The #1 Tip To Writing Likable Characters by Steve Kaplan Video Lecture | Screenwriting: From Beginner to a Pro - Career Development

can you talk about how to create real
moments with a character help the
audience develop a connection with them
even if they're not a likable character
well I take issue with the word likeable
because likeable is the is the death
knell of filmmaking because everybody
writes characters and then the studio
says make them more likeable but
likeable isn't really necessarily
interesting what you want is you want
relatable you want somebody to be
relatable you want to tell the truth
about people if you tell the truth about
people people will relate to them
they'll see themselves or their loved
ones or their family in those characters
and they will attach to those characters
but when characters are negative because
some writer thinks it's it's edgier to
have somebody be negative what they're
really doing is they're playing negative
actions and a negative action is is okay
for for drama or soap operas but but
comedy requires positive actions by
negative action I don't mean somewhere
some something we're people somebody's
being negative but negative action is
doing something that doesn't help the
character doing and taking an action
that doesn't help the character doesn't
move the character closer to what they
want what wins for them you mentioned
what about Bob what about Bob is perfect
because all Richard Dreyfuss does in the
first two-thirds of the movie is
complain he never tries to solve the
problem once Bob shows up he doesn't try
to do anything but complain about it he
doesn't try to out think him he doesn't
try to to you know you know fight fire
with fire or or you win more more things
with honey than with vinegar it's just
always a complaint and there's a big
difference between complaint and comedy
even though they start with the first
three the same first three letters in
comedy people blindly blithely
haphazardly unconsciously unknowingly
try to do what they think they need to
do in order to make their lives
work but sometimes you'll have a
character who does something that isn't
making their lives work and they're
being nasty just because somebody a
director or writer or an actor thinks
nasty is edgy but ah they're but
positive action is like Jack Nicholson
and as good as it gets
Jack Nicholson is the most foul-mouthed
or or insulting person in the world but
you love him because he's not doing it
to hurt other people he's doing it to
help himself he so so in positive means
not everything with a smile positive
means you're doing it to to further your
own ends you can also think of it as
selfish action so when in his editors
office the receptionist goes oh oh
please stop could you tell me you know I
just want to talk to you he says why is
that because you know what's what you
know how I feel like in here and she
touches her head in her heart because oh
my god and she said oh no no no no how
do you write women so well and he just
turns with with a great smile and says I
think of a man and take away reason and
accountability uh and it's a big
everybody let's women laugh even though
it's seen me on the surface it's a
misogynistic thing to say because he's
not doing it to be mean his purpose
isn't to be mean his purpose is to help
himself to get himself out of what what
to him is an awkward social situation
which is why in the trip down south I
guess with with Greg Kinnear and and
Helen Hunt
he is always insulting Greg Kinnear um
by you know terms like fudge packer and
all this not because he's trying to hurt
him he's actually trying to figure out a
way to have a nice trip with them it's
positive action so you want the
character to be relatable you want them
to be interesting you want them to be
recognizable recognizable it's a human
being that you recognize yourself in or
you recognize people that you know in
them as opposed to you know we know
people who are negative but to think
that somebody's just going to be
negative all the time is a stereotype
it's it's two-dimensional another way to
make a character likable or relatable is
uh you give them an emotional moment
that that is something that is how you
would approach that moment you know so
you know what was Blake Snyder says you
know save the cat you don't even have to
save the cat you could just have a human
feeling just just be somebody stop
trying to be funny for a second and be a
human being with all its flaws and in
idiosyncrasies and idiocy and if I see
that on screen I'll go okay
okay I I like that arm in the way way
back okay Sam Rockwell's plays this
clever funny uh wonderful the guy you
wish was the head counselor at your
summer camp uh and what makes him what
makes him relatable is that he's also
kind that he's that he isn't just a jerk
he's kind of he's cool and kind oh my
god I wish I had an older brother like
that
so of course you start to root for him
but you also root for the kid in the way
way back because he's having a terrible
summer with his you know terrible mom's
boyfriend uh uh and and you relate to
that I remember when I was a kid and had
a terrible summer didn't we all so you
just create you tell the truth about
human beings if you tell the truth
comedy will happen relatability will
happen recognition will happen
you