him. A writer should use whatever
works for him.
Some of the greatest writers in history have
drawn their fictional characters from real people they
have known or studied. And in a general way, probably
most of our fictional characters are composites of real
or fictional people we have previously come across.
As a writer works on a script, the characters
often seem to take on a life of their own. They are so
vivid in the writer's imagination that they sometimes
seem to think their own thoughts and behave in ways
that can even surprise their creator.
It can be a little startling when this first
happens to a writer. I remember in the first feature
film script I ever wrote--a script that was almost as
bad as a first script ever gets. One of the main
characters died. I had not planned this. He was being
chased by the bad guys and they got him. About half
way through the script I knew it had to happen to
increase the threat to the protagonist.
But I had also grown to really like the
character. It was almost as if I had suddenly lost an
old friend. I was stunned for a couple of days.
People would ask me what was wrong. I could hardly
explain that a fictional character in my film script
had died suddenly. It was a real shock, but one that
only another writer would probably understand.
The point is that characters are usually very
vivid in a writer's mind. But this does not mean that
these same characters will be vivid in the screenplay.
We can know the characters so well that we forget to
let the audience in on what we understand about them.
I've seen writers do extensive background
notes on a character. And when you look at the
screenplay, virtually none of this is evident. The
characters might be acting "true to character" but we
are never given a chance to really discover who that
character is--at least not the character that exists so
vividly in the writer's imagination.
Characters have to come alive, not in the
writer's mind, but on the screen.
This is where characterization comes in.
Characterization is the art of externalizing
characters by events in which a person in the story
shows what he is by what he does and the manner in
which it is done.
The audience learns about a character by
watching what he does. But if your characters don't
act and react in a way that is designed to clearly clue
the audience in on who they are, then these characters
will remain indistinct and vague. And your story will
be far weaker.
Therefore everything a character does should
not only forward the plot, but should also be designed
to let the audience discover more about that character-
-and in particular, to learn the vital things that are
relevant to the story.
Faulty characterization will destroy the
illusion of reality and make the whole film
unconvincing or contrived for the audience.
By faulty characterization is meant not just
character inconsistencies. Faulty characterization
also includes failing to show the audience who the
character is and what this has to do with the story you
are telling.
Extensive background notes are not
necessarily the answer. Instead, you have to work out
what the audience needs to know about your character in
relation to the story. And when they need to know it.
So developing the characterization for a
character is not the same thing as working out the
character.
In real life it sometimes takes quite a while
to really get to know someone. And even then, people
who we think we know well sometimes suddenly surprise
us.
A film role written "true to character" will
not necessarily reveal who that character is to an
audience.
You have to characterize the characters in a
script if the audience is going to clearly understand
who they are.
Examples Of Good Characterization:
The African Queen
Charlie Allnut feels both inferior and superior to his
prim and proper, but highly intrepid passenger, Rose
Sayer. He is seen to be a grubby, ratty, little guy.
He politely seats Rose on board and then suggests that
they hide out for a few months as they are well stocked
with the essentials--cigarettes and gin. Later, after
Charlie gets drunk and passes out, Rose empties all the
alcohol into the river.
Lawrence Of Arabia
Early on in the movie, Lawrence holds up a match and
puts it out with his fingers, slowly closing them on
the head of the match. One of his fellow officers
tries it, and burns his fingers. He asks Lawrence what
the trick is. Lawrence answers, "The trick is not
minding that it hurts."
The Graduate
We are introduced to Benjamin at his graduation party.
He is very uncomfortable and uncommunicative,
especially about his future. He rapidly escapes to his
room to lie down away from the guests.
Midnight Cowboy
Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo lives the life of a rat, scurrying
through the gutters of New York City, holed up in an
abandoned, condemned tenement without electricity or
heat. He is seen through a succession of scenes to be
a "very busy" man. He's got food to steal, cigarettes
to bum and dumb yokels to hustle.
Rocky
Rocky Balboa underneath his rough, South Philadelphia
exterior, is a very sweet guy. He doesn't approve of
the casual racism and sexist banter of his buddies. As
a collection man for a loan shark, he takes verbal
I.O.U.s from the people he's supposed to hurt. He
pulls passed-out drunks into the shelter of doorways.
