#28 - How Many Characters?
Edition #28 of the Lighthouse miniLetter!
Three examples of great screenwriting
Two quotes about storytelling
One thing to think about
Plus some fun links at the bottom.
Three examples of great screenwriting
The Batman
By Matt Reeves & Peter Craig
Caps, bolds, underlines, double em-dashes, ellipses…Reeves and Craig pull out all the stops, but when you read, it just flows beautifully from image to image.
There’s more uppercase than lowercase, so as that last sentence fades into the ellipsis you can really feel the pace slowing.
Severance (Pilot)
Written by Dan Erickson
Erickson does a fantastic job of not only designing the space for thematic resonance, but also calling it out (without breaking the moment).
“…preventing Mark from seeing more than a few feet ahead.” Ain’t that the truth!
Founding Fathers
Written by Miguel Angel Parreño
Parreño gets away with this because he’s writing a comedy and helps keep the tone alive in the descriptions. It’s a way to quickly get the reader in tune, while also sneaking a joke in. This gag actually returns every time we see the drawing (and the eventual STARGATE but not itself.) Tons of fun.
Two quotes about screenwriting
“Ah, in work, love and the movies, everything is a fight.”
“Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.”
One thing to think about
How many characters do you need?
Asking about the 'ideal' number of characters is like asking about the 'ideal' number of colors in a painting. Tough to say, but absolutely worth thinking about.
Does your story benefit from the depth of a small, intimate ensemble?
Or does it require a vast spectrum of characters to portray an epic tale?
What would Game of Thrones be if it was just Arya and The Hound?
What would Severance look like if we saw multiple work teams at multiple Lumon offices?
Those sound like bad versions of their respective shows.
But what is the two-person narrative in a fantasy world?
What is the sprawling epic of cubicle workers without identity?
How does the story change, and is that a story worth exploring?
Don’t assume your story has to follow what we’ve seen before, particular when it comes to the cast.
How many characters do you need?
Have a great draft,
David Wappel
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