WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY: CHARACTER VOICE
It’s a commonly encountered comment, even on the most competent of scripts.
“All the characters sound the same” or “Everybody in this script talks like you.”
Part of a writer’s job is to checker the story with well-developed characters. The most surefire way to accomplish this is to give every character, no matter how small their function in the narrative, a unique means of expressing themselves (a voice).
Doing this makes a script clearer and easier to follow. A reader is able to distinguish a character through their dialogue and is less likely to get confused. Specificity makes characters interesting and unforgettable. At least part of that specificity can be found in the way a character speaks (or doesn’t speak).
Part of the writer’s job is to lay the foundation for a great role. Just as an orchestra sounds better when it’s not ALL trumpets, but rather trumpets, oboes, percussion, cellos, etc., writing characters with competing cadences results in more friction within scenes and the script as a whole. It creates texture, rhythm, pressure…
Unique, specific character voices are, in our opinion, something that sets an exceptional script apart from a merely good or serviceable one.
There’s an art to character development and part of mastering that art is mastering how different people sound — and being able to express that sound in the written word. Just as it’s easy to under-do it (wherein all the characters sound the same), it’s also easy to overdo it (wherein a character’s stammer or accent can be annoying to read).
In other words, expressing a character’s voice on the page is about balance, i.e. doing enough that the characters are distinguishable from one another, but not doing so much that the script becomes labored and there’s no room for actors and filmmakers to bring something to the table.
In this post, we’ll look at the subtle approaches taken in some of our favorite scripts…
If you're hoping to make each character's voice distinct in your screenplay, consider how these factors influence speech:
Where the character is from; the community they're around
Education or occupation
View of self
The primary emotion this character is led by (e.g. - rage, nervousness, etc.)
Objective in the scene
Relationship to the other characters in the story / scene
If you have questions about these or other scripts, as always send us an e-mail at library@wgfoundation.org.
Until next time, happy writing!
Libraries aren’t just for research and reading — they’re centers for community. Help us continue to preserve the work of film and TV writers and uplift the next generation by making a donation today.