As I am writing my script, I am on page 11 and not much has happened except the very first scene.  I have been trying to develop the main characters a bit so people know what they're like.  Just wondering, about how many pages do you all spend developing your characters before you dive into the main action of the story?

Usually after about 10 pages, the reader should know who the main character is and what he/she has to overcome to reach the resolution of the movie.

Not all movies are like this though, it's just a common theme. You can continue to develop the characters, but by atleast the second act, the audience should have a good idea about each character and why they would do the things they do (second act usually starts around 30 pages in...)

Hope this helps!

If you develop your characters BEFORE you write the script, you won't have to go through so many drafts before the script feels right.  

This will sound so ridiculous, and almost school-like, but before I wrote my Goonies script I first wrote very in depth individual characterizations for each person in my story - I know I had the help of the characters as they were kids, but I spent a lot of time going through what I though each of their intersts, hobbies, relationships and lifestyles were like 20 years later, before I wrote them out into my script.

I think its really important that you establish strong characters and that they stand apart from one another, because so much can be told through dialogue alone, provided you know them inside out - I think that's how I managed to eliminate so much unnecessary narration and direction, through dialogue alone....

Hope that helps!

1st don't write to just write... well, do it when you feel you need the practice, but know what you kinda want to write... it's like this.

~ Do you get in your car and never, ever, know where it is you're going? I mean ever. ~

By and large, no you don't.  Sometimes you get in there and go for a ride around town or to drink your sorrows away cause of said reason over here... but by & large, you always know where your destination is when you get in that car.  It's almost like your blueprint to life.

Screenwriting is no different.  Always have some sort of idea about where it is you, not only wanna take yourself, but us the readers/watchers/whatever, cause we're along for the ride to in this certin instants.

I mainly write shorts... it's the best way I know how to convey fast, needed material as opposed to slow, methodical dragging material... ya know?  

By page 10 you should know all your characters "your main characters, not your plot pinch characters or point characters"

By page 10 you should have your basic story down for us to kick around in our heads.  By this I don't mean everything... I don't mean every single detail of what's really going on... you need  3 pinches in the 1st act, atleast... you need to start it off with something and about 15 pages in you need something else to grab us and then you need to carry us over into the 2nd act, around page 25 to 30, with something even bigger.

You see what I mean?

1- unfolding event -- start
2- leading into event -- Page 15
3- the events of the 1st act come to a close, but throw us into the events of the 2nd act. -- 30

That is a rough example. It's what I use when I write feature length screenplays, however, I often write shorts so this rule is the cause and effect to that.

When I write a short... I go into it like such...

By page 5 everything is laid out.
By page 10 we've got to where we are going, always. You might not see this at 1st, but we did.
By page 20 things have fallen apart, gotten worse, gotten better, something.
By page 25 to 30 the end is set up and you've just been taken on "A LONG STRANGE TRIP" << no pun intended ;)


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Writing characters, and I'm very busy here, I don't really need to get into all of this... I really don't. Um...

Write characters you know. Unless you are very cultural and pick up and see things in and around you easily.

Persay... If your name is Reggie Ray and you live in cow town U.S.A. you've probably never had too much on hand time with Jamal Green from Crenshaw.

Write who and what you know 1st and formost... always. Later, if you wanna get flashy and edgy, try something else... but if this is your 1st screenplay... don't act as if it's an epic or a character drama, cause it won't be.  No matter what you or anyone else you know says to you've got a 85% chance of it sucking.

Just my thoughts on your situation, only...

BALTIS~

Thanks for the advice guys, this will actually be my second screenplay.  The first sucked and just didn't turn out the way I expected.  This is turning out better.  I do have a pinch to start the movie and am just getting to the second one to raise some excitment.  Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll probably edit my script a bit to make it more exciting.

You don't have to necessarily reveal everything about your characters right away.  Let the story reveal the charcater, not a forced introduction.


Phil

No, you don't, but I find it helps knowing something about your characters.
You could always just write the initial draft, and write the characters as they come to you, then go back and add to that  8)

I've once found this tip helpful:  "Instead of writing what you know, write what you want to know."  That way, you'll stay curious, and you'll continue researching a lot of stuff.  Fun!

Yeah, but prostitution is illegal in most states.


Phil

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm working on my first draft and I think it's actually coming along good.  I have the characters laid out, some action, and the general story in place.  I also have what I think to be a pretty good ending in mind.

Make sure your characters are more than laid out.  Make sure they're FULLY laid out.

Severel years ago, I edited comics for a short-lived company.  Part of my job was reading the submissions from would-be writers.  When asked to describe their characters, all I ever got were their superpowers.  When I asked them what these characters did when they weren't saving the world, most of them got quiet.


Phil

For me at least it's the characters that drive my scripts - if I don't know them, then how can I write a script?

The reason scripts like "Spiderman 2" work is because the writers understand the characters.
Catwoman has the opposite effect.

Well I feel that my characters are now well laid out, the important characters each have discernible features and characteristics that make them who they are.  All my characters are also different than other characters in my script so that no two people have the same qualities and merely copies of one another.  All in all, I'm quite pleased right now with my characters, and now I'm about to begin going into the heavy action and middle of the story.

In my script, 'The Burnout,' you don't find everything about the main character until the end.


Phil

That may work, or it may not.
It all depends on the type of script.
A lot of dramas need to have an established character before they can move on with the story.

The point I'm trying to make here, though, is that you don't have to reveal everything about a character at the very beginning.


Phil

Yeah, I feel that way and I do have some rather important aspects of some of the main characters left for later on in the stroy.

Generally speaking, if we know everything about your main character in the first few pages then you're probably using on-the-nose dialogue and/or the character isn't as fleshed out you you might think and/or you've described the character in the action.


Phil

I'm still learning about my main characters.  That's what makes the writing process fun.