With one click
Export a perfectly formatted traditional script.
What separates the filmmaker who goes on to have a long-running career directing features for decades from the filmmaker who only gets to make one and then disappears? A lot of it comes down to that debut film and who they were able to cast in the lead roles.
So, how do you ensure your lead roles are working for you and not against you? It starts very early on in the writing process when you’re developing your characters. In this blog, I’ll explain through personal experience how I learned this very valuable lesson.
How Poor Character Development Sank My Project
The phrase landed like a fist crushing against my front teeth. How many 12-hour days, seven-day weeks, did I spend in the cutting room from the first day of dailies to the mixing stage, and now, here I am, being told by an acquisitions executive they’re going to pass on what I’ve been working on for the past year of my life.
These conversations happen days or weeks after the festival screening. In the lobby of the theater, they’ll say, “Interesting, let us think about it, “ or “Let me get back to you,” and then you never hear from them again. They’ll be evasive and never give a hard, “no,” but I can feel the vibe in the screening room and know the direction the project is headed. If there’s an awkward silence as the audience exits the theater and no one sticks around for the Q and A, a sinking feeling settles in as I realize this isn’t going to be the movie that moves the needle.
If a distributor likes the movie, they’re going to tell you on the spot if they’re interested in acquiring it for a commercial release. Some might even make an offer for the distribution rights in the lobby of the theater (it happened once on a project I worked on). There will be a feeling of electricity in the audience as the lights come up. A packed house will stick around for the Q and A, and they’ll practically have to drag the filmmakers off the stage to end the session.
When you attend a festival like Sundance, Austin, LA, or NY, you arrive with your dreams tucked away on your hard drive, ready to screen the movie for potential distributors. For the writer, producers, and director, the festival premiere can be the completion of a five-to-10-year journey trying to get the project financed, shot, and edited.
The path of the writer/director of an independent feature is similar to the one taken by a restaurant entrepreneur: they draw up the business plan (which is equivalent to writing the script), find investors for the restaurant (the producers of a movie), lease a location (renting soundstages and locations to shoot on), hire an architect to design the eating establishment (creating the visual style with the wardrobe, set designers and cinematographer), secure permits from the city to start construction on the kitchen and dining area (pre-production), get the hammers swinging to build-out the location (filming), hire the front and back house staff (hiring cast and crew), and finally, after several years, the restaurant opens (the movie premiere!).
Now imagine on opening day, the reviews come out, and the restaurant critics pan the menu saying, “the entrees lack imagination,” or “I didn’t even know what I was eating.” After 18 stressful months, the restaurant closes. That despair an entrepreneur has the day the restaurant ceases to operate is the same one an indie filmmaker will feel if their movie doesn’t get picked up for distribution. The return flight home from a film festival can be one of the most depressing trips of your professional career.
How to Develop Characters that Quality Actors Want to Play
When I look back on these projects, I ask myself, why didn’t we get distribution? For one, the actors weren’t big enough. Don’t get me wrong, the cast was talented and brought a lot to the screen, but they weren’t names a movie-going audience would pay to see. This is a hard reality I’ve had to confront over the years. Some were actors on TV shows, others were supporting actors in studio films, but none had ever been the lead in a box office hit.
The truth is, there are only a handful of actors whose names alone can get a project the financing it needs, and a distributor would be willing to put their career on the line for. I can’t blame them; I’ve worked on several movies that didn’t make their money back at the box office. The consequences can be career-ending.
If your script isn’t attracting the talent you want, it’s time to take a hard look at the characters in your script and maybe a deeper look at how you’re developing them.
In the indie film world, look at the characters that get played by “name” talent. How developed are most of those characters? What did the actors see in those roles that made them sign on to that project?
Sense Memory Technique for Screenwriters to Develop Characters
One writing technique I’m going to recommend to screenwriters to help write more emotionally developed characters is the Sense Memory Technique. If you’ve studied the Meisner acting technique, you might be familiar with it. It uses all five senses: sound, smell, taste, touch, and sight to get a writer in touch with their emotions.
The sound of a helicopter may trigger the fear and dread you felt of not knowing if you’re going to survive while being airlifted to a hospital after an accident.
The smell of burning tobacco may release the anger and frustration you felt while growing up with an abusive parent who smoked cigars.
The taste of green beans may trigger the sadness you felt during a meal you had when the love of your life broke up with you.
The feel of snow may bring back the joy you experienced from one of your favorite vacations.
