Bringing Your Characters to Life

About this course:

It’s been proven that by using acting techniques including scene study and improvisation, the writer can go deeper into character and story development. This course teaches the writer how to approach the creation of a character from the vantage point of the actor. Since characters are the most important component to any script, learning to use the tools employed by actors to capture their roles will pave the way for the writer to create the most well-defined character for his story. In addition, it can enhance the writing of the script and is a great tool for fine-tuning the writer’s pitch for episodic and pilot ideas. We cover the basic principles of character exploration. Where is the character’s dominating center of energy? Class members participate in improvisational exercises and act in the monologues, sketches and scenes they have written. By the end of the term, each writer creates several original characters for a pilot or episodic story concept grown out of class work.