Character cues:first name or last?
Gene Harris
question that occurs to me every time I begin a script: On a
character's first line of dialogue, I have to decide whether the
character cue (I'm talking about the name above the dialogue) will be
the character's first name or last name.
Often the choice seems easy, but sometimes I have to ponder it a bit. I
don't know of any hard and fast rules about this. I've always gone by
feel, but I find my pattern is like this:
1) If the character is my protagonist (adult), I almost always use the
first name, whether male or female--but I've read plenty of scripts that
use the last name for male protagonists. I can see it if the guy's a
detective, or submarine captain, or some other kind of macho, heroic
type, but it doesn't seem right for, say, a schoolteacher or clergyman.
It really depends, I suppose, more on his personality than his
occupation. I don't think I've read any scripts that use the last name
for a female protagonist.
2) If the antagonist is an adult male, I find myself almost always using
his last name. If the antagonist is female, I use the first name.
3) For other adult male characters, I'm all over the page, depending on
... I don't know, the wind direction.
4) For other adult female characters, I either use the first name, or
the last name with "Ms.", or "Mrs." (if she's elderly and married or a
widow).
Is there some chauvinism at work here? There's no logical reason why a
female character couldn't be referred to with just a last name, but it
would be confusing, I think, because of the very long-standing tradition
of prefacing a female's last name with an abbreviated title. If someone
is referred to by last name only, the assumption is that the person is
male, is it not?
5) For children and teenagers, it's first names only.
Another salient factor is how the character is referred to by other
characters. If a character is always referred to by last name, I think
the choice is clear. If the character is always referred to by first
name, the choice, it seems to me, is not so clear cut, but I can't
really say why.
Of course, I'm fully aware that ultimately it makes little difference
because the film audience isn't reading the script anyway. But I think
the choice can perhaps can make a subtle difference in how the character
is perceived by the reader--or the writer, for that matter.
What say all of you?
Gene Harris
BrickRage
or Gene, or Harris, or G.H. says:
>On a
>character's first line of dialogue, I have to decide whether the
>character cue (I'm talking about the name above the dialogue) will be
>the character's first name or last name.
I usually introduce the character by their whole name in CAPS the first time,
and use whatever most of the other characters call him/her after that.
In my latest, f'rinstance, I introduce the hero as *I.H. (Iron Horse) MURPHY*
(He's a half-breed). Since most of his friends call him MURPH, I used that for
his dialogue. His enemies either call him Mr. Murphy (or sometimes *asshole*
or *Iron Head*). I think it's just a matter of clarity for both the reader and
the film audience as you've said, Eugene. --
>Of course, I'm fully aware that ultimately it makes little difference
>because the film audience isn't reading the script anyway. But I think
>the choice can perhaps can make a subtle difference in how the character
>is perceived by the reader--or the writer, for that matter.<
However, as far a wimmenz go -- and some go all the way -- G.H. says:
> I don't think I've read any scripts that use the last name
>for a female protagonist.
One that pops into mind is Susan (Sigourney) Weaver's character RIPLEY.
Brickley
LODGESTE
first or last names. Posts like yours will only confuse newbies. Just concern
yourself with telling your story in the best way you can
Don Vasicek
ago that in writing fiction, and that includes screenplays, that you
call your main character by their first name, a few of the other
significant characters, perhaps, two or three depending upon the kind of
story you're writing, and the rest, particularly, the villain or
antagonist, by their last names. This approach has worked very well for
me.
Don Vasicek
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
JoannKB
>character's first line of dialogue, I have to decide whether the
>character cue (I'm talking about the name above the dialogue) will be
>the character's first name or last name.
For whatever reason, the conventions usually are:
Male hero/protagonist - first name
Male villain/antagonist - last name
Women & Kids - first name
Minor characters in a position of authority/ or elderly - Title & last name
Check out a thorough list of major motion picture projects in development:
http://www.geocities.com/filmtrack
Gene Harris
wrote:
Yep, I forgot about that one. And she's a pretty ballsy-heroic type.
What about Linda Hamilton's character in Terminator and T2? Haven't
read those.
Gene/Gene-o/Gene the Machine
Gene Harris
Hey, it was just something I wuz wonderin' about, thass all ...
Gene
Genia
<< For whatever reason, the conventions usually are:
Male hero/protagonist - first name
Male villain/antagonist - last name
Women & Kids - first name >>
-- which just drives me absolutely fucking bugshit crazy.
(Pardon my language -- I'm working on a show, and tend to pick up the
word-choice habits of those around me...)
I mean, I'm not ranting (directly) at Joann or Gene or anybody else who uses
this convention. But WHY are women almost always referred to by their first
names? In my own writing, I don't do that unless I'm also referring to the MEN
by their first names. (In an NYPD Blue spec years ago, I called all the guest
characters by their last names... well, except the two porn stars, a man and a
woman, who were referred to by their first names because they were a bit
more... colorful.)
Anyway... it just irritates me that a character's GENDER should determine
whether his/her first or last name is used as a character cue. In a feature,
shouldn't it be, for the sake of clarity, whatever the other characters call
that person? It wouldn't make any sense to have a character cue of DANA if
everybody in the script calls her SCULLY, would it?
Grumbling...
