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08 Character Types Scott Myers PDF
08 Character Types Scott Myers PDF
I graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts degree (with Honors) in
Religious Studies and Yale University, where I received a Masters of Divinity degree cum laude.
I’ve variously enjoyed stints as a musician and stand-up comedian.
From 2002-2010, I was an executive producer at Trailblazer Studios, overseeing the company’s
original TV content development for Scripps and Discovery networks.
In my spare time, I took up teaching in 2002 in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, receiving
its Outstanding Instructor Award in 2005. For eight years, I was a visiting lecturer in the Writing
for Screen and Stage program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2010, I co-
founded Screenwriting Master Class with my longtime friend and professional colleague Tom
Benedek whose movie credits include Cocoon.
In 2008, I launched Go Into The Story which for the last five years has been the Official
Screenwriting Blog of the Black List. Some numbers: The site has had over 10 million unique
visits, 20 million page views, and I have posted 20,000+ items for over 3,000 consecutive days.
The Go Into The Story Twitter feed has over 43,000 followers.
In November 2015, I went public with the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge – write an entire script
draft in 30 days – and over 1,000 writers joined in. Out of that, the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook
group emerged and as of January 2017 has over 1,400 members.
In 2016, I was excited to be offered and accept the position of Assistant Professor at the DePaul
University School of Cinematic Arts in Chicago where I teach screenwriting to both
undergraduate and graduate students.
© Scott Myers
About the Go Into The Story PDF Book Series
Two motivators I had in launching Go Into The Story in May 2008 were:
1. to create an extensive online resource for writers and
2. to provide that information for free.
The world needs more diverse voices in the filmmaking community and making
educationalcontent available to anyone and everyone is my humble way to facilitate that
vision.
There are currently over 20,000 posts on my blog and while an impressive number, it can
be overwhelming for readers. So, based on suggestions from several people, I decided to
launch a new initiative:
Make a new Go Into The Story PDF available each month to the public.
I reached out to the GITS community for volunteers to help with this effort and I’d like to
express my deep gratitude to Trish Curtin and George “Clay” Mitchell. They stepped up
to handle the process of taking blog posts and creating the ebooks in this series. A special
blast of creative juju to you both!
You can download the previous editions by clicking on their titles below.
© Scott Myers
Table of Contents: Movie Character Types
© Scott Myers
Introduction: Movie Character Types
This book is a collection of Character Types common in movies writers can use in conjuction
with known Archetypes when developing characters for their own stories.
Stuck on how to make your Protagonist unique? What about an Addict or a Gambler?
Working on developing an interesting Nemesis? How about an Angel or a Rookie?
Those of you who have followed my blog for some time or taken courses with me through
Screenwriting Master Class know how fascinated I am with character archetypes, specifically
how there are five which recur in movies over and over and over:
Protagonist:
Almost always the central character in the movie. It is their goal, their journey
that creates the spine of the Plotline.
Nemesis:
The Nemesis provides an antagonist function in that they work in opposition to
the Protagonist. Generally their goal is the same as the Protagonist or involves
the same elements, only the Nemesis has a different intent in mind.
Attractor:
Oftentimes, but not always a romance figure, the Attractor is an ally, one most
intimately connected with the Protagonist’s emotional growth.
Mentor:
Typically a teaching figure, the Mentor is an ally most directly connected with
the Protagonist’s intellectual development.
Trickster:
Often a sidekick character, the Trickster tests the Protagonist’s will, shifting
from ally to enemy, back and forth.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.”
The words of Paul in the New Testament (Romans 7:15) weren’t about addiction per se
(his focus was on “sin” that could live within a person), but it offers an apt description of
the condition. He goes on to say:
“For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do
the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing.”
And this goes to the heart of at least one reason why filmmakers have explored stories
with Addict character types: The struggle between self-control and the pull of the
addiction. It represents conflict on a fundamental level, powerful physical needs and
impulses at war with an inner knowledge, conscious or unconscious, that the character is
destroying him or herself.
There are stories about drug addicts such as Drugstore Cowboy (1989), Trainspotting
(1996) and The Man With the Golden Arm (1955).
There are alcoholics featured in movies such as Days of Wine and Roses (1962), Barfly
(1987) and Bad Santa (2003). There are movies about sex addiction like Thanks for
Sharing (2012), Don Jon (2013) and Shame (2011).
