I just glanced through my many unfinished scripts, and noticed that I almost always write about the same kinds of people, or people in a similar situation, although they may handle it very differently.

Almost all of my scripts feature a young female protagonist, often a teenager, that somehow feels completely disconnected or rejected by soceity in some way.

And I'm a guy.

I don't know what compels me to write about girls, or women, but I guess I just find them fascinating...

On the other hand I never ever write about doctors, lawyers, firefighters, cops, journalists (unless they're down and out doing obits and sitting in bars all day) and so forth. Something that's really well anchored in soceity's routine quickly gets predictable and boring to me. My characters are almost never bound my a carreer, or work, undergoing education (unless it's set in school) or knows what they're doing with their lives. Or what they want.

I don't know if Catcher in the Rye being my favorite book has something to do with this though...

It made me think. Do you find that you write about a specific group of people or people who share certain traits, or do you manage all layers of soceity, classes and genders?

And how, or why, do you choose the characters you write about?

I always seem to write about teenagers because I know what type of situations they go through (plus, I am a teenager myself). But I figure once I get older and find out the difficulties of being an adult (or the fun parts), I will begin to learn how to write scripts concerning adults. But right now I stick to teenagers.

I usually have the typical average teen, maybe the "I'm so popular" jock, maybe a punk, but usually I set it at average so I don't create stereotypical characters.

Sean

Yeah, people always chant the mantra "Write what you know" and although I often pour some of myself into certain characters, the female characters I create are never rooted in anyone I know or myself. It's strange...

I usually steer clear of types, like jocks, because I have no idea what makes them tick. I don't understand them and I fear if I did a script about them I'd oversimplify and end with something a la "Revenge of the Nerds" where the jocks are mean for no particular reason other than they're popular and are allowed to be mean.

I always try to understand why my characters do what they do, even the villains, so they don't become too 2-D. Although it is hard...

My lead character(s) is almost always some facet of myself and that character often behaves as I believe I probably would in the same situation. These characters are always varied in their outward appearance and the plots are varied as well, but psychologically, I write about who I know and just place me into the plots I create.

If the character isn't me, it's often someone else I know or knew. It helps to make them a little more real.

I feel sometimes I write who I would like to be. Traits embodied in someone I aspire to be, rather than who I necessarily am.

And other times I simply create a character who's more based in characters I remember from stories I heard when I was a kid, or influenced by old movies.

In the simplest terms and most convenient definitions...I usually write about freaks and misfits mostly as the protagonists. Or people faced with a tough situation. I like writing about the darker side of life, to me that's more intersting than everybody just  lives happily ever after. Yeah, but I like writing for the underdog. So far my screenplays have depicted punks, freaks, serial killers, a deaf person, people who are dissatisfied with society or the hand they were dealt in life, drug addicts, and my newest one deals with a heavily afflicted nerd with tourettes. So yeah, I just like dealing with real issues that make people think, or whip a little bit of message in there somehow, about some issue I find unfair.

There have been parts of me in a lot of my characters, but they're also circumstancial to what the story needs to be told right. So, it's like 50/50 usually.

Usually, the antagonists are the rich, and the popular crowd, ie jocks (although my new one I think shows a jock in a more positive light than I'd normally do) and people who aren't tolerant or understanding of other people basically,  and judge others, and think their shit don't stink. But others are also like domestic abusers and drug addicts, and of course the occasional zombie.

No matter who I'm writing for, I always try to make them seem real all the time. I don't usually make strict guidelines between the protagonist and antagonist. Usually, I have the protagonist do bad things sometimes too, or make things difficult to tell who the real "villain" of the story is.

I usually stick to what I know. I usually write for my own race, gender and age range(16-24) Is usually the type of people I writie about, and I've never been another race or gender so yeah. But I try to throw in other races in there to mix it up, and I have one feature with a main female protagonist.

As I write more, I also find that I get more experimental, and am trying out new things, and going in different directions than I normally would've done in the past.

Yeah, I've found the antagonist is often the hardest characeter to write, or at least for me, to write to my satisfaction. If I don't know what drives them or sympathize just a little with them I find them boring.

Most of my villains are vicious and cold, but ultimately they're also pathetic. I think the most interesting villain is the one you pity in the end. And not in the "Aww, you poor thing" kinda way, but more when the character reveals himself to be so crippled by his malevolence and 'evil ways' that you see him/her for what they truly are.

That's not always the case, but I tend to avoid using Bond clichés like courteous villains who invite the protagonist over for Tea to discuss their plans or reveal how they 'got away with it'.

I usually never spend time with well-meaning messages in my scripts, since that aspect never really interested me. I never had a desire to be political (in one way or another) or start a discussion on a subject. I really just want to tell a story, nothing more.

For me, I write for just about any kind of character. I find that character studies are very interesting. Like one stated,"Write what you know" I do that very thing in that when I look at a particular character I attempt to identify with a trait or an aspect. Somtimes it's their drive sometimes their motivation, (what would I do). I always instill a bit of myself, whether it's past feelings or questions that I asked of myself(Sometimes it is intentionally the opposite so by default I'm still in there).

What's interesting to me is to see how similar my characters come to my own beliefs sometimes and how different they end up being. I wonder, if things went different in my life, that one Butterfly effect moment happened, would I be that character?

It's always interesting but no matter how deranged or far removed from me, a character that I write for, I can always see a bit of myself in there.

Before starting a new screenplay I always do a little exorcise where I jot down feelings I may have had recently then write those into a character or into their backstory so that is another reason that they tend to emulate me in some way albeit small.

