Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve written about a couple of exercises that I use when I’m developing screenplay ideas. The Most-Watched Films Exercise is useful for working out what you’re naturally drawn to as a filmmaker, while the Genre Mash Exercise can help you find interesting concepts by combining familiar genres and conventions in unexpected ways.
This week, I want to move away from generating ideas and look at something slightly different: character development. One of the biggest challenges when writing a screenplay is making your characters feel like real people that are believable to your audience. It isn’t enough for every character to simply say whatever information the audience needs to know. Real people don’t communicate that way. We have biases, agendas, secrets, assumptions and things we don’t want to say out loud. Good dialogue is about what the characters don’t say just as much as it is about what they say. One exercise I like to use to explore this is the Four-Character Conversation.
The Basic Idea
The exercise is designed to help you develop three things: Character voice. Relationships. Subtext.
The basic premise is very simple. You have four characters: A, B, C and D. Characters A and B have a conversation about what character C thinks of character D. The important part is that C and D never appear. Everything the audience learns about them has to come through the conversation between A and B.
That might sound restrictive, but it’s actually what makes the exercise so useful. Because C and D aren’t there to explain themselves, everything we learn about them is filtered through the perspectives of A and B. And those perspectives might not be accurate.
Don’t Make It an Exposition Dump
The temptation with an exercise like this is to use the conversation as an opportunity to explain your characters. Try to resist that. The aim isn’t to write four paragraphs of dialogue explaining exactly who C and D are. Instead, let the conversation develop naturally.
Let A interrupt B.
Let B disagree.
Let them change the subject.
Let one of them misunderstand something.
Let them reveal information they didn’t intend to reveal.
Perhaps one character is gossiping.
Perhaps one is deliberately lying.
Perhaps they’re both completely convinced they’re right.
The more naturally the conversation unfolds, the more interesting it becomes. After all, people rarely have conversations simply to exchange information. We talk because we want something.
We want reassurance.
We want to persuade someone.
We want to vent.
We want to impress someone.
We want to hide something.
We want to find out what somebody else knows.
Those motivations are where the subtext comes from.
Ask Yourself Some Questions
While writing the conversation, there are a few questions worth keeping in mind.
Is either character telling the truth?
Maybe A knows exactly what happened, while B only thinks they know.
Are they protecting someone?
Perhaps A is deliberately misrepresenting C’s feelings because they don’t want B to discover the truth.
Are they gossiping or manipulating?
People often talk about others for reasons that have very little to do with the person being discussed.
Do they have different opinions about C or D?
If they disagree about the people they’re discussing, that disagreement immediately tells us something about the speakers themselves.
And that’s perhaps the most important question of all:
What does this conversation reveal about A and B?
The exercise isn’t really about C and D.
It’s about A and B.
People Reveal Themselves
One of the reasons I like this exercise so much is that people often reveal more about themselves when talking about somebody else. Imagine two people having a conversation about a colleague. One says that the colleague is incredibly ambitious. The other says they’re selfish. Those two statements tell us something about the colleague, but they also tell us a great deal about the people making them.
Perhaps the first character admires ambition because they’re ambitious themselves.
Perhaps the second character has been hurt by someone like that before.
Maybe neither of them has correctly understood the colleague at all.
Suddenly, a simple conversation has given you information about three characters instead of one. That’s the power of subtext. The dialogue is ostensibly about somebody else, but underneath the conversation we’re learning about the people actually in the scene.
Make Sure Everyone Has a Voice
This is also a really useful exercise for developing character voice. If you removed the character names from the scene, would you still be able to work out who is speaking? Ideally, the answer should be yes. Characters shouldn’t all sound like versions of the screenwriter. They should have different rhythms, vocabularies, attitudes and ways of expressing themselves.
One character might constantly interrupt.
Another might choose their words very carefully.
Someone might use humour whenever a conversation becomes uncomfortable.
Another might become aggressive whenever they feel challenged.
These differences don’t have to be exaggerated. In fact, subtle differences are often more effective. The exercise gives you an opportunity to experiment with those differences without having to worry about whether the scene will eventually make it into your screenplay.
Reflection
Once you’ve finished the conversation, take some time to look back at what you’ve written. Ask yourself if you discovered anything unexpected. This is probably the most valuable question. If the exercise has simply confirmed everything you already knew about your characters, that’s useful, but if you’ve discovered something you weren’t expecting, even better.
Also ask: Could this conversation actually exist in my screenplay?
It doesn’t necessarily need to. The purpose of the exercise isn’t to produce a finished scene. It’s to explore your characters.
Which relationships became more complicated?
Perhaps you discovered that two characters have very different opinions about the same person.
Did every character sound unique?
If A and B could swap dialogue without the scene changing, you probably need to push their voices further.
And finally:
What new conflicts have emerged?
A good character exercise should create problems for you. Problems are useful. They give your screenplay something to explore.
Try Changing the Perspective
Once you’ve completed the exercise, you can take it further. Try writing the same kind of conversation again, but swap the speakers. This time, let C and D discuss A and B.
What do they think about them?
How accurate are their opinions?
Do they know things that A and B don’t?
You can also introduce a third perspective. Imagine that another character is secretly listening to the conversation.
How do they react?
Are they angry?
Surprised?
Amused?
Hurt?
Do they hear something that completely changes their understanding of another character?
Suddenly, you’ve created another layer of potential conflict.
The Confrontation
There’s another variation I particularly like. After you’ve written the conversation, write another scene in which two of the characters finally confront each other directly. Now you can explore the consequences of everything that was said behind their backs.
How much of it was true?
How much was exaggerated?
What was a complete lie?
Does the character know what was said about them?
Do they confront the person who said it?
Or do they pretend they never heard?
This can lead to some really interesting scenes because you’ve created information that the audience knows but one or more of the characters doesn’t. That creates dramatic irony and dramatic irony can be used to create tension.
Why This Exercise Works
The Four-Character Conversation is ultimately an exercise in perspective. Every character sees the world differently. Their experiences, prejudices, fears, relationships and ambitions affect how they interpret the people around them. That means there is rarely an entirely objective version of a character.
C might think D is trustworthy.
A might think D is dangerous.
B might think D is an idiot.
All three perspectives can exist simultaneously. And all three might contain some truth. That’s what makes characters interesting. People are complicated, and they don’t always understand each other. By forcing your characters to talk about people who aren’t present, you naturally create opportunities for gossip, speculation, misunderstanding and hidden agendas. More importantly, you create opportunities for your characters to expose themselves.
They reveal their loyalties.
Their prejudices.
Their fears.
Their desires.
And sometimes, the things they’re trying hardest to hide.
So, if you’re struggling with a character or finding that your dialogue feels a little too functional, give this exercise a try. Pick four characters. Send two of them into a room. Then let them talk about the other two. You might be surprised by what they have to say.
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