Perhaps there is no more comprehensive an Addict type than Tony Montana (Al Pacino)
from the 1983 movie Scarface. He is addicted to drugs. He is addicted to power.
Addiction with a capitol “A”. Watch these clips: Sonny and Cocaine Mountain and “Say
‘hello’ to my little friend.”
Sometimes Addict stories have happy endings where a character kicks the habit. More
often than not, as Tony Montana conveys, the Addict ends up in a state of desolation.
The dark pull of addiction often leads to grim stories, so why not play around with a
counter approach? Arthur (1981) featured a happy drunk who eventually confronted his
Self and made some changes in his life. But the movie was in fact a comedy.
What about an Addict as Mentor? We see that in the 1978 movie Midnight Express with
the character Max (John Hurt) who dispenses wisdom to the Protagonist Billy (Brad
Davis) between hits of hashish.
Look at characters in your stories. Are any of them under the control of an inner impulse
or the allure of an outside temptation? If a character seems flat, explore the possibility
they have some secret addiction. What might that be? What does it say about who they
are and why they are the way they are.
That pull toward doing what “I don’t want to do” is an experience every human being
has at one time or another. The universality of that impulse creates an excellent
opportunity for creating a bond between a script reader and an Addict character.
What other Addict character types can you think of in movies? Why do you think they
make for such compelling figures?
Advocates champion a cause in a public arena such as politics. Notable figures in this
area include Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline) in Dave (1993), President Andrew Shephered
(Michael Douglas) in The American President (1995), and Jefferson Smith in the classic
1939 movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
One of the central themes of many Advocate movies is empowerment, speaking up for
the powerless. It’s no surprise that there are some great Advocate roles featuring
women, inspired by the feminist movement, including Dian Fossey (Sigourney Weaver)
in Gorillas in the Mist (1988), Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) in Erin Brockovich
(2000), and Norma Rae (Sally Field) in the 1979 movie of the same name.
The Advocate taps into some powerful psychological and emotional strains at work in our
collective psyche. The hope that there are good people out there. Fighters willing to take
up our cause. Right can defeat might. That there is someone who gives voice to our
beliefs and aspirations. In this regard, the Advocate becomes our spokesperson and
moral leader. We willingly give ourselves over to their story… because their story is our
story.
What brainstorming can you do with an Advocate character type?
The Advocate is a perfect type for a Protagonist: their passion, beliefs and underdog
status a natural for a Hero’s Journey. Moreover actors love to play these types of roles,
witness all the Oscar winners who played Advocates.
What about Advocates as Mentor figures? Their ability to see through propaganda and
conventional wisdom. Or Attractors? Their passion for a cause reflecting their general
enthusiasm for life… and love.
The downward moral spiral represented by the Angels noted above opens the door to the
darker side to this character type such as the cursed Angel in the 1998 movie Fallen, the
half-angel, half-devil child Little Nicky (2000), and the 2010 action fantasy Legion.
Watch the clip here showing The arrival of Gabriel.
Of course, not all angels have to be supernatural in nature. How many of us have
received a grandparent’s compliment, “Well, aren’t you an angel” for some nicety we
brought their way? Perhaps the best example of this type of ‘angel’ is Melanie (Olivia de
Haviland) from the 1941 movie Gone With The Wind. Generous, kindhearted, long-
suffering, and a loving soul even on her deathbed, Melanie provided an angelic
counterpoint to the selfish machinations of Scarlett O’Hara.
Pollock (2000) and Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965):
In some cases, the Artist’s struggles manifest themselves more in the physical than
psychological realm as with the 1989 movie My Left Foot featuring Daniel Day Lewis,
who learned to paint and write with his only controllable limb — his left foot: Christy
writes his first word.
The Artist appears in movies also as fictional characters like Simon Bishop (Greg
Kinnear) in the 1997 movie As Good As It Gets or Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp
in the 1990 urban fairytale of the same title): Edward’s ice sculpture.
As Simon’s character demonstrates in the scene above, the Artist can get a sudden
inspiration. Combined with their passion to express that vision in some physical form,
the Artist character type can be about communication, but also about the intensity of
their creative experience.
To see the world differently. To feel life fully. To immerse oneself in the experience of
the creative moment. That is the domain of the Artist character type. What
brainstorming can you do with an Artist character type? One obvious area to mine is
this: Artists are about visual expression.
