Why so much behaviour change, corporate and social purpose drama gets it wrong.
Story is change.
And if your stories aren’t changing anyone, it might be because your characters are dead as roadkill.
Recently, we spotted a few Reddit threads for a multi-season drama we created for a client.
It prompted a few contacts to ask: “Wait, how do we get people talking about our stuff like that?”
Well, here’s a secret.
It’s not plot, not message, not even the number of fancy location shots.
It’s character.
Real, complicated characters that people care about.
A character is a real person.
They don’t walk around in our world with overdrafts and deadlines and socks that need cleaning.
But… they do feel like they have a life outside the screen.
And character is shown by what people do, not always what they say.
Characters must want something in every scene.
Want drives action.
In Directing Actors, Judith Weston’s brilliant book on the actor’s craft, she asks you not to cast judgement on characters.
Not bad, or stupid, or evil. Not good or moral or funny.
Just, human.
(And while most corporate drama doesn’t tend to include characters like Hannibal Lecter, even there Anthony Hopkins found some human traits to connect with.)
People are messy and complex.
That’s what makes them interesting, that’s what makes people care.
Understand what a character wants, and their actions will flow naturally from there.
Take this approach, and you’ll find characters develop voices that sound…real.
Unlike the usual corporate dialogue that lands like strips of wet cardboard on bare feet.
And when your audience cares about a character, they will follow them through anything.
That’s when you must…
A writer must be full of malice.
Find the thing your character most believes in, and squeeze it until it turns purple.
Know the words they would hate to hear said about them, and shout it with spittle in their ears.
Take the thing they love the most, and stomp it into the cold, wet ground.
You must be a spiteful God when you’re writing.
This is non-negotiable.
Most behaviour change drama gets this wrong.
They focus solely on plot. But, as C.S. Lewis said, plot is just a net in which to catch other things.
What really catches people is character.
How do they react to the things you throw at them?
That’s how we find out who they really are.
Of course, it’s not easy.
The systems we work within often don’t like creative risk.
They want safe, smooth…another washed pebble in a pile.
But you must resist.
There is always a way.
Fight for the quirky line of dialogue that sets a character apart.
The irrational decisions.
The moments that expose what they really care about.
Fight to keep all that and people will care.
And talk about your stuff on social media.
And help you get record-breaking feedback ratings (and awards).
It’s character that helps people change.
And that’s how you tell life-changing stories in unexpected places.
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[This post was not written or assisted by ChatGPT or other AI tools.]
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