Screenwriting : Writing Female Characters by Jacob Taylor

“Chick?” Wow, sorry, that’s not very insightful. “Nail it?” “Pun intended? How derogatory. Jacob, if you wish to steer clear of the typical “male gaze” perspective (as already demonstrated above) then perhaps study films about women written and/or directed by women. Or ask a woman to share her perspective. Hope that helps. ;)

You might want to delete that "chick" and "nail it" comment.

I think it is extremely difficult for many men to write women effectively because, at least for me, I have almost zero social or emotional awareness unless I intentionally focus on it. And women, generally speaking, effortlessly have a good social and emotional awareness. I think that it is important for any character but more so for female characters to understand their emotional state and drive at each point of the story. Also I have females read the script and give their input about what they would think or do in a similar situation.

No need to be additionally offensive, Kay - nor to duck, spin and evade.

It's a different world today. What you may consider to be okay to say in private to a similar-minded man (or in private to a woman or an LGBTQ+ person who might not be offended by those terms) might not be okay to say in a public forum where it might offend some. Unless, of course, your intent is to be potentially offensive to some.

That's easy to understand and agree to, don't you think?

REST IN PEACE, DANNY AIELLO (June 20, 1933 - December 12, 2019)

Well, Kay, in regards to the topic of this discussion your rather sexist joke/comment above certainly doesn’t add insight to writing female characters, does it?

I was gonna say lighten up on Kay for saying "Chick" but the "nail it" joke was kinda lame haha. I agree with Beth that you should talk to female writers and watch movies written by women. I asked this question at Sundance last year to Abby Mcenany after watching her film. Her advice was to write from the heart, we all share the same need for connection that comes from that place.

Hi Jacob,

That's a question that comes up quite a bit here. Me personally....I always have a female or an LBGTQ+ person help me with writing characters who aren't like me. It personally helps, all things considered, and gives me added insights that I would otherwise not have.

That doesn't mean that men and women are so totally different that only a man could understand what males experience and process (and could write a male's character faithfully). Nor does it means that only a female could understand what females experience and process (and could write a female's character faithfully). Nor does it means that only an LGBTQ+ person could understand what LGBTQ+ persons experience and process (and could write an LGBTQ+ character faithfully).

It just applies to me and the way I write and approach writing, and we all have our own ways of doing things.

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Jacob!

REST IN PEACE, DANNY AIELLO (June 20, 1933 - December 12, 2019)

The biggest thing to avoid is the “just the name” problem. Which when you write the character for Don and just do a Replace Don with Donna.

Female characters approach problems different. I am not saying all woman are the same. But it is a fact that woman think longer on things, run scenarios, then act. Men tend to act, fail, act, fail, act success.

So when I write a female character I don’t have the continued failure till victory. Female characters are great in thrillers for that reason. They have a plan and the audience has to keep up.

I made a character a lesbian because my gay friends solve problems different to the straight friends. My friend Danielle wanted to help her wife Kay. She approached the problem in a supportive way. I would have blundered into the situation in a very male way. There is so much to mine in people.

Before anyone takes my comment literally and gets offended. We all deal in stereotypes in some way. Trick is to make them not pantomime.

I chose a gender, age and sexuality for the benefits they bring and the scope it brings to the story.

Your challenge is to meet people and model your world off them. We can’t write what we can’t feel.

Here’s my simple two cents ‘cause not every female-driven film, in all fairness, quite hits the mark, IMHO. I’m quite passionate about this topic and have a strong opinion, so for the sake of the forum I’ll just keep it brief. There are universal truths that touch all human beings, yes, of course. That said, regardless, my advice: Acknowledge the complexity. Acknowledge the difference of different perspectives. Don’t belittle it. Don’t objectify it. People of all gender identities may seek and want connection, yes, but each may approach it differently, have different reasons, have different struggles, and have different experiences. One size does not fit all, certainly in storytelling. One thing for sure for creating well-written female characters: They need to have agency. Full stop. Agency. Got it?! Lol! ;) Hope that helps, Jacob!

I can't help but feel like if you are writing an authentic story with a voice that comes from your life experiences, you still have to be afraid of how you write a female character because the PC police may smash you over the head for not writing your female characters as an empowered woman with agency, despite that fact that many women in life that I have met are not such women. Most men for that matter are weak and cowardly and not worth writing about. Maybe this isn't the most PC way to write, but the audience isn't stupid and whatever it is you write, it better feel authentic, male or female.

Just write them like a person. Don’t ask, “Would a woman say/do that?” Ask “Would my character say/do that?” And if they’re not a character you can defend agains naysayers, why are you writing them?

Having agency means acting on one’s own behalf as an individual, which is important for a protagonist or any character, is it not? This is about good effective storytelling and creating characters. Unfortunately, agency is not always considered for female characters.