Since movies are primarily a visual medium, they would seem to fit hand in glove. So
what if you have a story that is weighed down by too much exposition, too much
expression of backstory? Why not explore the possibility that one of your characters is an
Artist? If a picture is, indeed, worth a thousand words, then what better way to cut
excess dialogue by giving a character the ability to speak through what they draw, paint
or create.
You can also widen the scope of what we may typically think of art. The central concept of
There are bullies who are family members such Biff in Back to the Future (1985).
Bullies in bureaucratic positions like Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
(1975). And bullies who have enormous authority like Commodus in Gladiator (2000).
What is Clarice Starling’s “dragon cage”? It’s the boogeyman — or in her case, men — the
two assailants who shot and killed her father. The evil ghosts from her past, lurking in
her nightmares, the crying of the lambs representing the pleas for help from her father,
also an innocent who is slaughtered. Her narrative destiny is, in part, to confront her
dragon. And that narrative function is performed by Buffalo Bill who has taken being a
bully to an extreme. He does not see his victims as people, rather as objects — “It puts
the lotion on its skin”. Clarice cannot be free unless she “disintegrates” the dragon,
Buffalo Bill, who represents the bullies who slew her father: Buffalo Bill watches Clarice
What brainstorming can you do with the bully character type?
• Ask yourself: What does my Protagonist fear most? What is their ‘dragon cage’?
Then this: What character could best represent the object of the Protagonist’s
fears in the form of a bully?
• How would that bully look? How would they act? What would be their goals? Why
would they be focused on the Protagonist?
• It’s natural to assume a bully is a Nemesis character, but why not play around
with other of the primary character archetypes as bullies?
• You can have Protagonists as bullies such as Melvin in As Good As It Gets (1997).
• Mentor figures can have a bully streak to their personality such as Miyagi for the
first half of The Karate Kid.
Obviously Companions can be much more than a listening ear. Often they are staunch
allies to the Protagonist exhibiting loyalty, tenacity and unselfishness. Examples of this
type of Companion include Chewbaca from the Star Wars films, Timon and Pumba
from the 1994 movie The Lion King, and Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee (Sean Astin) from
The Lord of the Rings trilogy: “I want to hear about Sam.”
Here again is a character type that can work with any of the five primary archetypes:
Even psychopaths have a world view which makes sense to them. In some cases,
Destroyers are more consistent in their allegiance to their code than the humans they
destroy like Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in The Terminator (1984), Joker
(Heath Ledger) in The Dark Knight (2008), and Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) in No
Country for Old Men (2007): “I got here the same way the coin did.”
Chigurh lives according to a strict set of rules. People make their choices. If they choose
wrong, they become victims. In a way, he is quite legalistic. And there’s the rub: The
trick is to make this type of Destroyer’s world view at least understandable to a script
reader because in doing so, that pulls the character closer to the reader’s experience —
makes for a much more interesting psychological dynamic wherein we can actually
relate to the killer.
Just as with all character types, there are endless possibilities. All we need to add to the
mix is our own imaginations.
“But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias (Salome) danced before them: and
pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she
would ask of him. But she being instructed before by her mother, said: Give me here in
a dish the head of John the Baptist. And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath,
and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given. And he sent, and
beheaded John in the prison.”
Indeed the largest spec script sale in 2013 — for a reported $2M — was “Reminiscence”
by Lisa Joy and it features a Femme Fatale in a prominent role.
NED
You can stand here with me if you
want but you’ll have to agree not to
talk about the heat.
MATTY
I’m a married woman.
NED
Meaning what?
MATTY
Meaning I'm not looking for company.
NED
Then you should have said I'm a
happily married woman.
MATTY
You aren't too smart, are you? I
like that in a man.
NED
What else do you like? Lazy? Ugly?
Horny? I got 'em all.
MATTY
You don't look lazy.
Since many, if not most of the movies featuring a Femme Fatale are written by men, it
seems fair to consider a Jungian take on the character type, that it represents the
negative aspect of the anima, more of a projection of how a woman appears to a man,
rather than an objective reality. No matter how one interprets the Femme Fatale, clearly
there is a not so veiled subtext at work: Sex is dangerous.
What brainstorming can you do with a Femme Fatale character type?
