What do you think is the best secret of having a great character? I’m working on one of my old scripts and I believe every character is great, but it’s always that one character that really stands out and I really want to know what is the secret of having a great character?
Screenwriting : Screenwriting, Networking, Learning by Josiah Bhola Hillaire
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The secret is to make them interesting. And good writing certainly helps.
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Josiah Bhola Hillaire I agree with Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal". Make your characters interesting. Also give your characters goals, make your characters active (going after their goals), give your characters strengths and flaws, give your characters struggles/obstacles they have to overcome, and give your characters unique traits/hobbies/habits.
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A real human base and logic, then something that makes them unique. The more people can relate to the character the better and more iconic they will become.
I agree Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal" Maurice Vaughan Craig D Griffiths
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Maurice Vaughan I agree. I make a lot of my characters realistic because I want them to have their own personalities and have their own goals and stories.
That's great, Josiah Bhola Hillaire. Do you make bios for your characters before you write scripts?
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I prefer to make my characters as realistic as possible - that means positives, negatives. Goals, flaws. Make them make the wrong choice every now and again. No person on this earth is perfect, but everyone (me, I am everyone) LOVES a character arc where the character can be a total asshole in the beginning, but goes through just enough that they realise something important and stop being an asshole. To that end, I like to do in-depth profiles of my characters, interview them, find out who they are, what makes them tick. Even if I disagree with a choice they would make (morally, politically, emotionally, etc), I stick with it objectively because I feel it leads to a more realistic character. Does that make sense?
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Interviewing characters is a great idea, Amy Jayne Conley.
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Relatability with the audience/ target audience.
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I agree @SamCochran
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This is such a complex ask…. Interesting characters (or at least the main characters) have to have charisma, as in, we have to care what happens to them (even if we don’t like them) and their decisions need to be kind of unpredictable but ‘in character’ and be relevant to the plot… behaviour that’s embedded or woven in and driving the action of the story. So tough!! I find that really good characters arrive with a good plot… be it like cracking an egg or digging potatoes… they are uncovered simultaneously. For me anyway.
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@LeeGriffin that’s cool