Thanks for everyone's inputs on here, my personal opinion is that i'm not striving to make my characters(male/female) likable, that's never been a focus of mine in my writng. I'm more interested in delving into the different traumas that people experience throughout their lives and how they go about dealing/coping with it. As a gay Southern self described "dude," I know my perspective is only one perspective, I would love to write a female character with some depth but i'm just uncomfortable doing that(right now) without acquiring more research on the subject(recent top performances for me; Amy Adams in Sharp Objects, Olivia Colman in The Favourite)

Jacob Taylor only Disney needs likeable characters. LOL. The world is full of loathsome individual that are far more interesting.

Beth’s point about agency is how to give any character depth. If a person makes decisions that change the situation they have agency. For a person to make a decision they need some knowledge and goals. If they have goals they have struggle (otherwise they’d already have the stuff they want). etc etc. A character must be why the story happens and not the other way around.

Beth Fox Heisinger agency is so overlooked, especially with female characters. People write a damsel in distress and think they’ve written a female protagonist.

Hey, Jacob. One review I read about Sharp Objects said that it not only is about trauma and the cycles of abuse but it is also about “female rage.” For me, I personally like female-driven work that is very nuanced, even ugly, more authentic, so I thought the performances were incredible but I did not like the book and I couldn’t finish watching the series. But that’s just me. A film I did like was A Vigilante with a fearless performance by Olivia Wilde. It’s about domestic violence but more so, it’s about its lasting and damaging impact. And that women are often not taken seriously nor listened to nor do they feel that they can speak up for themselves. There’s a sense that rings very true in the film, that no one will help me so I gotta fight for myself and fight for others. Many victims are not taken seriously until it’s too late. The general experience (in all areas of life) of not being taken seriously or not being heard is something most women can identify with. Another film that’s getting great reviews is Portrait of a Lady on Fire. I haven’t seen it yet but I plan to. ;)

Hey, Craig. Yes, very true. Agency makes for a more active character too. Not passive. It seems such an obvious element for any character, and yet....

Many men can identify with not being taken seriously after being abused or mistreated by family, or in a work environment as well. Men are very often victims of domestic violence and it is incredibly difficult to seek help as a man because the vast majority of support for domestic violence is for women. Men are expected to just "man up". Or take it.

Yes, of course, there are male victims too, Robert. I never said otherwise. But this is a thread about female characterization and writing female characters, and I was just talking about and sharing/suggesting a film that fits Jacob’s interest he further expressed above and his posted question. ;)

Anyway, I hope this all encourages you, Jacob. I wish you the best with all your creative endeavors!

Oh ffs, that's why I suck at writing alien sci-fi, I'm not an alien, I was born on the wrong planet. All this time it was staring me in the face. Well, I guess I better leave all those stories to the real aliens, as well as movies involving animals, people of different colors, anything that's not a white male.

Now, can anyone give me the contact details of an alien, I'd like to collaborate with them.

find a female with unique traits and write for HER.

Nicole Holocefner is particularly great at this. As is Lisa Cholodenko. Their female protagonists don't embody a cocktail of cliches. They just seem genuine. You can always watch their films and study their work. They both write great female and male characters and get wonderful performances from their actors.

@Beth I definitely don’t want some stereotypical depiction where she is just some passive character, its funny you mention A Vigilante and A Portrait..., those are the very films that I think incorporate the type of themes I want to write about.

This will not be a question for the next generation. We are leaving an era that had a default white male mentality, which made it easy to write those characters. Questions like this are proof we are growing and thinking.

Sounds great, Jacob. I look forward to your work. ;) Perhaps then another writer/director/producer to study is Lynne Ramsay—You Were Never Really Here, We Need to Talk About Kevin. She digs into those in-between places of trauma and broken people. It's not for everyone, perhaps? Her films have a different pace to them, but they are brutal, strange, dark, and certainly not asking for sympathy nor empathy. Yet her work is deeply affecting. :)

To add or just share... My personal opinion is mostly formed through the lens of being an audience member. I love movies, and there has been some amazing work in recent years and right now. My faith in film has returned in full. I'm so excited. It seems whoever or whatever has been steering the industry ship is finally taking that much-needed turn, albeit it's a bit slow but it is moving. I'm truly looking forward to what's ahead. ;)

Look at this subject like an anthropology student. If you want your characters to be authentic, then perform a mini-study about the subjects and world where they live. And draw from your experience interacting with women. I'm slowly writing a dramedy about female athletes. Thus far, my main characters have attributes that are both female and male. CJ Walley said it wonderfully well in three lines. Refer to his post above. Best of luck and have fun with it.

@Jacob I appreciate your Ethos. We need a Character we care enough about to follow their plight/journey/story. The other “ISMS” are secondary or unneeded traits.!! EG Fat/Thin or Male/Female or Rich/Poor ETC.

