Scriptwriting Assignment

This past Wednesday, my scriptwriting professor handed out this assignment that I thought was really interesting, and I figured I'd write it out here so that you can get an idea of what kinds of things we do. Maybe you can even make one yourself!

Creating a Character Through Observation and Imagination

• Observe four people and without speaking to them or "stalking" them answer the following questions about them (these are imaginative assumptions based on the possible lives of these people):
• Name
• Age
• Place of origin (where they were born)
• Where they now live including their address and type of abode (e.g. a one bedroom flat or a semi-attached house etc.)
• Occupation (if any)
• Marital status
• Surviving family
• Education
• Class
• Financial situation
  
• Hobbies (if any)
  
• Pets (if any)
  
• How they walk, talk, dress, their mannerisms
  
• Outward ambition (what they want out of life)
• Secret desire and/or inner ambition
• Secret regret
  
• Guilty secret
• Any other interesting "facts" that occur to you

• Each of these four characters must be written up under the above headings. Try not to make them too ordinary - let your imaginations create extraordinary people with interesting ambitions, secret regrets, guilty secrets, etc. Only one can be based on a student or member of staff at this University and none of them can be people you have ever spoken to. Choose males and females, across a range of ages and types. Remember these are flights of the imagination based on your observations. Try to have the four profiles completed before moving on to the next section. It is preferable that you don't create characters with the next step in mind as you may end up with cliches.
• Of the four, choose your two favorites whose paths could feasibly cross and who could have an interesting dialogue, and even a relationship of some type (positive or negative). E.g. A man looking for love and a woman just looking for a good time; a con-artist and just about anyone; a desperate actor and a playwright; a rich older woman and a young gigolo; homeless person and a city worker; an internet hacker and a person who works in a restaurant; an artist and a model; a C.I.A. agent and a cleaner. Interestingly all of these could go with just about any other that I have listed.
• Develop these characters further by considering further aspects of their lives - Know them inside and out - what their place of work is like - and everything from their favorite color to what they ate for breakfast.
• Bring the two characters to the next class ready to describe them to the rest of the group. We will then ask you questions about at least two of these characters, so know them well...BUT MOST OF ALL - HAVE FUN WITH THIS EXERCISE!