Function before flavour

Ask a writer about their character and you will hear age, wardrobe, wound, favourite drink. All of it decorates. Function comes first: the character's relation to the central conflict and to the story's thematic argument. A functional character changes what the story can do. A described character changes what the casting notice says. Build the function, then dress it.

The protagonist owns the final choice

The protagonist is the character whose choice at the climax settles the story's central question. That choice defines them. Design everything about them, flaw, want, history, to make the choice as hard, as costly, and as revealing as it can get. A hero who can make the right call without paying for it has nothing to do at the climax except watch.

The antagonist argues back

The antagonist blocks the goal until the hero faces the flaw. That is the job. The strong antagonist believes their own case and carries a worldview the audience can weigh, and half-agree with, before the story answers it. Opposition with a case gives you a debate. Opposition without one gives you an obstacle course. The collision between the two positions powers everything else.

A cast built from the theme

Each supporting character answers the story's central question a different way. Say the question asks what loyalty costs. One character stayed loyal and paid with a life. One sold loyalty at the first good price. One keeps loyalty as a story they tell about themselves. Ring the protagonist with those answers and every scene partner pressures the argument. Small casts sharpen this; in a vertical season shot with a handful of actors, a character who carries no thematic position wastes a seat the format cannot spare.

How Screenburn maps function

Screenburn's character questions skip breakfast orders. They ask what relation this character has to the central conflict, which thematic position they hold, and how they press on the protagonist's arc. Around twenty questions per character, and the answers assemble into a map that shows the dramatic reason each character exists. A character with an empty map has answered the cut question for you.