He lives alone with his two turtles, Cuff and Link.
Character Action
In a novel or short story, written to be
read, characters may be delineated by long
descriptions. The author may directly tell the reader
what the character thinks and why he thinks and acts
the way he does.
In a good screenplay, a writer must make his
characters liked or disliked by what they do.
The words "action" and "movement" have two
different meanings when it comes to screenwriting.
Movement is merely motion.
Action is usually the outward expression of
inner feelings.
Movement not put to special use remains only
motion. When movement is the result of a definite
purpose, when there is a motive behind it, it become
action.
Action is the stuff of which screenplays are
built.
Your characters, for instance, cannot just
indulge in reminiscences of what they have done. They
cannot just sit around and talk about what they plan to
do or hold witty conversation. They must do things.
One or two characters walking gives movement.
So does an automobile or a car or a ship or an
airplane. But unless this movement is utilized in some
way in the plot development, unless there is a motive
or a reason for it which the audience understands, it
is merely movement and not action.
Motive
Advice on screenwriting will often talk about
working out what your characters want or desire. This
is a somewhat incomplete view of motive or motivation.
No person performs an act without a reason
which seems good to him. There must be a reason before
there is an impulse to act, although to others this
reason may seem to be absurdly inadequate. A drunk
waving his arms frantically in the air may seem silly
unless we know that he sees a purple cow in the middle
of a busy downtown street and that he is trying to
drive the animal to the sidewalk before a car hits it.
As far as his befogged intellect is concerned, he has a
good reason. To the bystander there is no apparent
reason and so the action seems irrational or
ridiculous.
In a screenplay, a character's actions must
either be explained or be self-explanatory. Otherwise
they will seem absurd to the audience.
The reason any main character does anything
important to the plot must be made clear. The reason
can be completely ridiculous. But the character's
reason must be evident to the audience. And the more
unusual the reason, the more evident it must be.
Motivation is giving a reason for action.
This action, through the reason, then becomes important
or significant.
Every action and the result of every action
must be explained to the audience, either by inference
or by statement of fact.
Motivation gives interest to action through
making it understandable and therefore appreciated.
In the film Pretty Woman, for instance,
Edward, a very wealthy businessman, picks up a street
hooker. The film could have started out with him
cruising the street looking for action. For the plot
he had to pick up a street hooker rather than a high-
classed call girl. If we just saw him picking up a
hooker, this would have been very weak. We would not
have understood why a very rich man would do this and
it would not have been very believable. However, by
briefly first building two separate little crises, his
girlfriend leaving him and then his getting lost,
reasons were established for this wealthy businessman
to pick up and get into a conversation with the street
hooker. Then it was established that she was no dummy.
She knew things he didn't, and in a subject about which
he felt completely helpless--cars. Only then, and
after great hesitation, does he ask her up to his room.
Through these key points, Edward's getting involved
with a street hooker was made credible.
Motivation goes beyond what a character wants
in life. It involves giving a character a reason for
doing everything he does. Only in this way does every
action and sequence of action seem realistic or
credible to the audience. And it also has some
definite and positive bearing upon the plot. Each
action, everything that happens, must advance the story
or plot toward its climax in a definite and positive
way.
There is an excellent way to check whether
your plot is effectively motivated. I call this the
because test. You go through the character's main
actions and decisions describing them in terms of
"because."
In the film Pretty Woman:
Because Edward is in town to close a big
deal, there is a party in his honor.
Because he is tense about the deal, Edward
arranges for his girlfriend to come out to L.A.
Because he did not ask her first, she
resists.
Because neither is treating the other the way
they want, the relationship breaks up.
Because of the crisis, Edward leaves the
party early and alone.
Because he doesn't know his way around Los
Angeles, he gets lost and ends up on Hollywood Blvd.
Because he asks for directions, he meets
Vivian.
Because Vivian's roommate spent the rent
money on drugs, Vivian is desperate for money and
offers to give Edward directions for 5 bucks. And she
comes onto him in the car when he doesn't seem to want
her services.
Because Edward discovers that Vivian knows
things about cars--something he feels helpless about--
he respects and likes her a little.
Because he wants some uncomplicated sex and
company, he hires her for a hour.
