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Writing Your Screenplay

Choosing Your Minor and Major Players

By Amanda J MollettPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Writing Your Screenplay
Photo by Florian Klauer on Unsplash

So, you have decided you want to write a screenplay, now what? Have you decided who your main characters are? Who your minor characters are?

How have you defined them? Do you know what your pilot episode is going to be about? Or how you are going to work your plot twists? How is it going to end?

You have started your journey. Now it is time to decide what you are going to be writing about. Get an idea of what you want the main idea to be, and what your characters bring to your story. The main idea of "Almost Home,” was a man needing help with his kids and a woman who left her home with her kids looking for the next chapter in their lives. It showcases everyday life and how this family deals with them. It is like seeing a blended family without marriage or romance.

Now that you decided on the main idea, it is time to choose your characters. What will names be? Where will the setting be? Make sure you pick names that you like, if you go too far into your work, you may have to work too hard to change them. Here are some names I chose for the purpose of this article to get the ball rolling.

Jammie

Donnie

Riley

Liam

Jakob

Jackson

Demi

Now, choose which characters will be the major players and which will be the minor players. The main characters will be the ones that are in the screenplay the most, the ones that will have the most to offer and the most to gain. The ones that we will see in your story the most.

Jammie

Donnie

Riley

Liam

And then you choose the minor characters, the ones that will be around but not as much. They will have small roles. Maybe someone that works for you or someone who serves you dinner at the restaurant, or a neighbor.

Jakob

Jackson

Demi

Now you will need to define your characters. What do they look like? Where will they work? What will their strengths be? What are their weaknesses? What makes them who they are? What do they do?

Jade- Wife, mom, author, journalist, lawyer, singer/ songwriter, podcaster, music manager, and studio owner. Mom and manager to Amelia, wife, and manager to James. She runs a music studio with her husband James and runs a dance studio and events for her daughter Amelia’s acting class, and is currently opening an art gallery

James- Husband, dad, singer/songwriter, drummer, keyboard/piano player, guitarist, vocalist, and studio owner

Amelia- Actress, vocalist, daughter, sister, art student, musician. Amelia plays the cello, violin, and sings. She is an artist and studying for an art degree. Her music manager is Jade.

EJ- Build the websites for his dads’ band, his sister's art shows, and all his moms’ businesses and offices. He helps at his parents’ studio and is his mom's editing chief.

Minor Characters-

Belinda- Grandma to Amelia and E.J., mom to Jade and James

Kole, Paige, and Mimi - interns and other staff members working for Jade and her family.

Shawn and Mimi are dating. Mimi is a very outspoken, blunt, controlling type, while Shawn Douglas is a very protective, loving, risk-taking, good heart hearted type of person. Shawn works at the music studio. Mimi is on staff with Jade’s events.

Aimee- married to Nick. Aimee and Nick are newly married and are working together almost as much as they are fighting. Aimee is a singer/songwriter. Nick is a singer/drummer/piano player/ guitarist /songwriter. Nick and Aimee are the first success story for Jade and James in their music studio.

Jakob- Discovered Jade when she was younger and met him at a concert. They have worked together before; however, it causes conflict with James when they do.

Kole- an intern at the music studio also works with Jade at the art gallery. Kole is James’s best friend and is trying to work closely with Paige. Kole works with cancer charities which Jade supports and works very closely with.

Paige- runs the art gallery as Jade and Amelia’s assistant manager and helps at the studio. She sometimes sings back up for Jade's other artists.

Now you are ready to start writing and putting everything together. Have fun and change things, rewrite, and love it when it is done. Good luck, you can do this!

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About the Creator

Amanda J Mollett

First, and foremost I am a mom…always . I am a proud mom of a graduate & artist. I am a author/writer and a journalist. I have multiple certificates in journalism and various writing certificates such as novel writing and creative writing.

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Comments (1)

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  • Kohl Younger2 years ago

    Thank you for displaying a simple way of doing characters. I have done stories but now I need to develop characters.

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