Screenwriting Character Prompts to Jumpstart Your Ideation

Writing can be an exhausting endeavor. I’m big into using any strategy that helps you come up with the answers and gets you out of your comfort zone.

And in doing this, sort of take the burden off and just have fun while it’s happening.

So, I wanted to make some character prompts that can shake up your routine and get you back to writing your best work.

Let’s dive in.

Screenwriting Character Prompts

Everyone wants to create an unforgettable character. It comes up in my dreams quite often, and I think about it when I practice my Oscar speech in the shower.

But it’s not just as easy as sitting down and writing the person.

You have to feel inspired and bring in real details that make these people pop off the page…so they can also pop off the screen.

I refined some prompts you can use to get these characters out of your head and onto the screen.

The Le Menu

At the beginning of Crafting Short Screenplays that Connect by Claudia Hunter Johnson, there is an exercise the writer refers to as “Le Menu.”

It asks the reader to fill out a survey to figure out what kinds of stories they should write. Instead of filling out the Le Menu for yourself, I’d ask the writer to pretend to be the character and then write five to ten answers to:

• What I love
• What I hate
• What I fear
• What I believe
• What I value
• What I want
• What I know about
• People who made a difference in my life
• Discoveries that made a difference in my life
• Decisions that made a difference in my life

A List of Character Prompts 

I made this list of prompts to help you get started. Read through it and feel free to take any idea that fits your fancy.

Personality & Quirks:

• A character with an unusual phobia that impacts their daily life.
• Someone who collects a very specific, obscure item.
• A character who speaks in riddles or metaphors.
• An individual with a hidden talent they are ashamed of.
• A character who always tells the truth, even when it hurts.
• Someone who has a habit of eavesdropping and misinterpreting conversations.
• A character who believes they are living in a simulation.
• An extremely organized person who experiences chaos when things go wrong.
• A character who has a different persona for every day of the week.
• Someone who is overly optimistic in the face of disaster.

Background & History:

• A character who has lost their memory and is trying to piece together their past.
• Someone who grew up in a cult and is now trying to adjust to normal life.
• A character who inherited a strange family secret.
• An individual who witnessed a crime but is afraid to come forward.
• A character who was exiled from their community.
• Someone who lived a double life in the past, and it is catching up to them.
• A character who had a near-death experience that changed their perspective.
• Someone who is searching for a long-lost relative.
• A character who was a child prodigy but has now fallen from grace.
• Someone who grew up in extreme poverty and has become extremely wealthy.

Relationships & Motivations:

• A character who is obsessed with proving someone wrong.
• Someone who is trying to protect a secret at all costs.
• A character who is searching for redemption.
• An individual who is driven by a deep sense of revenge.
• Someone who is desperately trying to win back a lost love.
• A character who is forced to choose between loyalty and morality.
• Someone who is trying to break free from a controlling relationship.
• A character who is motivated by a desire to leave a legacy.
• Someone who is trying to understand a person who is now deceased.
• A character who must learn to trust someone they deeply distrust.

Physical & Supernatural:

• A character with a physical disability that they have turned into a strength.
• Someone with a unique genetic mutation.
• A character who can see ghosts or spirits.
• An individual who can manipulate the weather.
• Someone who is immortal but wishes they weren’t.
• A character who transforms into an animal at night.
• Someone who carries an object that grants them strange powers.
• A character who has a living tattoo.
• Someone who can teleport, but only to places they have seen in a dream.
• A character who has a body part that is made of a strange material.

A List of Genre Prompts for Your Characters

Outside of exercises, I put together a few genre-related prompts to try to get you out of the rut. You can use these to kickstart a project and dive deep into who these people are and what their worlds look like.

• Sci-Fi: A character with a unique ability, such as telekinesis or time manipulation. How does their power affect their relationships and the world around them?
• Fantasy: A character chosen for a prophecy, destined to save or destroy the world. Do they embrace their fate, or do they rebel against it?
• Horror: A character haunted by a malevolent entity. Can they overcome their fear and fight back, or will they succumb to the darkness?
• Comedy: A character with an unusual quirk or obsession. How does their eccentricity lead to hilarious situations and misunderstandings?
• Drama: A character facing a moral dilemma with far-reaching consequences. What choice will they make, and how will it shape their future?

Summing Up Character Prompts 

No matter what you do, you have to sit down and create eventually. I like these exercises and jumping-off points because they get my brain moving.

Even though the hard work is ahead, this can help lighten the load.

Hopefully, these prompts take you where you need to go.

Let me know what you think in the comments.