When I create characters, I try to focus- regardless of their gender- on character traits. I used to get hung up on height, but Stage 32 broke me of that. (A resounding "RIGHT ON!")

Also, I like going to this very Internet and reading articles about actual human beings...and then I pattern my characters after those everyday people.

Jacob, great question...and all the VERY BEST to you!

Kay, the fact that you don’t acknowledge your sexually objectifying comment and its offense and its consequential reaction, and that somehow for some reason, that translates to you that I, I assume, as the only woman who commented about that, do not know how to write men or don’t know professional-level screenwriting is preposterous, offensive, and sexist, and says more about you. You don’t know anything about me. You’ve never seen my work and never will, and yet you judge. I do not need nor seek your permission nor your approval. I do not need you to tell me how to write or its purpose. Being objective seems more a struggle for you, sir.

Actually, Kay, to be a WGA signatory Prod Company, you need to show financial evidence like MONEY in a bank account.

Really, the core trick to breaking stereotypes is to give the character a strong line of action, write a backstory that's specific and detailed enough to offer clear motivations and nuanced impulses, and then commit to writing the action and the mission of the character instead of trying to "sell" the character.

Presumably, this is how everyone is writing the characters they personally consider to be "normal." Start treating all the characters normally, put that work into all of them, and put aside the noise of our own preconceived notions about how people different than ourselves should look or act in favor of letting the character "just get the job done." Everything else is just a question of writing a well-researched character bio that doesn't romanticize or exploit the character's circumstances or origin.

I think we just ignore Kay from now on. I do encourage everyone to go to Secret Life Productions and gauge for yourself how much of a Hollywood heavy hitter Kay is?

A Craig. An appropriate name for that company.

Dan Guardino is this the link you are looking for?

https://secretlifeproductions.com/

Here is mine. I can’t play favourites. I am not hiding.

http://griffithscreative.com.au/

Heroine's Journey.

You guys kick ass with your inputs, I guess one other thing I would add is that the reason my fixation is leaning towards more female characters then male is that, with a few notable exceptions, the male storyline has gotten a bit "played out" with its use of anti-hero type characters or strong,silent brooding characters. My character Charlie in my current screenplay(and based off of some my own experiences) is gay, a journalist, and addicted to drugs. I feel gay characters are still written one-toned in a lot of films, and male characters in general(again with notable exceptions, give me time and ill have a massive list on that part)are still written with "masculinity" in mind. Female characters have thankfully been able to show more depth and rawness to these characters that I'm entertained by, touch me in numerous ways, and have even allowed me to grow as a writer and as a person.

On a separate but related note, all A24/Horror film fans, check out Saint Maud!!!

I have a gay cop in the 50’s (when being gay was a crime). A man he has an encounter with is killed. During the investigation he is blackmailed by the murderer.

Lots to mine. But I think there are many under repped groups.

You could try starting the story with your heroine seen as different but not because of her gender. For instance, I'm writing a story about Dragon Warriors. And I am also writing a woman as the protagonist. How I'm doing it is that she's seen as less than equal, but only because she wasn't raised in a Dragon Warrior family. Throughout the film, she earns her way here and there. By the end of the story, she earns the respect of everyone around her while at the same time showing the audience that she belongs there as the protagonist.

Personally, I don't think it should matter what gender the protagonist is. Just worry about making the story good. Hope this was helpful.

Concentrate on the wants of the character and how they go about achieving their goal and contrast that with their true needs ( which might be something different to the goal they are chasing.) Add obstacles in the way of goal together with personal conflicts. An interesting character is NOT "male or female" but a character that comes out as strong in the way they NAVIGATE THEIR PARTICULAR MAZE.

Make her taboo...let's say a successful banker, spec ops commander, NASA chief, Formula 1 driver...see how she fits these male world's...but more important how will we (audience) respond to that.

Good suggestion above from @Kirril. A woman in a “taboo” work/social role causes automatic conflict in the initial sense. I think a sting in the tail scenario might work also Eg Give character name like Pat which could be either sex and concentrate solely on their thoughts and feelings in set up, then reveal they are a woman later on. Eg Tall firefighter with gear covering all but their eyes and mouth, story where they save hostages from peril etc then sudden reveal. A twist reader not expected yet is totally plausible. The beginning of Breaking Bad pilot starts with a character wearing a gas mask and driving erratically (Walt). I did not see pilot because only read but it could have been filmed in a way that driver coulda been a woman or man. The rest of the script reveals how a mild mannered school teacher chemist turns into the “weirdo” the cops pull over in car. Bring in character with a BANG! So reader thinks how did this person come to this?

It's pretty easy, actually. I just wrote 4 of 5 scripts of an ongoing series that have strong female leads. Turns out, if you write them like human beings with their own wants and needs, they come out fully rounded. It's no trick. Just don't write them as if they're objects.