Screenwriting Contest 2018 | CLOSED

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION

EXT. THE SCREENWRITER'S BACKYARD - NOON

Tropical flora flare matches the raging temperatures. The canopy of Redwood-sized palm trees shades -

A sunburnt SCREENWRITER, their protective goop barrier of sunscreen doing a lousy job defending against mother nature. They splay long, muscular limbs across a lawn chair. Then stare -

Through their Aviators and uncut bangs at the audience.

SCREENWRITER
See how different you can picture me with just a few words?

Screenwriter takes off the aviators. Their bangs go berserk in a charming way. Hazel eyes -

Glint. Coy with excitement.

SCREENWRITER (CONT')
If you recall, I first made myself seem rather ugly and impish in the first chapter. But three sentences has made me into the sunburnt stud or babe of your dreams. As a writer, your job is to explain to whoever is reading your script what type of character is in the scene. Characters are introduced once in a script, so...
(with a sly smirk)
...first impressions do count. If you picture a tall, awkward teen with a bad habit of biting his/her nails playing your main character, make sure that is clear in your description. A good description = the right type of actor/actress will be cast for the part.

Screenwriter peels themselves off the lawn chair. Ouch. Their back is now a display of wicker weaved patterns.

SCREENWRITER (CONT')
But a good description does not mean a lengthy one. The initial introduction should be short. Just enough to introduce the type of character and maybe a quirk they have. No one wants to read a life story description that goes on for endless paragraphs. It's a waste of pages, and a waste of your time. A well-crafted, insightful look into your character using as little words as possible, well... that's a bingo!

Screenwriter winks, hoping you get the Tarantino reference. Because if you don't, that's just awkward.

SCREENWRITER (CONT')
These are incredibly hard to do. Especially if you're used to writing novels where you can spend chapters describing looks. So I'll break it down for you. Most descriptions will tell you:

1. The age of the character (this can be an exact age or a relative age; i.e. 26 versus mid-twenties)

2. The appearance of the character (which can be a general look, or a precise look)

3. The attitude of the character (this is usually told through the character's actions; for example, are they lazy, stressed, extroverted/introverted, psychopathic, a know-it-all, etc.)

Three things. That's it. So my challenge to you is write me three sentences of character description. But before you hit the keyboard, read some examples below. And note, the first time a character is introduced, their name is in ALL CAPS. But after that first introduction, it's just Capitalized.

🎥🎞🎥🎞🎥🎞🎥🎞🎥🎞🎥🎞🎥
AMBERLY, an eight-year-old with a mop of mahogany curls twirls and leaps across the street. She's oblivious to the world around her. Including the oncoming cars.

JANICE, 19, the skeleton of a girl her age.

MARK slides into a seat. Mid-thirties, pot belly, groovy t-shirt. He misses the '70's.

Meet the impeccable HYDE CLEARWATER. So proud of his family name it's embroidered on his suit pocket. His strong build and knife-sharp jaw the archetype of fine breeding.