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Beginning Screenwriting: Character Development, Part I

© Travis Sexton

I’ll never forget my first attempt at writing a full-length screenplay. It took off with the speed and beauty of a brand new Ferrari, and somewhere around page 28 it began to sputter like a beat-up Volkswagon. I could sense that something wasn’t right but assumed it would work itself out. I was wrong. It died at page 35. I literally spent weeks trying to figure out why I couldn’t get pass that dreaded page. I re-read through all my notes, I made revisions, yet nothing worked. Eventually, out of frustration, I gathered all 35 pages together, put them in a folder and buried it somewhere in my closet.

Sometime later, as I was a quarter of the way into my new screenplay, I realized that I was running into the same problem. My story was sputtering. Again, I couldn’t figure out what was happening. Desperate for any input, I asked my roommate to read my script. I anxiously awaited his analysis. When he finished reading, he looked at me with confusion and said, “I don’t understand why Henry slept with Maggie?” “Well,” I said, “he slept with her because…Well, you see he…” His look told me everything. I was rattled and angry that he could see through my script so easily. “I don’t know,” I yielded. I then snatched the script and stomped off to my room.

I didn’t have the answer to his question.

I lay on my bed and began to think of the reasons why I didn’t have the answer. I reasoned that Henry slept with Maggie because that’s what the scene called for - but deep down inside I knew his question went beyond the storyline. He was asking about Henry. Henry was someone I should have known from the beginning but was in too much a rush to start writing. I didn’t think I’d have to worry about developing Henry’s character. I had it all worked out so beautifully in my head. Obviously, I was wrong.

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So just how important is character development? Let’s look at what a couple of veteran screenwriters say: Syd Field, in Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, states that, “Character is the essential foundation of your screenplay. It is the heart and soul and nervous system of your story. Before you put a word on paper, you must know your character.” In his book How to Write a Selling Screenplay, Christopher Keane calls character “… the flesh and blood of every screenplay.” If you still want more proof, simply go to your local bookstore and look inside the many different books on screenwriting. I guarantee all of them will agree on the importance of taking the time to develop and build your character(s).