You're watching a rerun of SEINFELD and Jerry's door bursts open and a
character comes hurtling into the apartment like a runaway train, arms flapping to slow them down.
Which character is that? Is it Elaine? George? Newman? Jerry? George's Mom?
That entrance is Kramer's signature. An action that distinguishes his character... but
also helps to illustrate the force of nature that is Kramer. It's both a way to identify his character and a
way to sow his character. One simple action that sums up Kramer - his whole life is a burst through the
door. He dives head first into schemes without any thought to repercussions (what if Jerry is standing at
the door when he bursts in?) - he is unpredictable (bam - he just comes in unannounced) - he doesn't
do anything the "normal way" (knock) - he gives every action all of his energy (entering a room is a
huge production) - he is focused on the moment, not the past or the future (his reasons for going to
Jerry's always have to do with immediate needs - he's run out of cereal or his hot tub has sprung a
leak) - and countless other aspects of character that Kramer's entrances reveal. It's a simple action that
not only makes Kramer easy to remember, it gives us information about who he is.
I used to work with a guy who wore cowboy boots with metal reinforced soles that
click-clacked when he walked. Actually, he didn't walk as much as speed-march. You
could hear him coming from across the store. Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack. Here
comes Robert! You'd know he was coming before you saw him. That's a good
signature. I'll let you figure out why a guy would want to make that much noise when
he walked for yourself - it did show all kinds of things about Robert's character. Everything we do
shows our character, but screenplays only give us 110 pages to work in, so we have to find the ONE
thing that gives us the most information in the most memorable action. Something that sums up the
character in a few seconds of screen time.
In KILL BILL Vol. 2 the Sensei Pai Mei played by Gordon Liu is always flipping or stroking his beard - it's fun to watch the film and wait for him to fuss with his beard in every scene - sometimes he reaches for his beard, hesitates... then, when you've forgotten about it, flip the beard. He's a fussy, demanding, but wise old man, and the beard flip seems to sum up those different character traits in a single memorable action. Here's a clip from YouTube (in Spanish - sorry!).
In the original SCARFACE (1932) George Raft played the second in command, Rinaldo, and flipped a coin before killing someone. This character signature was so popular, Raft did it in almost every other movie he starred in (and Raft was a huge star, playing gangsters in many of the Warner Bros films from the 1930s and 1940s). Flipping a coin became so identified with Raft that he shows up in the comedy version of CASINO ROYALE in a scene just to flip a coin!
Groucho Marx taps the end of his cigar and wiggles his eyebrows. In MEAN STREETS Charlie (Harvey Keitel) holds his hands over a flame to test his endurance. Bogart tugged on his earlobe in films.
In my script for THE BASE there's a character who does slight of hand magic to make
money magically appear in his hand to pay for drinks. I needed a little thing to make
him distinctive and memorable and the bar magic worked well with his character. He was all about
illusions - tricking people into doing his bidding.
Im those SCOOBY-DOO movies, Scooby jumps into Shaggy's arms at the first sign of danger... that not only makes him more memorable
than all of the other talking dogs in the world, it also shows us his character. Okay - he's a talking dog -
maybe we didn't need a character signature to help us remember him... but jumping into Shaggy's arms
at the first sign of trouble gives us character information about Scooby. Stories are all about exploring character.
We want to find the most interesting and *memorable* and *character oriented* actions for our characters.
Giving a character a signature action or phrase is a great way to give them identity and some
insight into their character... plus get a great reaction out of the audience. "Hey, it's that guy again!" Or
"Hey, it's that talking dog again!"
The 2001 London Class on 8 CDs! Recorded *live* the morning after the Raindance Film Festival
wrapped. The two day class on 8 CDs, plus a workbook, plus a bonus CD with over 300 screenplay PDFs - all 3 BOURNE movies, all 3 MATRIX movies, all 3
Indiana Jones movies, plus all kinds of action and thriller and scripts from Hitchcock films.
Yeah, I threw in some Charlie Kauffman and rom-com scripts and some National Lampoon Vacation movie scripts,
too. Plus, an orginal brochure for the class. All for one reasonable price: $99.95.
(If you had taken the class in London it would have cost you $450... plus airfare, plus hotel, plus you'd have to eat "mushy peas" for dinner.)
This is the program that I use. Very simple - I still haven't read the instruction book. When I first bought the program, I had sold a script and got an assignment - and decided to go from my macro to an actual screenwriting program. I went into The Writer's Store and asked for the easiest to use program they had, and that was MM. I started writing that assignment without ever reading the instruction book! One key stroke does *everything*. Automatically formats your script, putting character names, scene headings, and action in the appropriate places. It also has a character name list, so you only have to hit the first letter of any character's name and it automatically fills it in. The other great thing (at least for me) is that Movie Magic also makes the most used programs for budgeting and scheduling films - and all a producer has to do is import your script to the budgeting program! Makes it easier if your script is actually being produced. If you're looking for a screenwriting program, this is the one I recommend.
Buy It!
FIRST STRIKE BLUE BOOKS
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The NAKED SCREENWRITING CLASS ON CD!
The 2001 London Class on 8 CDs! Recorded *live* the morning after the Raindance Film Festival
wrapped. The two day class on 8CDs, plus a workbook, plus a bonus CD with 400 screenplay PDFs. The 2 Day Class on CD!
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