Is it possible to do a gender switch, make the character a male? That brings us to
another character type: Don Juan. However whereas a Lothario is typically all about
sexual or romantic conquest, the Femme Fatale has a darker edge often involving
manipulation and murder. So could we work with a Homme Fatal? As long as there is
some sort of violence in the cards.
One interesting way to go: Rather than making the Femme Fatale a Nemesis, Trickster
or as a variation on theme an Attractor as in Blade Runner (1982), what would a story
look like with the character being the Protagonist? That would be tricky as part of the
allure of this type is the mystery: Is she or isn’t she playing the guy? However it would
be possible, at least in theory, in which we never quite know what’s in the mind of a
Protagonist Femme Fatale… until the end… and maybe not even then.
What other Femme Fatale character types can you think of in movies? Why do you think
they make for such interesting figures?
But then there are actual Gamblers, a specific character type whose career, life, and
personality is infused with a need, proclivity or instinct to take big risks like Val Kilmer’s
portrayal of Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993). Often for money. Sometimes for fame.
And other times, primarily for the rush it brings… despite or perhaps because of the
danger involved.
Let’s start with card players. Hollywood has featured Gamblers in high-stakes games in
movies like The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Owning Mahowny (2003), and Rounders
(1998) starring Matt Damon as a reformed gambler who is forced to return to the game
to help a friend (Edward Norton Jr.) pay off loan sharks.
Then there are Gambler types who bet on sporting events — horse races, basketball,
baseball. Here there is no direct skill involved and no way, at least legally, to influence
the outcome. The smarts required are an immersive knowledge on the sport in
question… or just gut instinct. Movies featuring this Gambler character type include the
1989 comedy Let It Ride, the 1984 drama The Pope of Greenwich Village, and the 1974
film The Gambler starring James Caan as an NYU professor with a gambling habit that
eventually gets him in over his head.
Generally Gambler types are lone wolves, the individual in an existential exercise to
beat the odds. However there is an entire subset of movies that feature a team of
Gamblers, most often with a plan to make a big score. Movies in the sub-genre include
The Sting (1973), Ocean’s Eleven (1960, 2001), and The Italian Job (1969, 2003).
While there are benevolent Healers who focus on the body, there are also counselors
whose work is about the the patient’s psychological self in movies like Spellbound
(1941), Good Will Hunting (1997), and Ordinary People (1981).
Educated and intelligent, combined with their calling to make people well, the Healer is
generally a character others put their trust in. Oftentimes this is a key to the patient’s
ultimate well-being… or their downfall if they put their faith in a depraved Healer.
What brainstorming can you do with a Healer?
I took a psychology class in college in which the professor told of a study that showed a
majority of people who chose to go into the field of psychiatry did so in large part to
figure out their own emotional and behavioral issues. That right there creates a path
toward Disunity, the mask of professionalism and care-giving shrouding deeper,
perhaps darker motivations.
Another thing to consider: If Healers are grounded in science, why not put one such
character into a scenario that defies logic and can only lead to the conclusion there are
forces beyond that which we can know through our intellect?
The point is we can spin conventional wisdom and twist tropes. For example, what if we
take a psychiatrist who is a psychopath, but put him into the role of a Mentor?
Their innocence can arise from them suddenly being thrust into an environment
completely new to them such as E.T. in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
What other Innocent character types can you think of in movies? Why do you think they
make for such compelling figures?
The tradition of the Loner ‘gunslinger’ has continued into contemporary times with
movies like Drive (2011) which parallels the plot of Shane in numerous ways.
Why the popularity of Loners? From an entertainment standpoint, this character type
can convey a palpable sense of mystery. Who are they? And perhaps more importantly,
why are they alone? This last question is a central one in Loner movies like Finding
Forrester (2000), whose central character William Forrester (Sean Connery) is a
reclusive author, and Gran Torino (2008), in which (Clint Eastwood's) Walt Kowalski is
a racist Korean War veteran living in a neighborhood populated by Asian immigrants.
As with Old Man Marley and similar characters like Boo in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
and Karl in Sling Blade (1996), the sometimes frightening image of the Loner can be
demystified over the course of the story, becoming more human like the rest of us.
