Character
A fictional person whose actions, decisions, and desires drive the story of a film.
Character
noun | Screenwriting & Development
A fictional person -- or, in some films, an anthropomorphised animal or entity -- whose actions, desires, decisions, and conflicts form the substance of a film's story. Characters are the agents through whom a film's themes are explored and its events experienced. A screenplay may contain one central character or dozens, but a film's emotional impact almost always depends on how clearly and honestly its characters are drawn.
Quick Reference
| Domain | Screenwriting & Development |
| Also Used In | Production (characters are listed on call sheets; actors are assigned to characters), Post-Production (characters are referenced in dialogue editing and sound design) |
| Related Terms | Protagonist, Antagonist, Actor, Dialogue, Screenplay, Archetype |
| Difficulty | Foundational |
The Explanation: How & Why
A character in a screenplay is not the same as a real person. Real people contain contradictions, change over time, and resist clean narrative function. A screenplay character must do all of that while also serving the story -- their desires must create conflict, their decisions must have consequences, and their arc (if they have one) must be legible to an audience watching the film for the first time.
The distinction between flat and round characters is useful: a flat character exists primarily to serve a plot function (the informant, the comic relief, the villain's henchman) with limited interiority. A round character has a life beyond their plot function -- contradictory traits, private motivations, and behaviour that sometimes resists what the plot requires of them. Most memorable film characters are round.
Character is communicated through three channels: what the character says (dialogue), what the character does (action), and what other characters say about them (exposition). The most powerful characterisation relies on action rather than dialogue -- a character who claims to be generous but consistently acts selfishly is more interesting than one who simply states their values.
In production, characters are assigned to actors and tracked on the call sheet. A character's scenes are scheduled around the actor's availability. In editing, a character's arc is evaluated across the entire cut -- does the emotional journey make sense from first appearance to final scene?
Historical Context & Origin
The analysis of character as a dramatic concept originates with Aristotle's Poetics (c. 335 BC), which described character as one of the six elements of drama, subordinate to plot. The hierarchy has been contested ever since. Modernist literature and cinema of the 20th century frequently inverted Aristotle's priority -- character-driven films, where the story grows from who the people are rather than from external plot events, became a distinct and respected form. Films like Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) and Inland Empire (2006) push character interiority to the foreground while dissolving conventional plot structure almost entirely.
How It's Used in Practice
Scenario 1 -- Development (Writer): A screenwriter developing a drama creates a character biography for her lead before writing a single scene: 38 years old, second-generation immigrant, a professional success who privately measures herself against her mother's sacrifices and finds herself inadequate. None of this backstory appears explicitly in the film, but it informs every scene the character appears in. The writer knows things about the character that the audience will only sense.
Scenario 2 -- On Set (Director / Actor): During a difficult scene, an actor asks the director why her character would stay in the relationship rather than leave. The director does not answer the question with plot logic -- "because the story needs her to stay." Instead, they discuss the character's history, her fear of repeating her parents' pattern, and her specific attachment to this particular person. The answer lives inside the character, not in the script's structure.
Scenario 3 -- Post-Production (Editor): The editor cuts a scene in which a secondary character makes a choice that will have consequences later in the film. In the available takes, one performance plays the choice consciously (the character knows what they are doing); another plays it unconsciously (the character acts without full awareness of the implications). The editor chooses the unconscious take -- it will make the later revelation land harder.
Usage Examples in Sentences
"The screenplay has four principal characters; the film's success depends on the audience investing in all four within the first 15 minutes."
"The character's defining trait is revealed in the opening scene -- not through dialogue but through a single action."
"She built the character from the outside in: she found the walk first, then the voice, and the emotional life followed."
"On the call sheet, each character is listed with their actor's name and their scenes for the day."
Common Confusions & Misuse
Character vs. Actor: A character is the fictional person in the story. An actor is the real person who portrays that character. The distinction matters practically: on the call sheet, you schedule the actor; in the screenplay, you write the character. Confusing the two causes problems in development discussions ("the actor is too sympathetic" when the writer means "the character is written too sympathetically") and in editorial notes.
Character vs. Persona: An actor's public persona -- their star image, their off-screen reputation -- can interact with a character they play, but the two are distinct. Casting a well-known actor in a villainous role uses the audience's attachment to their persona as a dramatic tool. The character is what is written; the persona is what the actor brings to it from outside.
Variations by Context
| Context | How "Character" Applies |
|---|---|
| Screenplay | Characters are named, described, and given dialogue; their arcs are implicit in the story structure |
| Production | Each character is tracked by name on call sheets, scene breakdowns, and cast lists |
| Animation | Characters are designed visually before they are performed; the character design itself communicates personality |
| Documentary | Real people function as characters in the narrative; the filmmaker shapes their characterisation through selection and framing |
Related Terms
- Protagonist -- The central character whose goal drives the story; the character the audience most closely follows
- Antagonist -- The character or force that opposes the protagonist's goal; the source of the central conflict
- Actor -- The real person who embodies and performs a character in the film
- Dialogue -- The words characters speak; one of the three primary tools of characterisation in a screenplay
- Screenplay -- The document in which characters are created and their arcs are structured
See Also / Tools
For developing characters in the context of story structure, see the blog for articles on screenplay development and story construction. The Shot List Generator allows you to plan shots with specific character blocking in mind, connecting character decisions in the script to visual decisions on set.
