There are a lot of ways to communicate who The Dude is. We learn just enough to understand his demeanor, and introducing him by the dairy counter sets up his love of white Russians. We get a wonderful scene setting of the grocery store and then go right to the core of The Dude. What’s great about this character introduction is the economy shown on the page. His rumpled look and relaxed manner suggest a man in whom casualness runs deep. We are tracking in on a fortyish man in Bermuda shorts and sunglasses at the dairy case. It is late, the supermarket all but deserted. Our first one comes from The Big Lebowski. That’s a delicate balance, so let’s look at some great examples. Most of the time, you’re meeting your characters in act one, but it’s great to master character introductions so you can set the scene in any act.Īlso, most formatting books will tell you that the first time we meet a character, we should CAPITALIZE their entire name. So when describing your character you need to give us an accurate mental image of the person, while also not taking us out of the story. Screenwriting is all about "economy on the page". how do you do this well, without wasting a lot of time? What Do You Need to Cover? But the best versions of this get the point across, without being too elaborate. There are funny descriptions, sad ones, and even action-packed, amazing descriptions. Writers have to imagine who these characters are, and then actors and directors help those people come to life. When you first meet a character in a screenplay, a brief description tells the reader how they should picture that person in their mind.įilm and television are visual mediums, but they always start on a blank screenplay page. Today we’re going to go over what makes some character introductions better than others, and how you can write the best descriptions for your screenplay. It could be the difference between a sale or a pass. How you introduce a character on the page will have a huge effect on how the reader experiences the script. Great character descriptions are a crucial part of any screenplay, and a meaningful way to get your leads to stick out. But how many of us remember the way each of these characters is introduced?
Most of our favorite movies also coincide with our favorite movie characters.