{"id":318,"date":"2011-08-08T13:43:26","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T13:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/?p=318"},"modified":"2024-12-09T18:07:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T18:07:37","slug":"dont-have-too-many-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/dont-have-too-many-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Have Too Many Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re planning your screenplay<\/a> make sure you only include the characters you need in order to tell your story.\u00a0 It may sound like an obvious statement but many writers make this mistake because they just don\u2019t think about it.\u00a0 It can easily happen.\u00a0 You outline your story, flesh out the arc of your protagonist, clarify your theme and then dive into the script scene by scene.\u00a0 The problem arises because as you write event to event you simply introduce characters as they are required and before you know it you may have multiple voices all singing the same song.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you may not even realize that this is a problem, let alone the<\/span> problem with your screenplay and it\u2019s usually left for others with a keen eye to point out.\u00a0 So if you are certain that each character you create is crucial to your story, just take a little time at the end of the first draft to read through with this task in mind and double-check you haven\u2019t doubled up on essentially the same supporting character.<\/p>\n

And watch out for \u201csounding-boards\u201d \u2013 you know, the best friend who literally just waits around off-screen for the hero to enter frame and unload their hopes and fears.\u00a0 We all have them in our lives so I\u2019m not saying get rid of them, just make sure you handle each \u201cbest friend\u201d or \u201cwork colleague\u201d in their own way so they have their own voice and own life so we, as an audience, don\u2019t see that you\u2019ve simply invented this guy or gal as a shoulder to cry on.\u00a0 Make us feel that they have their own lives and even their own character arcs.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, just because their role in your mind is simply to be a sounding board, doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t develop their own journey.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself, who is this person?\u00a0 Why are they in this scene?\u00a0 What do they contribute to the scene, protagonist\/antagonist, plot and movie?\u00a0 Are they merely a sounding board for you or your central characters?\u00a0 If so, that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing so long as their dialogue and actions are handled deftly, but it is a bad thing if their dialogue is on the nose and expositional.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a really<\/em> bad thing if they take on the same basic role as another supporting character, i.e. propping up the lead.<\/p>\n

If you do find a few characters that don\u2019t really have their own unique voice and personality or even life outside of the movie then perhaps you should consider either rewriting their dialogue and role, cutting them, or combining them with another character who is more clearly defined.<\/p>\n

The point to remember with movie writing<\/a> is that you only have so much time to tell your story \u2013 so use it wisely.\u00a0 Don\u2019t waste screen time on a character that is just there to plug a gap in an awkward silence or tell the audience the plot.\u00a0 Again, there are always exceptions but generally you need to be succinct in your writing and that means limiting the number of speaking parts to those that are absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re planning your screenplay make sure you only include the characters you need in order to tell your story.\u00a0 It may sound like an obvious statement but many writers make this mistake because they just don\u2019t think about it.\u00a0 It can easily happen.\u00a0 You outline your story, flesh out the arc of your protagonist, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[136,110,134,132,131,130,133,135,97,137],"class_list":["post-318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dan-bronzites-script-tips","tag-audience","tag-characters","tag-movie-writing","tag-planning-a-screenplay","tag-planning-a-script","tag-planning-your-screenplay","tag-planning-your-script","tag-scene","tag-story","tag-story-planning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t