Characters & Dialogue

So today we had another great lecture from Steve Coombes and it was about how to make sure your audience is interested in your characters and their dialogue. Here are some key things he made sure we knew!

Dialogue

Things you shouldn't do in dialogue;

• Pointless dialogue - don't do it!
• Don't make your dialogue on the nose
• Characters rarely say the truth; lies. 
• Too forward dialogue 
• Don't use a character’s names too much
• Different people speak in different ways 
• Don't make the dialogue too real 
• No empty chatter - if it's not moving the story or the character don't do it
• Not everything has to be dialogue 
• Don’t give information in dialogue
• I’m not in love – but you are
• Thing about what the characters can’t say
• Denial is great

Characters

You should know your characters in your script as well as you know your friends! If your character doesn’t have a flaw, it will be awful. The only interest audience has in characters is when they fail, the character either needs to be failing or will be. Characters should be flawed people.

Characters give themselves a tale, making sure they represent themselves.