Introducing Your Hero

Character introductions are an essential component of a well-written screenplay, and yet, they’re so hard to get right…that applies to the pros as well as to amateur screenwriters. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been sharing the screenwriting tips I’ve learned by studying the differences between Taken’s screenplay and its produced movie.

In this post, I’m going to focus on some of the tips I’ve learned which specifically apply to introducing your characters, in particular the hero.

Taken, if you didn’t see it, stars Liam Neeson who “relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been forced into the slave trade.” (Logline kindly provided by IMDB.) Although Taken is an action/thriller, these tips apply to all screenplays of any genre, so let’s get started, shall we?

Character Introduction Tip #1: Face to face is always best

Bryan and his ex-wife, Lenore have a contentious relationship to say the least. Lenore, now remarried, mocks his cautiousness and resents his stubbornness. Their clashes over how to best raise their daughter, Kimmy, are a huge source of screenplay conflict in the first act, and screenwriters Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen were wise to introduce this relationship early on, by page 4.

But how does this oh-so-important introduction to this contentious relationship take place? Over the telephone (!) instead of in person, where the audience can witness firsthand the sparks of tension.

Whenever possible, have your character interact face-to-face instead of over the phone, or through text message, or instant message, or whatever technology they develop next. You give the actors so much more to work with, when they’re in the same space, and the resulting scene becomes much more rich and textured. This screenwriting advice is especially important if you’re introducing a key character and/or relationship as was the case here.

It’s like dumping someone; you’re a coward if you do it over the phone or via text message. Real gentlemen and ladies duke it out in person…and so do real screenwriters

Character Introduction Tip #2: Redundancy need not apply

When you’re writing your character introductions, you might be tempted to follow this post’s character introduction tip #2 too welland show multiple examples of how your hero has a certain trait or characteristic.

This is a really common screenwriting mistake. You want to nail down your hero’s introduction perfectly. You might be nervous, and the end result is you overthink it and overdo it…and end up boring the audience by showing them the same thing too many times.

Give them some credit. Don’t hit the audience over the head with your hero’s defining quality. Honestly, you don’t really have the space or the time because you’ve got a lot of ground to cover in your first act.

Here are few examples of how the screenwriters of Taken showed characteristics of Bryan one too many times, and which way they eventually ended up using in the final movie.

Character Introduction Tip #3: Use the power of the mighty anecdote

Here’s my final tip for ways to introduce your main character: use your other characters to tell an anecdote about him.

I know it seems like I’m contradicting the advice in character introduction tip #2.

Let’s examine this screenplay excerpt from Taken to see if I am:

BERNIE

Hey, you remember that time we were in Beirut after the Chief disappeared, and Bry was deep under with that crazy Sheik? The one who was gonna get us inside, and then he disappeared?

CASEY

And we’re sure your cover was blown and they were, like, pulling out your fingernails one by one.

SAM

And we’re scrambling to get the hell outta Dodge before we get taken down. And where the hell are you?

BRYAN

I promised her I would never miss a birthday.

SAM

That went down well at Langley when they found out you flew the coop to attend your kid’s birthday…nine thousand miles away. Where did you say your next posting was? The Arctic circle, spying on penguins, I believe it was.

BERNIE

Penguins are in Antarctica.

Final thoughts

The screenwriting analysis in this post will help you to write your hero introductions. You might also find this post helpful, where I show you how to use a powerful college admission essay tip to write kick-butt hero introductions. For further study, you should also rent RED, an action-thriller laced heavily with comedy, which masterfully introduces all of its lead characters.

Character is only one-half of the equation however; plot is equally important to your screenplay. If you want to improve your plotting skills, study Taken’s screenplay structure. It’s a fast-paced thriller with no extraneous scenes, and its screenplay is a study in economy.

Hero introductions can generate some of the most memorable scenes in a movie, and they can be a lot of fun to write. So tell me, what are your favorite hero introductions?