Genia
-----------------------------------------------
"You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't imagine a more undignified
one than autoerotic asphyxiation."
- THE X-FILES, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," written by Darin Morgan
Gene Harris
>
> JoannKB wrote, in answer to Gene Harris' query about character cues --
>
> << For whatever reason, the conventions usually are:
> Male hero/protagonist - first name
> Male villain/antagonist - last name
> Women & Kids - first name >>
>
> -- which just drives me absolutely fucking bugshit crazy.
>
> Anyway... it just irritates me that a character's GENDER should determine
> whether his/her first or last name is used as a character cue. In a feature,
> shouldn't it be, for the sake of clarity, whatever the other characters call
> that person? It wouldn't make any sense to have a character cue of DANA if
> everybody in the script calls her SCULLY, would it?
>
> Grumbling...
> Genia
>
Yeah, Genia, that was one of the very things I was wondering about. It
certainly makes more sense to use whatever name the other characters
use, if there's one that predominates. Brick reminded me about Ripley
in Alien et al, and Sculley in X-Files would be another example wherein
female characters are referred to by their last names. There are
probably a bunch more, too. What it boils down to is common sense and
clarity, I guess.
Gene Harris
Steven J. Weller
wri...@aol.com (Genia) writes:
> I mean, I'm not ranting (directly) at Joann or Gene or anybody else who uses
> this convention. But WHY are women almost always referred to by their first
> names?
It's just a guess, but I'd say it's probably because of the Western
convention of a woman taking her husband's last name. Women (for
better or worse) are seen as less connected to their family name than
men - when Roseanne dropped her last name, she said it was because she
didn't really have one of her own - she had her father's name, then her
husband's name, then her next husband's name, but not one of her own.
Guys, on the other hand, carry the name for generations and actually
worry about that (my older brother still obsesses that he doesn't have
a son to carry on the family name). We don't think of it as our
father's name, but as OUR name, so we may be more concerned about it
Also, refering to someone by their last name is fairly impersonal -
less an individual, more just part of a group. In the army, they don't
call you 'John,' they call you 'Smith.' Your boss might call you John
when he or she wants you to do something, but if you're being called on
the carpet, it's always gonna be Smith. Not calling women by their
last names is probably a remnant of the same sort of thing that still
gets guys to open your car door for you or pick up the cheque at lunch.
Just an observation...
--
Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary
Steven
BrickRage
significantly harrumphed:
>Please don't make such a big deal out of something as insignificant as using
>first or last names. Posts like yours will only confuse newbies.
Weren't you around for the infamous BRAD thread? Or Alternative Science?
How about the most significantly insignificant of all: the Dreaded Dramatica?
No one has ever read a post by yours truly using the word *newbie* (well, now
you have, but that's, as they say, insignificant).
Confusing those critters is the raison d'etre of MWS.
Brick
BrickRage
sigged:
>Gene/Gene-o/Gene the Machine
You're not the one and only "Dancing Machine" are you?
Wow! I'm star-struck.
Brick
BrickRage
defiled young impressionable sensibilities by posting that certain conventions
drive her:
>absolutely fucking bugshit crazy.
Shouldn't that be "abso-fucking-lutely"? I don't know, it just rings truer to
my jaded sensibilities.
>I called all the guest
>characters by their last names... well, except the two porn stars, a man and
>a
>woman, who were referred to by their first names because they were a bit
>more... colorful.)
Yeah, but when you're using *Hardin Long*, don't you have to use the patronymic
too?
>In a feature,
>shouldn't it be, for the sake of clarity, whatever the other characters call
>that person?
I think I posted something very similar. So that makes us a majority.
Genia and I are right. No more discussion.
Brick
Gene Harris
Jeez, I'd almost forgotten about that guy. When he was on the Gong Show
(I never actually saw him), that's what all my friends started calling
me, and it became just "the Machine" over the years.
I like to think that it refers to prowess in areas other than dancing,
areas in which machine-like stamina is definitely a positive attribute
...
... such as pounding on agents doors.
Gene the Tired Old Machine
JoannKB
>> Male hero/protagonist - first name
>> Male villain/antagonist - last name
>> Women & Kids - first name >>
It's a convention... it's not a rule... and of course there are exceptions
(Ripley and Scully being two notable ones mentioned).
If other characters call a character by his/her last name, be it a man, woman,
child, or alien, then, yes, the character cue should correspond to that.
Personally, I pretty much call all of my characters by their first names. But
that's also a function of genre. These character naming conventions are more
applicable to thrillers, actioners, and other scripts with conventional
hero/villain roles.
d c harris
>
>
>1) If the character is my protagonist (adult), I almost always use the
>first name, whether male or female--but I've read plenty of scripts that
>use the last name for male protagonists. I can see it if the guy's a
>detective, or submarine captain, or some other kind of macho, heroic
>type, but it doesn't seem right for, say, a schoolteacher or clergyman.
>It really depends, I suppose, more on his personality than his
>occupation. I don't think I've read any scripts that use the last name
>for a female protagonist.
You use the first name for a main protagonist usually, as, for the reader
it sort of separates the main characters from the supporting
roles.
Mind you, if I had a sub captain, I am sure he would have a last name!
Only right.