Active Characters: Write to engage the characters in your screenplay

One of the main things that determine your success in screenwriting is the success of each scene in your screenplay.
Scenes make up a screenplay, and they are discrete visuals of excitement that run throughout the course of the screenplay.
If you don't manage them you may be in trouble of ending up with a poor screenplay.
Scenes have a lot of features, and once these features are well managed, you are sure of a good screenplay.

One of the features of a scene is the "character's engagement"
More often than not, a writer may have a scene that involves three or more characters, and he may lose the grip in crafting the scene to make it a memorable one; this makes the scene end up as flop.
This undesirable situation is caused by the inactiveness of some of the characters in that scene. Your characters should be engaged.
A character is not supposed to be too fixed when the other characters are performing their own actions. A character is not supposed to just stand aloof and sheepishly watch them.
You have to make your characters get integrated into the scene. Your characters should make movements to show they are concerned about the particular situation at that point. Let the scene move your characters. Let them help in describing the scene. Let them be connected with the scene. Let them fill in the gaps and spaces in the scene.
Let their facial expression, position, body movement and countenance depict the mood of the scene. They should be doing something; a gesticulation, an idiosyncrasy, a dependent action, a preceding action. They should be responsive. They should be the cause of the scene drive.

Scenes are of different kinds. You have scenes full of joy and happiness, scenes of sorrow, scenes of remembrance, scenes of battle, scenes of actions, scenes of words, scenes of fight, scenes of party, scenes of crime, scenes of romance, scenes of affections, scenes of agony, scenes of terror, and many more kinds.
You have to know what these scenes are about, and you must make your characters adapted to them.
In a scene of terror, every character which is a victim of that terror must be really terrorized. Whether it is his own turn to perform an action or not, he must express his fear. He must show he is truly in fear. He must not look casual. He must not look ordinary. He must not be normal. He must not look happy. He must look terrorized. He must let his action tell more about the scene.
The same instruction goes for the other kinds of scenes. Unless a character is unaware, or the character is not a victim of the situation in that scene, he must be part of it. He must join the others. He must belong with the others. He must identify with the tune of the scene.

Well, in order to make all the above work, both the writer and the actors have roles to play. But the greater responsibility is on the writer. The writer should write what the actors should act. The writer in his script should engage his characters and make them active. And then the actors should try and stick to what the writer has written.

Lastly, dear writer, force your characters to always be active. They shouldn't just stand and mope.
Every character must be engaged in every particular scene.
It's awkward to see one or two characters staying still and moping at the other characters while they perform their own actions.


Written by: Winston 'Winny Greazy' Oge

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