Creating Characters
Anyone with experience writing and creating comedy will tell you that the characters are the most important thing.
But how do you create great characters?
After working as a character consultant for major TV channels in the UK and US, Laurie Hutzler has developed The Emotional Toolbox for screenwriters, including her 9 character types framework. You can read an overview of each of the 9 character types for free on her website here:
Andrew Ellard, script editor on The IT Crowd and Red Dwarf and currently working on Channel 4 comedy blaps, gives some excellent advice for writing your character profiles. Write them from the point of view of other characters in your show:
The site “Writershelpingwriters.net” has some really helpful tools for creating and developing your characters.
Click below to check it out:
This Sitcom Mission blog explores the use of creating a biography as the starting point for new characters:
In this article character comedians talk about the five steps they take in creating a character: