2.Main Content
Character Building
Thu 27 - Sat 29 October 2005
This brand new training course forms an integral part of SCENE London, The Script Factory’s annual screenwriting festival in association with The Times bfi London Film Festival.
CHARACTER BUILDING
Screenwriting often feels like a lonely occupation but even if you feel deprived of human company you will be spending many hours in the company of a whole cast of characters. But how do you get them out of your head and onto the page in a way that will convince funders and producers that an audience may want to spend an hour or two with them also?
We might admire your original premise, marvel at your tightly plotted structure or quote your smart dialogue, but what we want more than anything is for you to give us people: characters to fall in love with, to laugh at or cry with, to cheer on or to be terrified of. Through your characters we want vicariously to save the world, challenge an injustice, grieve a lost love, or grapple with our inner demons.
Whether you are building a screen story from scratch, or are on your tenth redraft, this brand new training course aims to give you a range of practical approaches to thinking about character and the impact of character choices on story design.
Taught over six sessions, held on the mornings of Thursday 27 – Saturday 29 October, Character Building is suitable for screenwriters and all those involved in the script development process, including creative producers. And because writing can be so isolating, we aim to make this course as sociable as possible: participants will have the opportunity to meet fellow writers and potential new collaborators during the coffee breaks and afternoons are kept free to allow you to take full advantage of the SCENE programme of seminars, masterclasses and preview screenings for which you will be able to buy concessionary rate tickets.
COURSE PROGRAMME
Thursday 27 October
10 – 11.30am “I know your type”
Building memorable characters means creating characters that are both unique individuals and recognisable types. However original a character might be, until they are pinned down and identified in terms of their type – hero, villain, angry father, rebellious daughter – the action of the story will remain elusive and the characters refuse to come to life. This session explores how working with archetypes – from Cinderella to David & Goliath – can clarify the design of the story and allow the creation of characters with universal appeal.
11.30 – 12noon Coffee Break
12 – 1pm “A leopard doesn’t change its spots”
Or does it? Screen characters generally get it harder than most as their creators test them by hurling a barrage of misfortunes their way: unrequited loves, burning passions, consuming fears, axe-wielding psychopaths in the basement. But do people really change under such pressure or is it rather that their true characters are revealed? This question will be explored through a thorough examination of the rites of passage genre, which deals with that most inevitable and subtle of transitions – growing up.
Friday 28 October
10 – 11.30 am “If you were in my shoes”
There is always another side to every story, so how do you ensure that the audience identifies with your main character and interprets the action in the way you intend? This session clarifies and explores the many important elements of screenwriting craft evoked by the phrase ‘point of view’, from the world view that emerges from the film to the way in which you structure individual scenes and sequences in order to direct the audience to see events through the eyes of a particular character.
11.30 – 12 noon Coffee Break
12 – 1pm “What you see is what you get”
A novelist can describe the innermost thoughts and feelings of a character. In a screenplay character is defined by what a person does and how they do it. A look betrays their real intentions; a gesture proves their words to be a lie. Everything of significance has to be seen. This session examines how making the essence of a character concrete and visible – externalising the internal – makes for economical and dramatic story telling.
Saturday 29 October
10 – 11.30am “Don’t make me the bad guy”
The last few years have seen a noticeable rise in the number of films with central characters to whom the word ‘hero’ would not routinely be applied: serial killers, paedophiles, assassins, con-men, adulterers, misogynists and losers. This session questions what we really mean when we say that screen characters have to be sympathetic and considers the various ways in which the writer can ensure that audiences will be content to spend a couple of hours in the cinema with people from whom they would probably run a mile from in real life.
11.30 – 12 noon Coffee Break
12 – 1pm “Losing the plot”
Plot driven stories – thrillers, action adventure stories, crime stories – routinely develop a love-interest or personal relationship story to counterpoint the main action. Without it characters can seem little more than functions of the plot. In character driven stories, however, personal relationships are the main action. The question becomes how much plot is needed to sustain the audience’s interest and reveal the truth about the characters? This final session explores the balance between the action line and the relationship line in different kinds of screen story.
All course sessions will be taught by Rob Ritchie, Marilyn Milgrom and Justine Hart from The Script Factory’s training team.
Booking Information
The Character Building course is open for bookings now. The course fee is £120 + VAT (total £141) for non-members, with a special price of £95 + VAT (total £111.63) for Script Factory members. The course fee includes a comprehensive training pack and light refreshments during the coffee break each day, and participants on the Character Building programme can take advantage of concessionary rate tickets for all other SCENE events.
To book your place by credit/debit card, please call Josh on 020 7323 1414.
For details on how to become a Script Factory member .
For details on SCENE .