Film Courage: What are the steps to developing and building a character?
Jason Satterlund, Filmmaker: Yeah developing characters so that's I
think some people have a easier time with that than others so
I learned this from actually a guest that you had a on your show Corey Mandell like where he he
actually in one of his interviews ironically said that there are generally as a general rule two
kinds of writers there are intuitive writers who see characters very clearly in three dimensions
and they just bleed on the page and that kind of thing and then there are more conceptual writers
who are very good at the structure part personally I'm gravitate more towards the intuitive side so
like and this comes as a director because when I'm working with actors I can very quickly pivot
into deep backstories and things like that so for me how do I create characters it it's a
little bit of an easier task for me but there is a process that I generally go through that
starts with me asking like some questions like what is the one thing my character would never
do that's an interesting question to ask about a character but it can tell you a lot about who
they are so what would my character never do well they would never I don't know quit
whatever would never quit okay well that that automatically that question can open up a huge
rich story about why wouldn't they ever what is it about quitting that's so pivotal to their core
you can also ask and I'll do this what is one thing they would never say
they may never say I hate you or whatever now of course in the storytelling realm you would
now have to make them do those things now and of course what would they never say they would never
say I hate you well why wouldn't they ever say that like what is it about that word that means so
much to them that they would never actually say I hate you to another person it's a way of unlocking
certain kinds of things so that's usually the first step in in that and then
coming up with what is your character's
major focus not just as a as a story but in their life what is it that they are aiming for
overall like for example I'm working on a pilot right now and
I'm doing a lot of work on realizing what is this main character's drive and this is he's an
interesting one because his drive is to escape his past right because he had a very abusive past and
and he is pushing and driving and running he's an ex adrenaline junkie he's like pushing the
edge all the time looking for the next thrill his drive isn't the next thrill his drive is to escape
so just going through and understanding what that is really also tells you a lot
so that's usually where it begins for me I'll do this little checklist and then what I like to do
in my perfect designing world all I'm a morning time writer so I'll get up and do
my morning routine I'll take my little hourglass and I'll flip it upside down I'll start the hour
clock turn off the phone and I'll start brain dumping I really like the process of just like
just furiously letting my keys go on the keyboard or notebook too it's a
different method but it's sometimes fun to just like explore who they are what if
Izzy is just someone who just never could quite find the right one just
she just tossed and turned her whole life and just started exploring the path as it were of this
character and just digging into their lives and never correcting anything but just like going down
and even as I'm writing she's someone that I can never find love no that doesn't feel quite right
she's someone that did find love she found love early on but he ended up leaving her for someone
else and now she's kind of like what I mean like it's this it's complete immersive exploration into
my character and there's no judgment there's no wrong stories wrong choices here I can actually
go back and edit in real time but I don't erase anything that's on the page I just
put it all down there there's something very therapeutic and really fun in the play of that
I like to I will in life as I could be at the grocery store and I'll hear an
interesting conversation like here's a perfect example I was in a sandwich shop one time and
I'm ordering a sandwich and the guy's like so what do you want I'm like oh maybe I'll take the BLT
okay cool what kind of bread do you want and I'm looking at all the breads and it's this really
good Bakery it's just fair it's a great sandwich shop and I'm going we got a bunch of different
kinds of breads here I've never I don't even recognized what do you recommend and he goes oh
all our bread is made right here in the shop like you there is no wrong choice I said oh
so you're a sandwich agnostic then and he goes who wasn't an agnostic and I thought
oh no oh no no no don't say it don't say it he goes our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and it was so funny to me that he would say like he just basically took my joke that I thought was
kind of funny and just flushed it down the toilet because clearly this guy's super super religious
well there's a great character for a story someone who is so religious that they just that everything
it diffuses the fun out of everything I have a little note I use a Evernote in on my phone
and I'll like write that stuff down I'm like oh that's an interesting character or the I used to
know another guy who would always whistle and the more stressful things God he would always
that's such a great little quirk so I will keep track of these things and as I'm exploring what
the character can do when it comes to quirks and things sometimes I'll look through all this
list of things and go oh yeah this one would really fit let me carve this into this person
it's helpful too to like take in the whole person like what how tall are they how big are they
are they are they a ginger or are they bald or are they like just to really kind of be have fun with
and and sometimes that involves like just doing random Google searches or even Instagram like how
you can on Instagram you can hit the little magnifying glass thing and it'll just pop up
this random feed of things you'll be scrolling through and sometimes you'll see just someone
with the most interesting look they'll have glasses with a really thick black frames and
their hair is a certain way and they have black fingernails oh there's an interesting looking
person so that's a really helpful way it's just like cataloging all these different people types
that are out there and random quirks that's super helpful when it comes to creating characters
as it goes and as it develops what I'll need to do is I really like knowing
their internet cores their inner what makes them tick what do they believe what do they
going back to the what do they struggle with where are they going in life I like to get more specific
about that as I develop them in the story that kind of thing but that's generally the process
I know it's not a one two three step but that's that's usually what I'll do to do with that as I
go is there a fictional character that you talked about earlier that one movie that we all see that
if we come here to LA that we've like I want I should have been part of that and that's what I
want to recreate is there a character or two where you felt that like that's the character I don't
care if I'm playing it or filming it or writing it that's the character well I can think of a movie
that really hit me a Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was one that really just blew my imagination
the especially the little kid when he's because I was really little when that movie was out but
the little kid who was searching for UFOs like boy I really identified with that
that one and and ironically around the same time was when the first Star Wars came out and Empire
I always saw myself as C3PO I that's such a strange one like no one identifies as C3PO but
because my brother was shorter than me and he was always the annoying little brother like he
was R2D2 and I was C3PO so like they're such unique characters that's what they're little
antagonistic connection very much reminded me of me and my brother and I sort of loved loved that
and the idea of figuring out how to create that was really
really fun as especially as a kid to think about that yeah Indiana Jones is another one that
he's such a cool character and how do you make that and
that would definitely be one as a kid I was definitely like
anything to be a part of the creation of a process like that the man of Adventure
and and ah so good with the comedic stuff and ah it's so good it's so good it's so good just yeah.