Until recently, if you had asked me about one thing more important than all the above, I would have replied: goals. Characters must have a clear goal, and ideally a goal that is not open-ended.

But goals are not enough.

I say, you may dispose of every single one of those ‘must haves’, as long as you have this one trait that will rule them all: willpower.

I have read many scripts by writers who took the advice about creating ‘goals’. They set up a clear first act, with a visual goal and a clearly defined end point.

Then the main character moves into the Second Act … to do something else. Or nothing at all.

Great Characters Need More Than Goals

You can have goals as much as you like; if you don’t have a character who is obsessive about achieving them, they are no use.

Think about the number of characters who summon magic by sheer willpower. In the Star Wars franchise, The Force is really just that. Similarly, in movies like The Matrix, Lord Of The Rings, and countless superhero movies, characters concentrate on what they want – and magically it happens.

Remember Yoda vs. Count Dooku?

https://ozzywood.wistia.com/medias/vt4kt1s9s5?embedType=async&seo=false&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=1080

One of my favourite examples is Drew Barrymore’s character in Firestarter. “Back off!”

It is not enough to desire something

A strong main character has the drive to take action, and do the right thing to achieve that what is desired. Often ‘the right thing’ is exactly what they are afraid to do.

In Jaws, Brody wants to protect the people of Amity, but closing the beaches just isn’t enough. He must go into the water and kill the shark.
In Inception, Don Cobb wants to see kids, but before his wish is granted, he must first take action and do what he hates the most: inception.
In The Untouchables, Eliot Ness wants to jail Capone, but he needs be willing to do it ‘the Chicago way’, and beat Capone at his own game.
In Groundhog Day, Phil wants the girl, but his willpower will have to be strong enough to do what he despises the most: being honest and kind.

The same goes for TV characters. Think about your favourite dramatic character, and the chances are that s/he is unstoppable: Jimmy McNulty, Walter White and Frank Underwood. Comedy doesn’t always follow this principle, but just look at Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation, and you see what I mean.

In successful small indie movies, the same goes. Remember Jennifer Lawrence’s character in Winter’s Bone, Emile Hirsch in Into The Wild and Kumiko.

One of my favourite character in recent years is Lou in Nightcrawler. He’s not a nice guy. And although it takes the whole first act to figure out what exactly he wants, his willpower is unrelenting. This glues us to his character, and into the movie.

Give your main character strong willpower, and it will fuel your script with magic.

-Karel Segers

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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:: Character Breakdown
:: Bad TV Teaches Lessons
:: What is ‘Voice’?
:: Creating Memorable Characters
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:: 7 Essential Habits for Writers
:: Screenplay Formatting
:: A Guide to Scriptwriting Essentials
:: Your Moral Vision

Pitching & Selling

:: How to Write a Better Logline
:: Receiving Screenwriting Notes
:: Why 2nd Best Isn’t Good Enough
:: Tips for Subbing to Mags
:: Don’t Forget to get Your Screenplay Reviewed!
:: Script Feedback Advice

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_______________________________

With thanks to Jamie C. and Brooke Trezise.

Enjoy!

Karel

Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest series Project Integrate is out now.

jamiecampbell.com.au

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_______________________________

With thanks to Jamie C.

Enjoy!

Karel

Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest series Project Integrate is out now.

jamiecampbell.com.au

_______________________________

With thanks to Sol.

Enjoy!

Karel

_______________________________

COMING SOON to the Story Department:

• The next week articles

With thanks to Sol.

Enjoy!

Karel

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

_______________________________

With thanks to Sol.

Feel free to give your feedback in the Questions and Comments below.

Enjoy!

Karel

And don’t forget you can subscribe to our posts so you don’t miss any of this, ever.

• Where to download free scripts – and why you should.
• Roger Corman: The role model we desperately need again.
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• Times rather eclectic Top 100 of the decade. Which have you seen?
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• The Hero’s Journey in The Matrix

COMING SOON to the Story Department:

• The Mid Sequence in THE UNTOUCHABLES
• Inciting Incident vs. Call to Adventure

With thanks to Sol.

Enjoy!

Karel

Here’s my weekly selection from the blogosphere. Feel free to recommend anything or give your feedback in the Questions and Comments below.

And don’t forget you can subscribe to our posts so you don’t miss any of this, ever.

• Robert McKee goes Campbell: Culture makes no difference
• “CUT TO:” – Cut it out.
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• Structural breakdown of THE UNTOUCHABLES (Monday night midnight)
• Paul Gulino: Screenwriting, the Deadline Approach.

Enjoy!

Karel

In film, you can only reveal what a character is about by showing its actions.

Dialogue doesn’t work, because it sounds false, ‘on the nose’. As a matter of fact: characters often say exactly the opposite of what they mean until the Ordeal / Plot Point 2.

The character camp may say: you need to know the character before you can give it reactions to plot.

Well, do you?

Or is this plotting exactly how you find out about your character? I believe the latter.
To get to know your character, you imagine events and situations, then you imagine how the character will respond. You don’t know your character until you have gone through this process. It is the response to a number of meaningful situations that will fully define the true character.

So, first you need to design the situations and responses.

And if you want to create character transformation, the nature of those responses changes over the course of the movie. Moreover: those changes have to be laid out in a particular way over the course of the story, or the audience won’t get it.

Breaking news: you have just created PLOT. Story structure.

Because the audience is conditioned by all the movies they’ve seen before, this story design cannot be random. The audience has an expectation, based on the structure of movies from their viewing history.

Only a very small share of the audience is willing to enjoy challenging structures.

Even this small audience keeps shrinking. Less and less producers, financiers, distributors and exhibitors are willing to take the risk.
To ignore this fact is not a good career decision under the current climate. To tell people they can ignore this fact is really sabotaging their careers.

To summarise:

Character is defined by actions. Actions are shown in a structured way: plot.

Therefore, you need plot in order to express character.  Q.E.D.

If you don’t understand the structural principles that govern in the creation of the plot, your film will fail. Always? No. Only in 99.9% of the cases.
So feel free to ignore the structural principles.

In the same way, how do you define a tribe?

A tribe is defined by its rituals.  They are the collection of structured actions the tribe performs. Structured, because they happen in the same order under the same circumstances.

Stray from the exact order in which the rituals are performed and the tribe will be confused.

A movie is a ritual with an inherent structure.
The audience expects you to respect this.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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Over thirty minutes into the movie, Redford’s character identifies himself suddenly as the new warden and announces in the same scene he wants to force through some serious reform.

Finally we have a 1st Act Turning Point.

But why was the warden’s identity hidden from the audience all along? Apart from a sudden surprise, it doesn’t add a thing. The use of dramatic irony (i.e.: the audience knows, but the other characters don’t) would have been much more powerful and it would have allowed for the badly needed character development.

Roger Ebert wrote:

“There’s no room for the spontaneity of real human personalities caught in real situations. That’s especially annoying with the character of Brubaker himself, played well but within a frustratingly narrow range by Robert Redford.”

Redford’s performance is rock solid given the material. BRUBAKER’s real problem is its flawed structure: half an hour into the movie, we have run out of screentime to sufficiently set up the protagonist’s character and potential internal conflicts. Redford didn’t have anything to work with, which makes Ebert’s comment rather unfair.

What the screenwriters did achieve quite well though, is the setup of antagonists and external obstacles in the way of the protagonist’s objective. Perhaps this explains why the film did work for me.

(originally published 06/05/2006, edited 31/10/2007)

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!