However the Loner can also be a dark figure with violent impulses like Norman Bates
(Anthony Perkins) in Psycho (1960), Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) in Taxi Driver
(1976), and even play the part of a Nemesis as with Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) in
the 2007 movie No Country for Old Men (2007). The Nature of Anton Chigurh. This
type of Loner is perhaps set apart from the rest of us precisely because of their mental
instability and/or inherent bent toward the Dark Side.
One dynamic that is implied with almost any Loner character is our desire to see them
make connections with others. Indeed many of the movies cited above have this theme
at work, the Loner stretching beyond their own personal boundaries eventually to find a
friend, a lover or a family, like Wall-E in the 2008 movie of the same name. Who of us
didn’t get a lump in our throat when Wall-E, enraptured by the movie Hello, Dolly,
mimics the couple on the screen holding hands… by holding his own hand:
Right there, from the earliest moments of the movie, we know the Protagonist’s
narrative destiny: To find someone to be with, to care for and to love.
The thing is, we’ve all experienced loneliness and almost all of us are, by our human
nature, social creatures. So when we happen upon a Loner in a story, our instinct is to
become engaged with them and their plight — to understand them and, if they are not
Their suffering can be simply tragic, but more often than not, their deaths are a cause of
inspiration for others.
This hearkens back to the original root of the word from the Greek µάρτυς which means
“witness.” A martyr has seen or experienced something so profoundly true, at least to
them, they are willing to sacrifice everything on its behalf, including their own lives.
More generally, a martyr can commit an act of self-sacrifice on behalf of someone or
something other than him/herself. The death of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars:
Episode IV — A New Hope (1977) is a case in point: “Strike me down, and I’ll become
more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
There is another narrative possibility whereby a character uses their suffering to
manipulate others into doing the bidding of the martyr or pretends to suffer to garner
sympathy.
What sort of brainstorming can you do with the martyr character type?
What if your Protagonist is a martyr? What cause or belief could they have which would
lead them down a path of suffering and potential death? The belief might prove to be
true or it can be shown to be a lie, forcing the Protagonist to question the very
foundation of their world view.
Why are orphans so popular in movies? Right off the bat, we are dealing with a
character who generates instant sympathy. Abandoned by parents. Or worse, deceased
parents. Each of us has experienced loneliness in our lives. Being an orphan taps into an
existential sense of aloneness. What this does is immediately lock us into the story,
engendering in us a desire to take care of the character in question, such as with the
movie Babe (1995):
This Orphan’s quest to determine their self-identity can involve a coming to grips with
deep emotions and psychological dynamics: shame as the child may feel responsible for
being rejected, self-doubt the result of not growing up with parental support and
encouragement of parents, and nightmares as the parents continue to hold sway over the
Orphan long after they are gone, such as with Clarice Starling in The Silence of the
Lambs (1991): Why Clarice left the ranch.
What brainstorming can you do with an Orphan character type? It’s almost too easy to
go this route with a Protagonist, surely so if the writer uses it as a cheap device to elicit
sympathy. So dig deeper. What does the Orphan feel about their parents? What coping
skills and defense mechanisms have they developed to manage those feelings? How do
they compensate for the pain they feel? How has the loss of their parents branded them
at their most fundamental level?
Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) while not technically an orphan, is
abandoned by his mother and sent away from the only home and true happiness he will
know in his life. Almost everything you need to know about his character you can see in
his face as a child when he learns he is being sent away: The Sled Shed and Room
Trashing scene.
There have been comedies featuring prostitutes like Irma La Douce (1963), Night Shift
(1982) and Mighty Aphrodite (1995).
There have been thrillers like Klute (1971), Angel (1984) and American Gigolo (1980).
At one point, Sheldrake tosses a hundred dollar bill to Fran in order for her to go buy
herself a Christmas present and she starts taking off her clothes saying, “I just thought
as long as it was paid for.” At that moment, the stark truth hits her: She has been
prostituting herself. Notably this is what leads to her suicide attempt.
One of the many reasons The Apartment is such a superlative movie is that the theme
of prostitution comes into play with another character: The Protagonist C.C. Baxter (Jack
Lemmon) who by allowing his co-workers, then Sheldrake to use Baxter’s apartment for
their trysts has sold his soul in an attempt to climb the corporate ladder.
Which brings us back to the question that invites a script reader to participate more
fully in the story: How far would I go to survive or to obtain wealth? Would I be willing
to prostitute myself to achieve my goals?