The sight of a strobe light might bring you back to the memory of your favorite concert the summer after high school, and the hope you had that your whole life was ahead of you.
Sense memory is reliving sensations from a personal or emotional experience through the five senses. Remember, you’re trying to recreate and relive the memory, not just recall it.
All our senses can resurrect deep-seated emotions from a particular event in our lives, which is why sense memory can be a very useful technique when a screenwriter needs to truthfully experience the emotions of their character. Emotional depth in your dialogue, prose, and characters creates strong material quality actors are looking to sink their teeth into.
Sense Memory Exercise for Screenwriters
Lee Strasberg, a pioneer in actor training, crafted numerous exercises to help performers access and use their sensory memories to enhance their performances. The following exercise, adapted for screenwriters, focuses on engaging your senses to write vivid, emotionally resonant characters and scenes.
Sense Memory Exercise Overview
Start by selecting a simple object, like a coffee cup, from your home. Fill it with your favorite drink and spend at least fifteen minutes each day exploring every sensory detail of the cup. Ask yourself questions about the cup’s size, shape, color, texture, and any other attributes your senses can detect.
Once you’ve thoroughly examined the cup, set it aside, open a blank page on your computer, a new SoCreate project, or use a pen and legal pad, depending on your preference, and write about the coffee cup, using only your memory. The goal is to "see," "touch," "taste," "smell," and "hear" the cup and its contents as if they were physically in front of you and get those senses written down on the page.
Sense Memory Steps to Follow:
Relaxation: Begin by sitting comfortably and performing a relaxation exercise. This helps you focus and enhances your sensory awareness.
Sense Exploration: Start by observing the cup with your sense of sight. Ask yourself detailed questions about the cup's visual characteristics. How tall is it? What is its color and texture? Continue this process with each of your other senses—touch, taste, smell, and hearing—being as detailed as possible.
Recreation: After exploring the cup with all five senses, try to recreate it mentally without the actual cup and write about those five senses. The more vividly you can recall the sensory details, the more effective the exercise.
Take your time with this exercise. Rushing through it will diminish its effectiveness. When you write about the cup, don’t treat it as mere recreation; engage in a true sensory exploration. You may find that some sensory elements appear and disappear as you write, which is entirely normal.
This exercise not only enhances your sensory memory but also sharpens your concentration, a vital skill for any screenwriter. Strong concentration and observation skills are essential for capturing the nuances of human experience and translating them into compelling characters on the page.
Applying Sense Memory to Character Development
Once you're comfortable with the sensory exploration of simple objects, you can apply the same principles to developing your characters. Open a blank page and choose a memory that’s at least seven years old and deeply ingrained in your mind. Engage all your senses and start writing about the memory. Focus on the sensory aspects rather than forcing an emotional response. Let the emotions arise naturally from the sensory details during your writing session.
When delving into a memory, be as specific as possible. Describe the setting, the objects around you, the time of day, and the season. Recall the smells, sounds, tastes, and textures. The more detailed your memory, the more authentic the emotions that arise that you can put on the page.
As you explore your memory, be open to whatever emotions come up, even if they’re different from what you expected. Write these emotional responses and identify the sensory triggers that brought them forth. This practice will help you create more emotionally nuanced characters and scenes.
Using Sense Memory in Writing
With practice, you can use sense memory to trigger specific emotions for your characters. If you're struggling to connect with a scene emotionally, recall the sensory details of a memory associated with the desired emotion. Let the emotion flow into the scene naturally, feeding your character's journey.
Sense memory exercises not only help you create more emotionally rich characters but also improve your ability to identify and release tension. This skill is crucial for writing scenes that resonate deeply with audiences. With time and practice, sense memory can become a powerful tool in your screenwriting arsenal, helping you craft stories that truly connect with viewers.
Conclusion
Try to repeat this exercise daily for 45 minutes to an hour until you become comfortable writing from sense memory. Maybe even consider trying this as a daily warm-up before working on a screenplay, like a 45-minute cardio warm-up before a heavy workout.
I can't promise that this technique will help you write a part that lands the A-list star who can get your feature financed and distributed by A24. There are no techniques that can guarantee that. Casting a "name" actor requires a lot of factors that are out of your control.
What I do hope is that Sense Memory will help you get to a more emotional place to write from that will help bring more nuance to your work and hopefully give you the best chance to succeed. In the film industry, that's the best we can hope for.
Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions on this writing exercise or your experience with sense memory. We’d love to hear your input.