Before, I had explored the first element of creating a great pilot script. And now, we’re moving right along to an element every bit as important: having amazing characters.
This is the point of view connection from the audience, and I don’t think there’s ever been a successful tv show that didn’t have characters the audience wanted to watch (even if too boo them).
But what makes a great character?
Protagonist v Antagonist. It’s almost always present in some fashion—especially in longer stories. Whether it’s Edmond Dantes vs his betrayers, Clarisse Starling vs Buffalo Bill, or the good guys in Lost vs—a smoke monster thing. The question is, though: what makes any of these particular characters intriguing? What makes us want to keep tuning in to see them?
So many shows die because people have no interest in watching them. Maybe it’s a dumb concept that turns them away or too many atrocious story lines. But people forgive all of this if they like the characters (which is why people watched the Walking Dead).
JRR Tolkien created a fascinating world with magic, elves, and several made-up languages, but no matter how good his writing is, his evils orcs weren’t as compelling to a modern audience as Game of Thrones. George RR Martin will sometimes make us hate Daenerys or be appalled by Tyrion, and no matter how much we don’t like Littlefinger, we always want to watch him. This is because he gives these characters the shades of gray that they need. Vince Gilligan made us like Walter White and then hate him, but no matter what he was always intriguing. When Omar took on Stringer Bell, people took both sides because—fuck, both are such great characters!
Your good guys should not be all good. They need a flaw. They need something that we sometimes don’t like them for. This makes them human and, therefore, relatable. Look at Liz Lemon and her neuroticism, McNaulty and his alcoholism/ womanizing, Tony Soprano and his—well the fact that he murdered a whole bunch of people. It’s these flaws (and sometimes huge flaws) that make us able to connect with these protagonists, put ourselves in their shoes, and root for them more.
It’s the opposite with the antagonists. If they have qualities we like, we are going to find them way more fascinating. When we catch ourselves liking a gangster because he has a code, or Gus Fring because he’s so damn smart, or the horrible Vern Shillinger from Oz because he’s sometimes funny (and JK Simmons rocks so hard) it makes us more invested because we understand these villains a bit more. We even kinda like them. We see a part of ourselves in them, and it’s scary and fascinating.
When these lines between good and bad get blurred, we recognize ourselves because at our best we’re still flawed and at our worst we still have redeeming qualities. And when we relate to characters, we’ll keep tuning in again and again to see more of them.
So when you take out that paint brush to create a character, make sure to get some of that sweet sweet gray paint.
But having a good character isn’t quite enough. They need to interact with each other.
This means character dynamics is every bit as important.
.Beavis and Butthead. Arya and the Hound. Amy Lau and Danny Cho. Lucy and Ethel. Walter White and Jesse. Bert and Ernie. Some of the greatest duos ever on TV.
When we start talking about why these couples work so well together, the word “chemistry” usually comes up.
You know. That thing they have.
It’s such a vague term used to describe something so important when putting two characters together (Walt and Jesse is one of the few occasions where the word can be used literally).
I mean, we know chemistry when characters have it, but what is it? What makes some character duos sizzle while others are just meh.
I take you to…
…the color wheel.
Yeah. The thing we use to determine what colors go well together in our clothes.
Bear with me.
This is something I never thought I’d use in an analogy until I was trying to describe to improv students why some characters they come up with work really well together and why others don’t.
So for those who like to wear all black just to keep it simple, here’s how the wheel works when combining colors. If two colors are directly next to each other, like the blue and light blue, they’re good to go. Or if two colors are on the opposite ends of the color wheel, they also work, like red and green (which is why Christmas is so stylish).
It’s the same way with characters. When you take two characters who are very much alike, they’re going to have great chemistry together.
So many duos in Saturday Night Live will do this, from Wayne and Garth to Hans and Frans to the Spartan Cheerleaders. So do McNulty and Bunk on The Wire. Same for Alana and Kelly on Broad City. They have an automatic chemistry because they’re alike in so many ways. They’re not carbon copies of each other. That would be boring. Not to mention pretty creepy.
They’re just enough alike though to make the two characters flow together. This is probably true of many of our friends. We are similar to that person, and thus, we get along.
And, like in the color wheel, when you take two characters that are opposites of each other, they’re also going to have great chemistry.
When we’re talking about opposites it gets even more interesting. Arya and the Hound in Game of Thrones are different in size, gender, age and family, yet they feel so perfect as a duo.
In Breaking Bad Walter White is a nobel-prize winner; he’s serious, grumpy, book-smart, older and very responsible. Jesse is a Funyon-loving meth dealer. He’s immature, silly, street-smart, young, and a disappointment to his parents. But they’re one of the greatest duos ever.
The Odd Couple bases the entire premise of its show off of this.
It’s when the characters don’t fall on these spectrum that their chemistry becomes more ho-hum.
In The Office, Jim and Dwight have amazing chemistry because they’re opposite. Jim also has great chemistry with Pam because they’re so similar. But Jim’s interactions with Oscar is nothing too notable because they are neither very similar or very opposite to each other. However, Oscar and Michael, who are much more opposite, are a lot more fun to watch when they’re on screen together.
Here’s the thing, though: I’m saying wheel, but this whole picture is a lot more three-dimensional, and calling it a color sphere might be even more accurate.
Arya and the Hound are opposites on that color wheel for all the reasons we mentioned, but they also are matches in other ways: they’re both jaded, and they’re both great fighters. Not to mention both of their sigils are types of dogs.
Lucy and Ethel are alike in many ways, but they differ in that Lucy so desperately wants to be a big star and Ethel would rather not rock the boat.
These exceptions where alike characters have opposite traits or contrasting characters have similar traits makes their chemistry even more powerful and fun to watch.
Not every character combination you write can have this advantage. If you’re writing something with a large ensemble cast, you’re going to have all colors, and sometimes your yellows and your reds are going to have to interact with each other.
Even if that’s the case, you can still find ways in a scene or episode to bring their similarities or differences to the forefront.
Back in 1995, The Simpsons did a crossover with the show The Critic, allowing Homer to meet with Jon Lovitz’ Jay Sherman. The problem was that Jay wasn’t dumb enough to be a match with Homer, but he also wasn’t cunning enough to be the opposite of him. However, there was one world that Jay Sherman was an expert in: film. So the plot of the episode was centered around a town film festival, where Jay Sherman would be at his smartest, which contrasted with Homer’s lack of sophistication, making for a great dynamic and rivalry between them.
Any pairing in Seinfeld or Friends works well like this because the cast is similar and opposite to each other in many different ways.
You just have to get creative with how the characters interact, and then you can always create color wheel types of scenes.
But whether you’re creating two main characters, or you’re finding ways to bring your existing characters together, you want to pay attention to what kind of chemistry you make. And this means treating your characters like you would your outfit.
So when it comes to characters, take both of these into account. Create awesome, nuanced characters the audience want to see.
And then have them play with each other. Not literally, unless it’s that kind of show.
When the audience can’t wait for two characters to appear on screen together, like Judge Michael Desiato and Jimmy Baxter in Your Honor, then you’re winning at this.
Combine this with an amazing world and all the other elements of a great pilot, and you’ll have characters that are forever memorable.
Thanks for reading!
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