Writing / Acting: Characters

or If You Don't Care, Who Will?

This is a post I wrote a few years ago. Since then, things have actually gotten a bit better. But it is still worth repeating...

This is a biased tirade. You're welcome to leave feedback, however, nothing will change my opinion.

The "official" entertainment business' products suck. That's why I'm such a proponent of Independent Film. While Indie stuff can suck, too, at least it has an excuse. The non-Indie's only excuse is money, as expressed in laziness and quick to-market times.

Characters suck.

From the writers who write them, to the actors who act them and everyone in-between; director, producer, etc.: they all contribute to the fact that characters suck. This suckiness of characters boils down to the simple fact that no one pays attention to them. The writer sketches out some half-baked human and the director and actor trot him or her in front of the camera or on-stage and are done.

Creating and deploying a character like Yogi Bear doesn't require any effort other than compositing several silly characteristics on top of a basic framework. Yogi Bear likes picnic baskets, hangs with a dude name Boo-Boo and sort of seems to maybe kind of be interested in a girl bear named Cindy. And he runs around bragging about his intelligence. If you knew a real guy like that, you'd think he was pretty shallow, self-centered and a bit weird. Yogi's a cartoon, so it's okay, though. It may be funny, but it ain't real.

In my opinion, though, dramatic shows (tv, film, etc) are not doing much better. That old "suspension of disbelief" gets harder and harder with shallower characters. Next, I suppose, we'll have robots reading lines and be expected to "imagine" the character traits. What happened to the craft??

As an actor, you have to use your imagination in order to portray realistic characters. That's hard to do if your Director and/or Producer are shooting for quick and dirty. "Ah, just play some old man" doesn't cut it. If the writer doesn't flesh the character out, then the Director and/or the actor must. Of course, it is best if the character has some depth to begin with.

As a Director, or Producer, you need to either rely on your actor, or take the bull by the horns and have character meetings with the actor(s). Develop, or have the actor develop the character's backstory. Subtext is cool. Subcharacter rocks.

As a writer, do not get lazy and assume the people bringing your characters to life have enough experience to 'fill in the gaps'. If you're writing solid characters, then you need to at least hint at backstory items. I realize everything in the plot lines must be important. I know that no extraneous things should be in the script to distract the viewer. But that can happen by not providing good characters, as well. There is nothing more confusing, irritating and show-stopping than a baseless, cartoonish character appearing in the middle of some emotionally charged scene. It ruins it.

Ah, well. Think about it. If you're guilty of building or portraying vapor-characters...... please stop doing it.