I've got to head back into the Hill-Cave to finish up this screenplay, but I wanted to mention something called a "character pass" (at least that's what I call it) and how it can help your writing, especially your rewriting. #writingtips

So you've written your first draft, hit all the scenes from your outline and the story is basically there -- but it's not yet "popping."

That's when I do a CHARACTER PASS. And what's that?

That's when I go through the script but I only look at it through the point of view of ONE CHARACTER at a time.

I look for unique ways to rewrite dialogue, character reactions, kind of make the scenes "real" in my mind from ONE CHARACTER'S POINT OF VIEW.

Usually I --

-- start with the PROTAGONIST, since they tend to have the most scenes and see if they're feeling flat. Like they do what they're "supposed to do" in the scenes, but there's no life in it. I might play act/improve a scene in my office. Look for ways to make the scene unique.

Sometimes, that's considering WHERE the scene is. Is there something in the location I can use to make this more dynamic AS THIS CHARACTER. That's often very helpful and it makes the location seem NECESSARY to the story.

Often, I'll look at the WAY they're speaking. Can I make the rhythm of their speech more specific to them? The way they use slang? Maybe they don't contract words? Maybe they can speak in more staccato sentences.

It's all about making the generic, SPECIFIC.

Since my main job is writing for actors, I'm also looking at the script from the point of view of an actor, asking myself --

"If I had to play this character, would that be interesting? If not, how, as an actor would I MAKE IT interesting?"

Then I do that on the page.

Even though I said I focus on ONLY ONE CHARACTER per "character pass" I often wind up tweaking others in the scene because a change to one, affects the whole scene. Doesn't often change the WHAT of the scene, but it does evolve the HOW -- but I focus on only one per pass.

I'll do a character pass for each of the main characters, for sure. I like to do one for ANYONE WHO SPEAKS in the script -- because every speaking part will be played by a real person and that person deserves something interesting to do with their day.

If a character appears once and speaks once, that pass is five minutes long. If they're a main character, it can take hours, but when I'm done with that process I find my writing is much more "alive." The characters feel more like PEOPLE, and hopefully more fun to perform.

You might not get to your "button lines" until you do a character pass. If your first draft dialogue is flat, just make a note to go back through it and spark it up when you have the FREEDOM to only focus on one character.

Don't feel like you have to nail it all draft one.

Works in comics too. For OUTSIDERS I had Batman, Black Lightning, Katana etc. Every script, once the story is laid down in script form, I have to go back through and tweak each of them in a separate pass so they feel like I want them to feel.

In my first draft, they don't.

You always hear "writing is rewriting" and that's true, but I wanted to share a specific technique for rewriting because that platitude doesn't always help make the process clear when you're starting out.

Hope that's helpful. Have a good weekend, everyone. Be safe. Be kind.