Chris Mack on story design and character

Chris Mack (a creative executive on Netflix) and stage 32 presented a workshop on pitching a series idea to Netflix. The 3 hour workshop is online and free but you need to sign up with stage 32, locate the workshop in their education section, order it (which might require a credit card, but they won't charge it). If you don't have time for all that, see the attached for a sketchy version of only a small part of his presentation. He gave some good advice on story design and character, IMHO.

***** Story design. Key story questions:

• Who are the characters?
• What do they want? (internal goal and external goal)
• Why do they want it?
• How do they go about getting it?
• What stops them?
• What are the consequences?

Robert McKee quote:

Of the total creative effort in a finished work, 75 percent or more of a writer’s effort goes into designing story. [repeats the questions above] Finding the answers to these grand questions and shaping them into story is our overwhelming creative task.

The last two questions of McKee can be revised to

• What are the central conflicts?
• What are the stakes?

Central conflicts generate story! Answer these questions for your protagonist. Challenger yourself to get the best answer possible. Repeat this for each main character.

Characters. Backstory. Traits. Arcs. Describe each of your main characters. Three key ingredients for a “rootworthy” character:

• Catalyst. (Underlying motivation or backstory, centered around one reason that feeds into their main goal. Think “call to action” or personal tragedy or inherently wanting to do the “right thing.”)
• Moral compass. (A set of rules the character sets for themself. This allows the audience to set expectations on how a character will act. Think fighting for the greater good or protecting their family or uncovering some hidden truth for the sake of justice.)
• Transformation. (What obstacles and challenges spur growth in the character? How do they handle themselves under trials? Note the trials and challenges must make sense given the character’s Catalyst. Their actions must be consistent with their Moral Compass. Think sacrifices made, learning to control their skills/power, overcoming hardships. Note that a character can have both an external arcs/transformation and an internal arc/transformation.

Backstory: Tell us only the parts that inform us about the story itself - e.g., the potential flashbacks. We want to know:

• The characters' wants, fears, and needs.
• How do/did they approach life?
• What motivates/motivated them?
• What choices did they make in the past?

Traits: These help bring the character to life for the audience. There are 3 types of traits.

• Moral - values and beliefs, (These give you ideas for emotional acrs for your characters.)
• Emotional/physical. (As an emotional arc, think going from honest to dishonest, unselfish to greedy, and so on. As a physical trait, ask how this affects their actions? For example, wild could lead to risky situations, tieless leads to being exploited, busy leads to unattentive, and so on. Subvert expectations. What if they are strong but are also insecure? What if they are ugly but very confident?)
• Personality quirks. (Are they friendly, adventurous, timid? Ambitious? Thoughtful? Combine characters that have opposing personality traits. Think The Odd Couple.)

Relationship dynamics: What is the character’s relationship to the protagonist? If it’s an ensemble, how do the characters compete with each other? Characters having the same goal but different motivations makes for conflict (which is good for adding dramatic tension).

See Chris Mack's excellent presentation for more details!