Creating Unforgettable Characters (14 page)

Some of the most successful films and television series have featured two stars, not one. A partial list of relational television series would include "Cheers," "Kate and Allie," "Moonlighting," "Mork and Mindy," "Starsky and Hutch," "Cagney and

Lacey," and "Remington Steele." Many successful films also emphasize character relationships. Think of
The African Queen, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Adams Rib, 48 HRS., Lethal Weapon,
and
Rain Man.

Relational stories emphasize the chemistry between characters. The individual characters are created by choosing qualities that will provide the most "sizzle" in the relationship. The most sizzle comes from a combination of the following elements:

1. Characters have something in common that brings them together and keeps them together. This is the attraction between the characters.

2. There is a conflict between the characters that threatens to pull them apart and that provides much of the drama—and sometimes the comedy—in a script.

3. Characters have contrasting qualities; they are oppo-sites. This creates new conflicts and strengthens the characters through opposition.

4. The characters have the potential to transform each other—for better or for worse.

HOW DO YOU BALANCE ATTRACTION AND CONFLICT?

Conflict is an essential element in almost all fiction writing. Most stories rely on conflict to provide tension and interest and drama to the story. But many stories are also love stories— portraying the attraction between people. In films and novels it is relatively easy to find the balance between conflict and attraction. Conflict begins the story but gets resolved at the end, usually leading to the happy ending.

But the television series presents a special problem. A series may run for five to ten years, delaying the resolution of the relationship. If the attraction overcomes the conflict, and the characters come together too soon, the sizzle can leave the show. If there's too much conflict, and too little attraction, characters can become unlikable, and audiences will tune them out. This is further complicated because it's unnatural to keep characters apart, particularly when the strength of the series depends on the characters' mutual interest. Finding this balance becomes a challenge for producers and writers.

James Burrows (cocreator of "Cheers ") explains how they dealt with this dilemma at the beginning of the series: "Our show is an evolving show. And the critics were not crazy about Diane and Sam's evolution. We felt if Sam and Diane stayed in the teasing stage it would invalidate Sam's character. You can only keep Diane and Sam apart for so long. Obviously, if he's a ladies' man, he has to score with Diane eventually, or he's not a very successful ladies' man. We liked what this coming together did for the characters and the new definition it gave us, and we liked breaking them up again."

In shows such as "Who's the Boss?" "Moonlighting," and "Cheers," the attraction, even the friendship, between these characters is real. It's clear that they genuinely like each other on many levels. In a joint interview, Marty Cohan and Blake Hunter, creators of "Who's the Boss?" describe some of the commonality between Angela and Tony:

"Both Tony and Angela are conservative, in terms of how they look at life. They're very basic people—conscious of family and home. They would rather sit at home and watch TV and eat popcorn than go out on the town. They're very supportive of each other."

The repartee between Maddie and David on "Moonlighting"—and their fantasies of each other—reveal feelings that they usually are unable to express directly. In this scene, from the script of "It's a Wonderful Job" by Carl Sautter and Debra Frank, Maddie is a ghost, seeing what life would have been like if she had closed the agency two years ago. Albert is her guardian angel, taking her through this experience. David is ready to marry Cheryl Tiegs, yet he can't get Maddie out of his mind. Although David can't hear or see her, she responds to his musings.

DAVID

I was just thinking . . . Maddie Hayes . . . That was a name I hadn't heard for a while. She slapped me once. She was even a great slapper. . . . There was something. . . she had class, strength. I really admired her.

MADDIE

You did?

DAVID

She had this softness about her, this warmth. It was just a feeling. I bet she was a really special girl.

MADDIE Oh, David. What does he mean, was?

DAVID

Maybe, we could have been great together. MADDIE

But we were great together . . . don't you remember all those cases? The disc jockey, the piano player, that stupid portrait of me. You followed me to Buenos Aires ... I followed you to New York. How could you forget that? You even kissed me once in a garage.

ALBERT No, he didn't, Maddie.

MADDIE

What?

ALBERT

None of that happened.

MADDIE

Huh?

ALBERT

All that went away when you closed the agency.

Those two years, they're gone.

DAVID

Ah, this is crazy. Here I am comparing Cheryl to a

woman I don't even know.

In another situation, this attraction would be the focus of the show, and you might see a 1950s love story where the characters fall in love, get married, and have babies. But in order to keep the characters apart in a credible way, barriers are created. Usually the barrier comes from the situation— such as a working relationship. Whether this relationship is a working partnership (as in "Moonlighting"), or an employer-employee relationship (as in "Cheers" or "Who's the Boss?"), the barrier works because at least one character recognizes the problems that can occur by mixing business and pleasure.

Constructing the barrier can be difficult. It needs to be weak enough so that a great deal of love and affection can flow back and forth, but strong enough so at least one character understands the value of not giving in. In "Who's the Boss?" both characters have that same value. They might be attracted to each other, but as long as they live in the same house with the children, they won't sleep together. In "Cheers," Diane (and later Rebecca) is doubly determined not to give in to Sam's amorous advances.

In these series, the barrier is always toyed with. Usually the titillation comes from playing with these boundaries, although if there's too much toying with them, audiences might question the indecisiveness of the characters. On the other hand, if there is none, audiences might question why two attractive people are so uninterested in each other.

