What defines a character in a screenplay.

In a screenplay, a character is defined as a personal or an entity who is interprets all the actions and dialogue that serves to drive a narrative that builds up to a resolution.

Essentially, all the characters in a screenplay are expected to interact with other characters in one way or another to convey the message the story is trying to relate to the audience.

How to identify a character in a screenplay.

Below are some of the key points that will help you to identify a character in a screenplay.

1. Background and history.
2. Their physical appearance.
3. Emotional response.
4. Personality traits.
5. Authenticity.
6. Relationship with other characters.
7. Character flaws and character arc.
8. Characters name.

1. Background and history.

You can use a characters background and history to figure out who a character in a movie really is.

Your characters background and history is reflected in their family and upbringing which helps to shape their life experiences.

You can create a family trait or life-style which your character inherits from their parents or fore-parents and we can also see the same life-style reflected in their siblings.

Think of a family that are ill-tempered and will pick a fight in every little misunderstanding.

2. Their physical appearance.

You can also identify a character through their physical appearance which is determined by their age, sex, stature, voice etc.

So when creating your cast of characters, make sure you give each of them a physical attribute that makes them stand out.

3. Emotional response.

You can identify your character by showing their emotional response to any situation or circumstance.

And when creating these emotions, make sure they are similar to what your audience are also going though in order to make it relatable.

Once your characters are able to see themselves in your character, you will have a great screenplay that will beat the box offices.

4. Personality traits.

You can identify your characters through the way they act and react to every life situations or circumstances.

In real life, the thoughts, feelings and behavior of an individual is what clearly shows who or what they are, so make sure you make this applicable to your character whenever you are writing your screenplay.

5. Authenticity.

To help the audience easily identify your characters, make sure you show what makes them authentic, that is to say what makes them stand out in the crowd.

For instance, having an authentic dialogue can help the audience to easily identify a particular character and distinguish them from the rest.

6. Relationship with other characters.

Another way to identify characters in a screenplay is through their relationship with the rest of the characters.

Even your protagonist and antagonist can be relatives, like in the cases where the father or mother is using voodoo to distract the destinies of their children in the African settings.

After all the Holy Book says that a man’s enemy would be the members of their household.

So why not create an intriguing screenplay where the protagonist and antagonist are blood brothers or come from the same household.

However, it is not a must that all the characters in a screenplay must be related in one way or another, but the point here is that you must make your characters more believable through how they relate with one another.

7. Characters flaws and character arc.

Character flaws and arc is also another way to identify characters in a screenplay, most especially the arc plays a great role in revealing that characters transformation after the great discovery.

For instance, we can see how a character who was always ill-tempered maintaining calm in a worse situation due to the lessons he learn from nearly stabbing his own brother to death during a fight or argument.

The high point between the characters flaws and arc is the discovery, that is when the character discovers their weaknesses and opts for a change of attitude or behavior.

Don’t be merciful with your character at this point, even if it means making the action put him behind bars for several ways before he returns to shape that behavior in order to avoid such or a worse incident.

8. Characters name.

Characters name is usually the greatest way to identify a character in a screenplay.

I would have made this the first point but thought it wise to create a bit of suspense by making my readers discover in the end of this article that a characters name is the greatest way to identify a character in a screenplay.

The most important aspect of helping your audience use your characters name to identify them is making sure you do not give two characters in a particular movie the same name.

A characters name is very crucial in every screenplay, that is why you will see cases where so many movies are named after the character who was so believable in that particular story.

There are so many ways to find multiple names you are going to give your characters in a screenplay, no matter how many they might be and you can read the article below to learn about them.

• Best Practices For Naming Characters In Your Screenplay.