Activity

When you’re preparing to write a scene, first establish the purpose, then find the components, the elements contained within the scene. Then determine the content. Suppose you wanted to set a scene in a restaurant. What components could you effectively use? Possibly the waiter has a cold, or is sta…

A short time later, I had the opportunity to interview Robert Towne, and during the course of our conversation I asked how he went about creating his characters, especially how he conceived Jake Gittes, the Jack Nicholson character. He replied that the first question he often asks himself when appr…

One of Henry James’s theories is termed the Theory of Illumination. James said that if your character occupies the center of a circle and all the other characters he interacts with surround him, then each time a character interacts with the main character, the other characters can reveal, or illumi…

Having a character change during the course of the screenplay is not a requirement if it doesn’t fit your character. But transformation, change, seems to be an essential aspect of our humanity, especially at this time in our culture. I think we’re all a little like Melvin (Jack Nicholson) in As Goo…

Reading it from this perspective, I saw four things, four essential qualities that seemed to go into the making of good characters: (1), the characters have a strong and defined dramatic need; (2), they have an individual point of view; (3), they personify an attitude; and (4), they go through some…