Developing Your Characters: Creating Compelling Personas with Depth

Great screenplays aren’t just about what happens—they’re about who it happens to. No matter how innovative your plot or stunning your visuals, audiences connect emotionally through characters. This guide will help you develop multidimensional characters that drive your story and resonate with viewers long after the credits roll.

Why Character Development Is the Heart of Great Screenwriting

While plot provides structure, characters provide soul. The most memorable films feature characters who feel authentic, complex, and compelling. As screenwriter Aaron Sorkin notes, “Audiences don’t remember what your characters say or do; they remember how your characters made them feel.”

Building Characters From the Inside Out

Start With Internal Conflict

Every compelling character faces not just external challenges but internal ones as well. This internal conflict—the war within themselves—creates dimension and relatability.

Internal conflict often stems from:

• Contradictory desires: Wanting two incompatible things

• Values in opposition: When personal values clash with each other

• Identity struggles: Questions about who they are or who they should be

• Moral dilemmas: Situations where all choices have significant costs

Example: In The Dark Knight, Batman’s internal conflict stems from his desire to save Gotham versus his commitment to his moral code against killing—a conflict the Joker deliberately exploits.

Map Your Character’s Journey

Every character begins somewhere and ends somewhere else—emotionally, psychologically, or morally. This transformation forms the character arc.

Common character arcs include:

• Positive transformation: Overcoming flaws to become better (e.g., A Star Is Born)

• Negative transformation: Descending into darker aspects of themselves (e.g., Breaking Bad)

• Flat arc: Maintaining core values despite challenges, often changing others instead (e.g., Captain America)

When developing your character’s journey, ask:

1. Who are they at the beginning?

2. What do they want (external goal)?

3. What do they need (internal growth)?

4. What stands in their way externally?

5. What stands in their way internally?

6. How have they changed by the end?

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Creating Backstory That Matters

Backstory is the invisible foundation of your character. While most of it won’t appear directly in your screenplay, it informs every decision your character makes.

Mining Real Life for Character Inspiration

As suggested in your outline, looking to people you’ve met can provide authentic inspiration for your characters:

1. Identify someone intriguing: Think of a person whose behavior or personality fascinated you

2. Ask questions: What made them unique? What motivated them? What were their contradictions?

3. Transpose and transform: Use these observations as a starting point, then develop the character in new directions for your story

The Backstory That Shapes Present Actions

Effective backstory isn’t just history—it’s the explanation for your character’s current:

• Fears and vulnerabilities

• Defense mechanisms

• Values and beliefs

• Relationship patterns

• Blind spots

For each major character, develop:

• A formative childhood experience

• A significant past relationship

• A professional/educational background

• A recent pre-story event that affects them

• A hidden talent, passion, or knowledge area

Remember: You don’t need to explicitly share this backstory in your screenplay. Instead, let it inform how your characters behave and react.

Developing Villains and Supporting Characters

Complex Antagonists

The most compelling antagonists aren’t simply “evil”—they have motivations that make sense to them. As screenwriter John Rogers says, “The villain is the hero of their own story.”

When developing antagonists:

• Give them a valid perspective that challenges the protagonist’s worldview

• Create a backstory that explains their motivations

• Establish what they want and why they believe they’re justified

• Consider how they mirror or contrast with your protagonist

Example: In Black Panther, Killmonger’s methods are extreme, but his motivations stem from legitimate grievances and a desire for justice—making him a complex, sympathetic antagonist.

Dimensional Supporting Characters

Supporting characters should never be mere plot devices. They need their own:

• Clear purpose in the story

• Distinctive voice and perspective

• Personal goals and motivations

• Relationship dynamics with the protagonist

Bringing Characters to Life Through Specific Techniques

The Character Bible

For each major character, create a document containing:

1. Basic information: Age, background, physical description

2. Psychological profile: Personality traits, fears, desires

3. Speech patterns: Vocabulary, rhythm, common phrases

4. Physical mannerisms: Gestures, habits, body language

5. Key relationships: How they relate to other characters

6. Contradictions: What makes them complex and human

The Character Interview

Conduct an imaginary interview with your character, asking questions like:

• What’s your biggest regret?

• What are you most proud of?

• What’s your favorite memory?

• What keeps you up at night?

• What would you never tell anyone?

• What would surprise people about you?

The “Save the Cat” Moment

Create a scene early in your screenplay that shows your character doing something that reveals their essential goodness or humanity—even if they’re otherwise flawed. This helps audiences connect with and root for them.

Revealing Character Through Action and Dialogue

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

The most powerful character development comes through:

1. Choices under pressure: What a character does when tested reveals who they truly are

2. Reactions to failure: How they handle setbacks shows their resilience and values

3. Treatment of others: Especially how they treat those who can’t benefit them

4. Private moments: What they do when no one is watching reveals their true nature

   
   

Authentic Dialogue That Reveals Character

Great dialogue serves multiple purposes:

• Reveals character traits and worldview

• Advances plot

• Creates subtext and tension

• Establishes relationships

Tips for character-revealing dialogue:

• Give each character a distinct voice and vocabulary

• Use subtext—what they’re not saying directly

• Create dialogue that shows their perspective on events

• Allow characters to contradict themselves or be hypocritical

• Remember that what people say and what they do often differ

Avoiding Common Character Development Pitfalls

1. The “Perfect” Protagonist

Characters without flaws or internal conflicts are boring. Give your protagonist:

• Clear weaknesses or blind spots

• Mistakes they make and learn from

• Habits or beliefs that hold them back

2. On-the-Nose Character Exposition

Avoid having characters directly state their motivations or explain their backstory. Instead:

• Show their character through decisions and actions

• Reveal backstory gradually and only when relevant

• Use conflict to bring hidden aspects of character to the surface

3. Inconsistent Character Behavior

Characters should act consistently with their established traits unless:

• Their inconsistency is deliberately shown as a character flaw

• They’re experiencing a major transformational moment

• The inconsistency creates meaningful conflict and consequences

Practical Exercise: The Character Development Worksheet

For each major character, answer:

1. What does this character want externally?

2. What does this character need internally?

3. What’s their greatest fear?

4. What’s their most defining characteristic?

5. What’s their internal conflict?

6. What event in their past shaped them most?

7. How do they change by the end of the story?

8. What’s their relationship to the theme?

9. What would they never do, even under extreme pressure?

10. What would surprise others about them?

Final Thoughts: Character Is Destiny

In the end, plot emerges naturally from character. When you’ve developed truly multidimensional characters with clear wants, needs, and conflicts, the story unfolds from their decisions and interactions.

Remember that audiences are drawn to characters they can understand—even if they don’t always like or agree with them. By creating characters with depth, contradictions, and authentic human struggles, you’ll craft a screenplay that resonates emotionally and leaves a lasting impression.

Now that you’ve developed your plot, structure, and characters, you’re ready to begin the exciting journey of writing your screenplay. Remember that these elements will continue to evolve as you write, but having this strong foundation will guide you through the process.