Sean Paul Murphy, Writer

Sean Paul Murphy, Writer
Sean Paul Murphy, Storyteller

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Writer Tip #26: Character Descriptions


What is a character description?

On the most fundamental level it serves as a brief sketch to give your reader basic information about your character, usually at least their age, race and gender -- although I can certainly see circumstances when you would want to exclude one or more of those characteristics. Character descriptions are essential. They humanize your story by painting a picture of your characters in the mind of your reader.  They are also one of the first things your producer will ask for when your film goes to casting. In a very real sense, those character descriptions may prove to be your last opportunity to influence the casting process, particularly of the supporting roles.  (The leads are often dictated by marketing and financial considerations outside of your control.)

More importantly, however, your character description should be a tool of seduction. Your brief description of the character should fire the imagination of an actor. They should read the description and say, "I have to play that role!" Of course, the seductive role of the character description is not always necessary. Particularly if the film is already cast before you write it. (That happens.) Then all you have to do is give the character a name and an age that flatters the actor's ego.

Here's another thing.  Make all your characters characters -- all of them -- including the minor ones. If you have a waitress who has more than one or two lines, please give her name. What's the harm? The actress will definitely appreciate it. Everyone prefers to play a role with a name rather than just a job title. Also, make them distinct. Use the description to give your waitress some personality. If you leave the description blank, the role will simply be filled by someone the producer or director would want to sleep with. Instead, write something like "The waitress, ALICE, 52, ornery and no nonsense, eyes them warily as she approaches the table." Suddenly, your scene is spiced up even if you leave the dialogue the same.

Rather than bore you with character descriptions from my own scripts, I thought it would be fun to show some from a variety of classic scripts. Some of the descriptions are very detailed and illuminating. Some are simple and no nonsense. There's no right or wrong way to write them, as long as they get the job done.  Enjoy:

Bette Davis as Margot Channing
The CAMERA follows the bottle to MARGO CHANNING. She sits at Max's left, at deWitt's right. An attractive, strong face. She is childish, adult, reasonable, unreasonable - usually one when she should be the other, but always positive. She pours a stiff drink.

George Saunders as Addison deWitt
ADDISON deWITT, not young, not unattractive, a fastidious dresser, sharp of eye and merciless of tongue. An omnipresent cigarette holder projects from his mouth like the sword of D'Artagnan.

Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
John Tuturro as Barton Fink
He is a bespectacled man in his thirties, hale but somewhat bookish. He stands, tuxedoed, in the wings of a theater, looking out at the stage, listening intently to the end of a performance.

Written by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren
Alec Baldwin as Adam Maitland
The hand is ADAM MAITLAND'S. In his late 30's, he's a solid easy-going citizen. Capra used to make movies about him.
Written by Jerzy Kosinski
Peter Sellers as Chance
A MAN, handsomely dressed in a well-tailored suit of the 1920's, works in the garden. A gardener's apron protects his suit from the earth as he turns the loam along one of the walkways. He works slowly, precisely, obviously engrossed in his surroundings. This man is called CHANCE.

                                                 Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Jeff Bridges as The Dude
It is late, the supermarket all but deserted. We are tracking in on a fortyish man in Bermuda shorts and sunglasses at the dairy case. He is the Dude. His rumpled look and relaxed manner suggest a man in whom casualness runs deep.

Written by David Newman & Robert Benton
Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker
Blonde, somewhat fragile, intelligent in expression. She is putting on make-up with intense concentration and appreciation, applying lipstick and eye make-up. As the camera slowly pulls back from the closeup we see that we have been looking into a mirror. She is standing before the full-length mirror in her bedroom doing her make-up. She overdoes it in the style of the time: rosebud mouth and so forth. As the film progresses her make-up will be refined until, at the end, there is none. The camera pulls back and continues to move very slowly throughout the first part of this scene. As the camera continues to move away, we see, by degrees, that BONNIE is naked.

Written by William Goldman
Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy
He is BUTCH CASSIDY and hard to pin down. Thirty-five and bright, he has brown hair, but most people, if asked to describe him, would remember him blond. He speaks well and quickly, and has been all his life a leader of men; but if you asked him, he would be damned if he could tell you why.

Written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris
Michael Douglas as Schuyler Van Orton
In the steam-filled bathroom, we make out SCHUYLER VAN ORTON, now 38. He's handsome, fit and apparently in complete control of his world. He steps out of the shower, wraps a towel around himself and grabs the BATHROOM PHONE.

Russell Crowe as Bud White
December 24th. Wendell "BUD" WHITE, 30, stares at the enormous Christmas tree on the deco platform over Bullocks' entrance. An LAPD cop, Bud's rep as the toughest man on the force has been well earned.

Written by Paddy Chayefsky
Peter Finch as Howard Beale
CAMERA MOVES IN to isolate HOWARD BEALE, who is everything an anchorman should be -- 58 years old, silver-haired, magisterial, dignified to the point of divinity.

Written by William Goldman
Robin Wright as Buttercup
BUTTERCUP is standing, holding the reins of her horse, while in the background, WESTLEY, in the stable doorway, looks at her. Buttercup is in her late teens; doesn't care much about clothes and she hates brushing her long hair, so she isn't as attractive as she might be, but she's still probably the most beautiful woman in the world.

Burt Reynolds as The Bandit
A hammock is stretched from the cab of the truck to an oak tree. A man wearing a faded denim western shirt, open with the sleeves rolled up, levis and silver-toed cowboy boots is lying in the hammock. A cowboy hat covers his face. CLOSER ANGLE as shadows fall across the figure. The man slowly tips back his hat and we see he's in his thirties, boyishly handsome, with a cocky smile. Bandit LaRue.

Written by David Ayer
Denzel Washington as Alonzo
DETECTIVE SERGEANT ALONZO, in a flannel shirt, reading the paper in a booth. The gun leather tough LAPD vet is a hands-on, blue collar cop who can kick your ass with a look.

Written by Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah
William Holden as Pike
PIKE BISHOP, wearing lieutenant's bars, rides slightly ahead of the others. He rides stiffly, always slightly in pain. Pike is a not unhandsome, leather-faced man in his early forties. A thoughtful, self-educated top gun with a penchant for violence who is afraid of nothing -- except the changes in himself and those around him.

I hope you enjoyed reading those character descriptions as much as I did! I suggest that you read the whole scripts. Reading great scripts inspires great writing.

You can find a lot of great scripts here:  Drew's Script-O-Rama

Other Writing Tips:


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