Picking up on the “ICM Story Department — Coverage Packet,” let’s continue our analysis of the first part of the doc, “How To Do Script Coverage.” Yesterday we covered Loglines. Today let’s look at Character Breakdowns.

The maximum amount of character breakdowns is six. If there are less than six, lead and / or co-star characters then only list those. For example, THREESOME, main characters are two boys and a girl, only list those three. If there is an important featured or cameo role please include that. For example, SEVEN, the part of the serial killer (Kevin Spacey), mostly a voice over only seen in a few scenes, important role, list it.

What can we learn from this?

* First, let’s consider this question: Why a six character limit? Perhaps that reflects the sense that a busy agent can only handle a cast of six characters in their head. Perhaps, too, it reflects a natural aspect of most movies: They typically only have around six primary characters.

* Which leads me directly to my theory about Character Archetypes: Most movies have a Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, and Trickster. That’s five primary character types. Throw in another Mentor character. Or another significant Trickster. Maybe a story with Co-Protagonists. And you’ve got your six lead characters.

* Whether there is a corollary to the number of Character Archetypes or not, one lesson to take from the six character limit is that script coverage reduces characters to their respective narrative functions. Character A is the Protagonist. Character B is the Nemesis. Character C is love interest. Character D is a wisdom character…

* Which underscores the importance of spending enough time with your characters so that you understand their core essence / narrative function. It will not only help you understand your individual characters better, not only help you see how their respective roles function together as a whole, not only help you to shape them as distinct and multifaceted individuals, it will almost assuredly help the script reader to grab hold of your story, then — of critical importance — be able to convey that in their script coverage.

* What if your script only has three primary characters? Or four? That doesn’t necessarily mean you have a ‘thin’ story. Many stage plays that have been adapted into films have succeeded with less than six characters including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Marty. However if you do only have three or four primary characters, it’s certainly worth some brainstorming to see if there are aspects of your story which you’ve yet to mine, and in particular interesting elements of your Protagonist’s emotional and psychological journey that are lying there, just waiting to be tapped. Oftentimes you can do that by creating characters who can tie in to those Internal World dynamics and pull them to the surface of the External World through actions and dialogue.

* What if the converse is true: Your script has many more lead characters than six? Let’s say 10, 11, or 12? First, ask yourself: What does “lead character” mean? Page count can help to determine that, but not always — a character can have a dramatic impact on the plot and an important relationship to the Protagonist, even if they only appear in a few sequences. I think the best way to determine what a lead character is ask these two questions: Do they have a significant role in the Plotline? Do they have an influential connection with the Protagonist? If yes, then they are probably a lead character.

* If you have 10 or more lead characters, is your script in trouble? Again I think there has to be some latitude in terms of these cut-off points. What if your script is an historical drama played out on multiple fronts? That said, this “six lead character” limit does suggest that a script reader could find a script with more characters than six to be unwieldy. In other words, you’ve set yourself on a harder path. You’ve got to make each of those lead characters compelling, distinguishable, and memorable. That’s just harder to do with 10 characters than 6.

One final bit of subtext from the ICM doc’s description of character breakdowns: People who work in the Hwood movie business are busy. Theirs is a world of 100-150 phone calls a day, each about 1-2 minutes long. They start their days at 5:30AM and dont’ get done until midnight. You’ve heard about the importance of a writer having an “elevator pitch” — a pitch you can tell to a buyer in the time it takes to ride an elevator. Well, there’s a reason for that — and that is because everyone in Hwood is damn busy.

So when we learn that script readers operate with a “six lead character” limit, probably the single most important lesson to take away from that is the people who read your scripts are busy, easily distracted, and ready at any second to set your script aside.

It’s up to you to craft a compelling enough story that you grab the attention of these busy people and don’t let them leave your story world.

Therefore with every story concept, every character, every major plot point, every sequence every scene, every page… oh, hell, why not, every line, you should ask yourself, “What can I write that will grab and keep the reader’s attention?”

Tomorrow more analysis of the ICM doc as we cover what they mean by the word “synopsis.”