Screenplay Writing 101: Casting Your Characters on the Page

Before actors bring a character to life, a writer creates them. As screenwriters, it's our job to give actors a solid blueprint to build upon.

Screenplay writing entails crafting a gripping story complete with snappy dialogue. Creation process varies with writers, but the people whom you populate your world with are the ones who will tell your story on the silver screen. This means, for right now you're a casting director and you'll be casting a film on paper.

Assembling characters with great chemistry is half the battle. No matter how far removed it is from actually being produced, an easily visualized cast of characters is essential to impress a reader. When an agent or producer reads it, you want them relate to your characters and remember them. Reading dialogue helps them hear your characters, but what about visuals? Screenplay descriptions should be brief. It's not like a novel, with loads of descriptions. How to convey a visual without going on and on?

Family and friends are great starting points. You have access to them and their photos. Use them. By collecting photos for character development you can bring depth to them in more ways than one. Then when referring to a character in your screenplay, those photos are a handy visual assist.

IMDB Head Shots

The IMDB is a great resource for movie statistics and trivia. Now it can operate as your casting central to help realize character development.

Say your lead character is a youngish, Italian American. He is from the northeastern part of America. Why not visit the IMDB and peruse some vintage shots of the great Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro. Their roles in classics like The Godfather, Serpico, Mean Streets and Taxi Driver preserve youthful charisma. Browse over still shots of them in movies, recall their cinematic power. Immersing yourself in great films will offer up ideas for your casting challenges.

Google

Google offers up photos or illustrations of nearly anyone from history. Is your female co-star a pioneer woman of the American plains like say the cast of Little House On The Prairie? Renting or buying the DVD sets is an expensive option, but looking over still shots from episodes can fire your imagination on how to depict your own prairie heroine. Like a skilled illustrator or painter, a writer can gather up inspiration from photographs from cinema's greats to flipping through their own photo albums at home.

Characters are an almost magical mix of a writer's imagination, an actor's skill and instincts, brought together by a director's vision. Each step of the process is important. When actors are asked how they came up with a memorable character and say, "It was there in the script." it reminds screenwriters our contribution is solid foundation for all that follows.