Character Research For Film Scripts

Character Research For Film Scripts…

You’ve got a great idea for a script. Your main character is a hotel manager who, with sheer will and determination, wants to become the owner of the biggest chain of hotels in the world. Okay, so that’s not a great idea but you get my point.

Every script needs a main character to drive the story along. The main character should be, in general, the deepest and most interesting character. When you finally get to sitting down and starting the scriptwriting process you realise that you don’t know the first thing about running a hotel. Bit of a stumbling block, don’t you think? This is where character research comes in.

You need to find what drives these characters, what their concerns are, how they keep going, what their goals are. It is only in getting to grips with your character that they will light up your script rather than dragging it along with them.

General Character Research

The one great thing about general character research is that you’ve always got something to fall back on. Remember how your grandma would always say goodbye to her cat before leaving her house? Or how your friend would always sit on certain seat on the bus if it was available? These are all general character traits which can be noticed while people watching.

Most writers are people watchers. Every little quirk you see in people you know, or people you don’t, can’t be used to flesh out the characters in your script. I assume that more or less everyone who’s reading this went to a school of some sort. If you’re writing a script with a couple of schoolchildren in then you can draw on your personal experience and memories and create a couple of solid characters with fun tails of pranks and mischief.

Everything you experience in life can be taken as general character research for scriptwriting. Every emotion you’ve felt, every relationship, every job provides with a broad background of character knowledge you can draw upon.

Specific Character Research

I’ve heard a few times that you should “write what you know” and while there is merit in that, part of the fun for many scriptwriters is immersing themselves in a new environment.

Using my opening idea of a hotel manager I’ll highlight what specific character research is. I don’t personally know any hotel managers but that does not need be a stumbling block.

Information is easier than ever to access. I’m sure if you were to search the internet they’d be a blog of a hotel manager, a myspace or facebook page or maybe even a forum full of hotel managers…which is a scary thought. You could strike up an online rapport with one of these hotel managers and have a wealth of information at your fingertips.

Go down to you local library (if you want to be a scriptwriter, try to avoid ever paying for anything!) and read a book on business management. Depending on how good the library is they may even have one specifically on hotel management.

My favorite approach though is the personal one. Treat yourself to a short break and stop in a small hotel. Get talking to the manager and let him know you’re a writer, you’d be surprised how open people will be with you especially if you offer to take them for a meal or a coffee. When people hear you’re a writing a script and they can help you the lure of their having some portion of their life on the big screen is just too much for most people to resist.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this piece on character research for film scripts. Stay tuned because there’ll be more to come. In the meantime, learn more here…

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