Both "Moonlighting" and "Cheers" eventually crossed the line. David and Maddie, and Diane and Sam, eventually slept together.

In 1985, in its third year, "Who's the Boss?" toyed with the boundary, and reaffirmed the balance:

ANGELA

Nothing's going to happen because we're both adults and because . . .

TONY

And because things are pretty good between us the way they are.

ANGELA

Right. Although things could probably be good between us the way they aren't.

TONY They'd be great, Angela.

ANGELA

Yes, they would.

TONY

But they wouldn't be the same. And I don't want to take the chance of losing what we got.

ANGELA

Neither would I.

Although the situation serves to keep characters apart, individual character traits also contribute. Angela's sense of propriety raises questions about how far to go with Tony. Diane's intellectualism and snobbishness lead to her belief that she's above falling for Sam's lines. Maddie's fear of involvement keeps her from giving in to David.

CONTRAST IN CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS

Contrast—more than any other quality—defines character duos. Opposites truly do attract and by contrasting two characters, the strongest character dynamics are achieved.
Lethal Weapon, 48 HRS., The Odd Couple, Shoot to Kill, Someone to Watch Over Me—almost any relational story
that comes to mind, whether a romance, a partnership, or a friendship, will probably contain contrasting characters.

Contrast can reflect behavior and attitudes. In the film
Midnight Run
by George Gallo, the behavior and approach to life of Jack the bounty hunter and Jonathan the CPA seem diametrically opposed. Their contrasting qualities include choice of jobs, relationship to their spouses, moral choices— and even eating.

JONATHAN Are you familiar with the word, arterial sclerosis? If you want, I'll outline a complete balanced diet for you. Why would you eat that?

JACK

Why? Because it tastes good!

JONATHAN But it's not good for you.

JACK

I'm aware of it.

JONATHAN Why would you do something that you know is not good for you?

JACK

'Cause I don't think about it.

JONATHAN But that's living in denial.

JACK

I'm aware of that.

JONATHAN So you're aware of your behavior, yet you continue to do things that aren't good for you. That sounds sort of foolish, don't you think so, Jack?

JACK

Stealing 15 million dollars from Jimmy Serrano sounds foolish . . .

JONATHAN I didn't think I'd get caught.

JACK

Now that's living in denial.

JONATHAN

I'm aware of that.

Sometimes the ethnic background, economic class, and methods for approaching problems are contrasted. Marty Cohan and Blake Hunter describe these dynamics: " 'Who's the Boss?' contains a number of role reversals—the blue collar and the white collar, the working woman and the housekeeper

man as well as the contrasts of New York and Connecticut, the WASP and the Italian. Tony is very honest, straightforward, even blunt at times. He can be temperamental, and prone to bursts of anger. Tony might fly off the handle a little quicker than Angela, who tries to say 'Lets keep the peace.' Angela tends to gloss over things, bottle things up, be a little uptight in certain areas, while Tony just cuts through all the bull and gets right to the heart of the matter. Angela as the controlled businesswoman is going to try to keep her cool and not blow at the client or at the boss and Tony doesn't have this same context, he doesn't check himself like she does. Both are very family oriented and home oriented, but Angela, by her own admission, is a bit of a klutz in the kitchen, and probably struggling a little more to keep all the balls in the air with motherhood. Tony is direct, no-nonsense, he's strict with his children. Angela is more conservative, more uptight, more permissive with her children. She's more upwardly mobile, and ambitious for herself, whereas Tony is ambitious for his daughter. So there's contrast in ambition, in goals, in attitudes toward the children."

Sometimes the contrast is psychological. In "Moonlighting," the contrast between Maddie and David can be described in terms of inner fears, as well as outer characteristics. Certainly on the surface they're very different.

Carl Sautter: "She's ice, he's hot. Maddie is a bubble detached from her emotions, while David's emotions are very raw and on the surface. He's much more of a man of the moment. The thing they're most afraid of is falling in love with somebody—being exposed. But they deal with this differently. Maddie protects herself with the incredible way she looks and the coldness of her exterior. David protects himself with the fast-talking jive. So, immediately, what you've got are two characters who happen to have an enormous bond going on underneath and so you start to get that push-pull in their relationship.

"Some of their contrasts are unexpected. We did a show where they got into a discussion about God. And the obvious choice, given the focus of those characters, is that Maddie would be very prim and proper in her belief in God and David would be very irreverent about it. Glenn Caron [the creator of the show] said, 'No, let's layer them by giving them exactly the opposite attitudes.' And he switched their attitudes and made David the one who is very religious and believes in God, and Maddie the one who is very skeptical. Which worked so much better than the other—because it's not the switch you expect in it.

"You see differences in how they both react to a client. In one episode that Debra Frank and I wrote, this woman walks in and says she's a leprechaun. David instantly wants to believe her, and Maddie thinks she's nuts. They have different attitudes toward life. In this episode, Maddie says to David, 'You have no poetry in your soul. You're crass and illiterate'—and basically David's retort was, 'What you have is an artificial sense of poetry, art exhibits, and the formal side of it. Your sense of romance and poetry is an artificial one. You're the kind of person who wouldn't have clapped for Tinker Bell.' "

Here the contrast extends to the psychology that drives them. It's an understanding of their emotional lives, their fears, their vulnerabilities that opens up these characters to audiences, helping them see past the persona to something— perhaps some hurt, some tenderness—underneath.