Because Vivian wants to get it done quickly
so she can get back out on the street and earn more
money, Edward hires her for the whole night.
The whole film can be broken down this way
and one discovers that virtually everything in the plot
is motivated. It all makes perfect sense to us that
each character does what he or she does.
In any film that works well, each action must
be clearly explained and each motive clearly understood
if audience interest is to be maintained.
A character who does something for no
apparent reason will seem to be illogical to the
audience.
A character's motives must be acceptable to
the audience as reasonable and logical for that
character.
Examples Of Motivation:
Working Girl
Tess leaves Mick because she finds him in bed with
another woman.
Witness
John Brooker returns the boy and his mother to the
Amish community because their lives are in danger.
Pretty Woman
Vivian doesn't take Edward's offer to set her up as his
mistress because she has found her self-respect again
and no longer wants to be a prostitute. She now "wants
it all" in a relationship.
When Harry Met Sally
Harry and Sally begin to see each other because both
are lonely and both have recently broken up with their
mates.
It Happened One Night
Peter Warne misses the bus to wait for Ellie because he
wants an exclusive story on her dramatic flight to
marry King Westly.
The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade turns Brigid over to the law, even though he
loves her because he couldn't live with himself if he
turned a blind eye to the murder of his partner. It
would be against his own code. "When a man's partner
is killed, he's supposed to do something about it."
And Sam "won't play the sap."
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Jefferson Smith is appointed to finish out Senator
Foley's term because he is so inexperienced in the ways
of Washington that it is supposed that he will not
uncover a corrupt land deal.
On The Waterfront
Terry Malloy doesn't immediately inform on Johnny
Friendly's murder of Joey Doyle because Friendly helped
him a great deal when he was a kid.
Conflict And Characters
Only conflict which is the result of definite
motive is dramatic. If your protagonist, your hero,
starts out to achieve something, he must have good
reasons for doing so and the antagonist, in opposing
him, must have equally good reasons for his action.
There must be a direct objective behind these
actions. An abstract conflict or the prolonged
struggle of a life-time is unsuitable for dramatic
purposes. Conflict must involve a particular struggle
for some definite and worthwhile objective.
Dramatic interest centers on some good or
admirable purpose--and the danger to that purpose.
Even in The Godfather, where the protagonists are
criminals, they are imbued with some admirable
qualities and are represented as not being as bad or
evil as the antagonists. Moreover, Michael Corleone
starts out as a war hero and is only dragged into the
family business by circumstances.
Conflict does not necessarily mean physical
conflict. The nature of your conflict must always be
in keeping with the subject and the environment.
The conflict may also be what is sometimes
termed inner conflict or the conflict in the hero's own
heart. But in this case, both sides of this conflict
must be seen through action. Some of the strongest
drama comes from inner conflict.
In a strong screenplay, the entire action of
all the characters involved often grows from the
personality of the protagonist. Other characters are
there because of what the hero attracts and what he
repels. It is through them that many aspects of his
inner nature can be revealed.
But there is another aspect to conflict and
characters--one that is very important to character
development. "No man ever lived who could remain the
same through a series of conflicts which affect his way
of living," said Lajos Egri. "Of necessity he must
change, and alter his attitude toward life."
Whatever else results from the conflict in a
film, at least the protagonist must change in some way.
That change might simply be a bettering of material
possessions or circumstances. The poor man might now
be rich. A man and a woman may have found love.
Or the change might be profound, the
character becoming a new man or woman. Or it may
simply be a lesson learned.
What change occurs depends on your theme and
will be a direct reflection of it.
If your protagonist does not change in some
way by the end of your script, then the conflict has
been pointless.
More On Motive
Man's actions are the result of his
character. Acts are promoted by motive. So motive is
cause and cause must always be strong enough to sustain
the effect. Otherwise, the effect fails to be
convincing.
A novice screenplay usually suffers from weak
motives. Characters are made to do things with little
or no motive. Things happen without any cause. This
results in confusion and artificiality. The audience
becomes bored and may even ridicule the film.
When characters act without motive,
situations are weakened and the climax is enfeebled or
killed.
To maintain the illusion of reality--to make
the film seem real, to make it convincing to an
audience--characters must act as a result of reasonable
human motives and not as mere puppets.
