Hi all. I'm looking for some advice. One of the characters in my screenplay is gay. It's not relevant to the plot and his orientation only matters as motivation: the protagonist didn't care that he was gay in Vietnam and helped him when he came home with a drug dependency. However, when I sought script coverage, his friendship with a female character was read as a "budding romance" that didn't go anywhere. I don't want to add "gay" to his description, nor do I want to add actions that say "gay man" (the story is set in 1975). Suggestions?
Screenwriting : Gay character by Lamont Merritt
Gay character
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My suggestion is something I always try to keep in mind when getting coverage, take the notes that matter to you. It sounds like the fact that your character is gay is a key aspect of the story - if it's a motivation then that's a big deal. But I will say that if you never say that this character is gay or never show that aspect of his identity as significant then this will allow producers to simply ignore that and it's also not a very engaging representation for audiences who want to see gay characters represented on screen.
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If the protagonist didn't care, then the protagonist also knew. Do you have scenes from their time in Vietnam together? Could you write a scene in early on where the gay man is kissing a dude, for example, and protagonist sees them.
The character says the protagonist "saw me" (in Vietnam) and didn't care. I guess that could have been read as seeing his drug use.
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Lamont Merritt Yea, maybe you need to somehow show that rather than say it.
If "gay" is the source of the character's motivation, why don't you want to put that in? Character motives are a crucial part of storytelling. A single mention or a single "gay action" would inform the character and reveal depth to the reader.
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"Moonlight" screenplay. The writers don't write "gay" in the descriptions. Character is revealed in action and we are using a camera to tell stories.
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Hi Lamont, like Dan said, show, don't tell. If his sexual orientation is not the focus of the story. Maybe in Vietnam, he made a pass at his friend but he politely turned him down and they formed a friendship. That way, we will see in the beginning that he is a gay male. You can also make it as simple as him turning around and checking out a guy as he walked past him. Right away...we know!
Great comments. The protagonist helping him get clean was the main motivation. I like the Moonlight suggestion and I think I found an early scene where a glance would work. Thanks again.