--Kotton

Quoted from Death Monkey I just glanced through my many unfinished scripts, and noticed that I almost always write about the same kinds of people, or people in a similar situation, although they may handle it very differently. Almost all of my scripts feature a young female protagonist, often a teenager, that somehow feels completely disconnected or rejected by soceity in some way.

I, too, generally write about the same kind of people -- outsiders, outcasts. The script I'm focussing on now, "Blood is Pretty," involves a kinda faceless collection of misfits. My lead character, in fact, steals an Amish doll -- it, as all Amish dolls are, is faceless. I like the faceless, the homeless, the drunks, the ones that most of us, as we come and go, try to ignore.

Even the one short I've submitted, which is far different from what I usually write, is based on the idea that society honors what it shouldn't -- normalcy. Let's face it, the world's a fucked up place, and it's not the "fuck ups" that have fucked it up. It's the "good" people." That, I think, sums up my scripts. At least that's what I'm striving for.  

In short, the characters I sketch, usually, in RL, are shunned.

Quoted from Death Monkey And I'm a guy. I don't know what compels me to write about girls, or women, but I guess I just find them fascinating...

I like female leads. And, really, in terms of movies, there aren't enough of them.

Quoted from Death Monkey On the other hand I never ever write about doctors, lawyers, firefighters, cops, journalists (unless they're down and out doing obits and sitting in bars all day) and so forth.

lol, I'll have to read your work -- sounds like stuff I'd enjoy. Ever read any Bukowski poems?

Great question,

Seth

Men that have an innocence about them. That fumble through what life hands them and usually come out on top. An underdog that isn't trying to be a hero.  

Incompetent manipulative sons of bitches. To whom the hero is considered less than a pawn.

Strong willed women with ulterior motives and mysterious origins.

I haven't wrote anything long enough to create a defining character. With my short i concerntrate more on the story and just use my characters as pawns. Character is something i need to work on.

I like to write about people at some critical point in their lives when something happens to it, whether it be an epiphany or a near-death experience or whatever it is. Anyway, this thing makes them look back on their lives and they realise that they've made a big mistake and are out for redemption. This is basically the story of Godfather III, which is why I like and respond to it so much. Whether or not they achieve their redemption depends on the story. I've never really done this very well and I've certainly never posted a script on here in which I have tried a redemption story, but I find them the most emotionally moving. Part of the reason why GFIII makes me tear up every time I see it. Does that make me sound absolutely pathetic and emotionally unstable? That GFIII makes me cry? Oh well, I don't care.


Cheers, Chismeister.

Quoted from Seth I, too, generally write about the same kind of people -- outsiders, outcasts. The script I'm focussing on now, "Blood is Pretty," involves a kinda faceless collection of misfits. My lead character, in fact, steals an Amish doll -- it, as all Amish dolls are, is faceless. I like the faceless, the homeless, the drunks, the ones that most of us, as we come and go, try to ignore. Even the one short I've submitted, which is far different from what I usually write, is based on the idea that society honors what it shouldn't -- normalcy. Let's face it, the world's a fucked up place, and it's not the "fuck ups" that have fucked it up. It's the "good" people." That, I think, sums up my scripts. At least that's what I'm striving for.   In short, the characters I sketch, usually, in RL, are shunned. I like female leads. And, really, in terms of movies, there aren't enough of them. lol, I'll have to read your work -- sounds like stuff I'd enjoy. Ever read any Bukowski poems? Great question, Seth

I don't think I've ever done a story about homeless people; most of my drunks are well-natured people fallen from grace at some point. I don't think I've ever handled alcoholism as social issue; with me the issues are always personal and never representative of something bigger than the story.

But yeah, outsiders are the most fun! I've made a niche for frustrated outsiders who don't understand how life works, or how you're supposed to 'play' the game, or at least shun the way you're supposed to play. I think that's a great driving force, that they don't know where they're going or why, because that allows them try anything to get there!

I agree about female leads. And these days, if you have a female lead she's pretty much always a carreer-woman of some sort (to counter the old stereotypes). Why can't we have a woman like Bill Murray in Broken Flowers? A girl like Holden Caulfield? A woman who is neither an accessory to the male protagonist nor an empowered ambitious go-getter? I want a gal who's confused about life, who doesn't know what she wants but is damn sure what she doesn't want! Desillusioned, naive, and neither sex-kitten nor feminist!

Well this is turning into a rant, but it made me think of the reason I might like female leads; the variety in motion pictures right now is pretty slim.

Although, I actually liked Gwyneth Paltrow in Proof.

I haven't actually finished any of the scripts with these kinds of themes or protagonists (hell, I've only finished one short), but when I do, I'll let you know...

I've never read Bukowski but often been told I should. So I probably will! Got any suggestions where to start?

Haha did I just get censored because of the word "d a m n"?

Gosh Darn it, that's a fudging load of...barbecue sauce!

My protagonists are usually twenty-somethings with alternative interests (filmmaking, cartooning, foreign culture, heavy metal, etc.), as opposed to your typical party animals, and tend to have some sort of philosophical yet simplistic outlook on life. My antagonists tend to be in some position of power or influence, self-righteous, stand behind some sort of banner larger than themselves (science, religion, etc.), and who have little or no respect for human life other than their own or... they're just downright sick freaks.

I prefer not to limit myself to only certain types of characters. In addition to those mentioned above, I try to write about everyone in between as well.