Different characters are impelled by
different motives, for the motives of an individual are
influenced by the strength or weakness of his ideals
and by the strength or weakness of his will power.
Weak motives make weak characters.
Motives must be convincing. Any tendency to
"make the characters fit the plot" without giving them
sufficient, logical motivation will weaken your
screenplay.
Causes are frequently little things and
effects are often the big results that grow from them.
What Makes A Hero?
The audience must be on the protagonist's
side for a film to work.
Making the protagonist a hero type can help
to achieve this.
But what qualities make a hero?
One could list a large number of personality
traits that have worked to make effective screen heros-
-intelligence, wit, competence, good looks, affable
manner, uncompromising devotion and a great many more.
However, there is one quality that stands
ahead of all the others. That quality--rather
obviously--is courage.
Courage is not always manifest in a
spectacular show of valor. There are many different
kinds and shades of courage. There is courage of
expression--saying what one honestly feels in the face
of repression. Then again it is sometimes more
courageous to keep silent than to speak. There is
courage of action and the courage of composure. There
is courage of endurance, or of martyrdom, and the
courage of defiance. There is the courage of
attainment as well as that of sacrifice.
Bold adventure and daring enterprise when the
bullets are flying are far from the only form of
courage.
Courage is the human quality that commands
universal respect. A hero or heroine can get by with a
lot of other faults and yet still be admired if they
have extraordinary courage. Look at Scarlett O'Hara in
Gone With The Wind.
One would be hard pressed to find a
successful film where at least one character did not
display some form of courage. Without heroic appeal a
screenplay is almost certain to fail, no matter how
well it is otherwise crafted.
Compared to courage of character, courage in
the face of physical danger really is superficial. It
does not necessarily arouse admiration unless motivated
by courage of character.
It is also important to note that you should
never let a character become self-conscious of his own
heroism or take it seriously--not unless you are
creating that objectionable type purposely.
Examples Of Great Screen Heroes:
Rocky
He sets out to fight the champion believing he will get
beaten and hurt, but just wanting to go the distance.
Witness
John Brooker works to uncover corruption in the police
force even though it means he may be killed.
E.T.
E.T. gives the last of his "life force" to save his
human friend.
Working Girl
Tess sets out to represent herself as someone she is
not to close a big deal, putting what security she has
achieved in jeopardy.
Field Of Dreams
Ray sets out to follow his voices even though his farm
and his family's security is threatened.
Lawrence Of Arabia
He risks his life numerous times to unite the tribes
and help the Arabs achieve their own country.
Action And Reaction
One key difference between a stage play and a
film is that what the audience sees in a movie is far
more controlled.
In film, the writer, director and editor
determine exactly what the audience sees, for how long
and when they see it. The use of long shots, medium
shots, close shots and extreme close shots means that
the audience is getting exactly the information that is
intended for them to get and exactly when it is
intended that they get it.
This makes reaction far more important to
spell out in a screenplay. For the only reaction the
audience will see is that which is deliberately shown
them.
Screenwriter Dudley Nicholas (Stagecoach, The
Informer, etc.) first proposed the idea that the stage
was the medium of action while the screen was the
medium of reaction. He maintained that it was through
identification with the person being acted upon in a
film (and not the person acting) that a film builds up
its oscillating power with an audience.
At the point of any emotional crisis in a
film, when a character is saying something which
profoundly affects another, it is usually to this
second character that we cut. That cut does not have
to be spelled out in a script. But often the person's
reaction needs to be at least indicated.
But there is more to effective use of
reaction.
The reaction, cleverly extended, can create
stronger scenes. For it is frequently the reaction
rather than action which will most deeply move an
audience.
In Noel Coward's In Which We Serve there is a
scene: An officer is writing a letter to his wife when
the radioman enters and tells him his wife has died.
The reaction was continued to the point where the
officer goes up on deck and drops the letter into the
sea. This extended reaction allowed the audience to
feel much more for the officer.
In characterization, it is not just actions
which reveal who a character is. Reactions are also
part of characterization and in fact often may be more
revealing than actions.
In creating scenes that have impact, a
screenwriter is weaving a tapestry of action and
reaction. Both are important.