The Prostitute type almost inevitably raises questions of this type in the subtext of their
presence in a story.
What brainstorming can you do with a Prostitute character type?
A Protagonist as a Prostitute would be interesting. They could get caught up in a scandal
When a Rebel becomes the spokesperson for a movement, they can take on iconic status
in leading a rebellion as in movies like Gandhi (1982), Braveheart (1995), and Joan of
Arc (1948).
Then there are Rebels who defy cultural or aesthetic norms like Amadeus (1984), Pollock
(2000), and Frida (2002).
From a writing standpoint, one of the major benefits of a Rookie is they are an outsider,
unfamiliar with the rules and codes of behavior now that they’ve hit the ‘major leagues’.
In this respect, a Rookie character can function as the eyes and ears of the script reader,
also new to the subculture. What the Rookie learns, we learn along with them which can
intensify the connection we make with the character.
A good example of this are Rookie cops, that particular subculture one steeped in all
sorts of arcane practices and secret rules of conduct such as with movies like The Rookie
(1990), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and Training Day (2001).
If the underdog dynamic is particularly effective in raising the stakes of a story and
engendering sympathy for a Protagonist figure, then there is perhaps no better
character type to slot into that role than a Rookie. For example, what business does Will
Turner, a simple blacksmith, have taking on bloodthirsty pirates in The Pirates of the
Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)?
There are the Visionary types in the arena of business like Tucker in Tucker: The Man
and His Dream (1988) and Steve Jobs in Jobs (2013).
There are other business Visionaries who genius and insight is aimed toward financial
gain… even to the point of illegality like Henry Gondorff in The Sting (1973) and Jordan
Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street (2014).
The Visionary can be a compelling figure precisely because of what they see and how
they articulate their perception of reality… notwithstanding whether that vision is
correct or not. What brainstorming can you do with a Visionary?
Once again it’s easy to think of this character type slotting into the role of a Protagonist,
however it’s also a natural fit for a Mentor. But how much fun to be Trickster like Zorba
in Zorba the Greek (1964) or a Nemesis as with Tyler Durden in Fight Club (1999).
There is the retired Warrior who is forced by circumstances to take on one last job as
with Shane (1953), Unforgiven (1992), and Gran Torino (2008).
There is the Warrior who emerges from surprising roots over time unleashing their
power which lies latent within as in movies like Hero (2002), Pirates of the Caribbean:
The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), and The Matrix (1999).
Then there are the groups of Warriors like The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Avengers
(2012), and Seven Samurai (1954).
Whereas an Advocate will tend to use their logic and intellect to defeat their foes,
Warriors rely on their physical strength. Not to say they are unintelligent. Often they
have to rely on their wits and whatever wisdom they learn along the way of their journey
to defeat a Nemesis contingent that makes the Warrior a decided underdog.
But again, the keys to Warrior characters is to determine who they fight… how they
fight… and why they fight.
What brainstorming can you do with a Warrior?
The Warrior character type is a natural fit for the role of Protagonist, but think about
Mentor figures who have been trained in the way of fighting like Miyagi in The Karate
Kid (1984).
Need a reference point for an Attractor with mad Warrior skills? How about Trinity
from The Matrix?
Of course, Warriors make excellent Nemeses as well. Whereas Warriors associated with
the Protagonist and his/her cause are generally going to be fighting for something other
than themselves, a Nemesis Warrior ultimately represents a distortion of ethics and
humanist values, all in pursuit achieving their goal… and victory.
What other notable Warrior character types in movies can you suggest?
ME
Hey, Luke, I’m starting to write a
new script tomorrow. And it’s funny,
but no matter how many times I start
a new story, I get a bit, uh,
nervous about it. Got any, you know,
advice for your dad?
LUKE
(without hesitation)
Go into the story and find the
animals.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoIntoTheStory
Email: GITSblog@gmail.com
Special thanks to Franklin Leonard and the entire Black List team. In the 12 years of its
existence, the Black List has evolved into the single most important screenwriting brand in
Hollywood. Their commitment to shining a spotlight on the craft of screenwriting and notable
screenplays, and to create new avenues for outsiders to break into the movie and TV business is a
vision I share. I’m proud to contribute to the Black List’s efforts through Go Into The Story and
serve as a mentor at their outstanding screenwriter labs.