Looking for some advice on how I can develop my main character's overarching motivation for my workplace comedy sitcom. I always hear how, despite each individual episode containing their own plot, there's always that overarching motivation that drives the series as a whole. For Community, it's Jeff needing to get his degree to become a lawyer again. For my character, I just can't seem to find something that can last long enough to drive the series. In its current iteration, the series follows a man and his group of friends that all work at a mall bookstore. The man gets diagnosed with a disease (right now, it's nothing terminal or anything, just Factor II Mutation, which makes him more likely to get blood clots). Before this, the MC had been a hard worker who has been trying for years to get a big promotion at work. However, with this new diagnosis, he now fears for his health, and this big promotion would make him lose his income-based health insurance from the state. One of those situations where staying below the income threshold would actually increase his take-home pay due to health insurance being free. However, his boss pulls him into a meeting where he reveals that he's finally done enough to be the leading candidate for this big promotion, but due to budgetary constraints, they won't be able to make it official until the beginning of the next year. In the meantime, he realizes that the only way to avoid this is to look bad in comparison to his coworkers. This proves to be more difficult when he realizes that they're so incompetent that he has to work harder than ever to make it look like he's not working hard. My only fear is that this limits the plot's timeline to, at most, a year, since that's when he can either get the promotion and lose his benefits, or someone else does. Perhaps he does get the promotion, and he has to start finding a way to cook the books so that, on paper, his income is still below the income threshold? I dunno. Just trying to find a good character motivation where the MC is forced to do something he doesn't want to do, and it helps drive the series as a whole. Thoughts?
Who said you have to have one? People can change overtime as their life changes and their goals change.
I agree I, however, the format of sitcoms makes it so there is generally one overarching motivation for the main character. It's just the way it is, and producers usually don't touch screenplays that don't have one.
You might consider some alternate reasons why he doesn’t want the promotion. For example, Instead of being made (big promotion position) in his department, which is what he wanted, his boss wants to make him (big promotion position) in another department, which is run by his ex-wife, with whom he had an acrimonious divorce. Thus, his motivation is now ‘avoid his ex-wife’, which can still cause shenanigans after he’s promoted.
to make characters good you need to imbue your own emotions into them, or your empathy/understanding of other people - i tend to make characters a mixture of at least three people, including myself. needs to be real. what do your friends/you lack or desire? there's always a void to be filled edit: for those aware of my work i try and envision the reactions to extreme situations, although something i wrote like six years ago became very hauntingly strange.
I think it depends how deep into the guy's psyche you want to go into. The big question I asked myself is: why is money so important to him? If he can make a living without insurance, why would he care about it? I feel like the overarching motivation already exists - the MC wants to keep his health insurance. He lacks a reason and an end goal. A few ideas I've come up with: - The MC's kid will start college next year and with the health insurance, the MC will have just enough money to pay for it. - The MC saves money to fulfill his life-long dream of starting his own business. - The MC is a shopaholic who buys everything he sees - therefore, he wants more money but he also recognizes his problem and tries to heal himself (end goal would be to not be a shopaholic anymore) - The MC is in a toxic relationship. His partner only cares about how much money he brings back home. The end goal would be to divorce the partner and the MC's friends would spend every episode trying to find a way to sever this relationship - The MC is in severe debt. He needs the money to pay it off. - The MC loves money above all else and wants to become the richest person in the world. He uses the money to invest in property, hoping to obtain a fortune this way. - The MC is a narcissist who directly links the amount of money he earns with how he perceives himself. Losing the insurance would be an insult to him. He's not very popular among his colleagues and the end goal on their part would be to fire him. He can get the promotion and then try to get demoted again. He could artificially insert himself into weird scandals to get back to his old position.
These aren't bad recommendations. I'm looking for something simple that I can tie into the theme of "mortality" for my episode, but I'm not sure how to do that. I initially liked the mutation idea for a plot point / inciting incident, but not necessarily the motivation for the character. Maybe something that I can relate to how malls and/or bookstores are dying, since the series is set in a mall bookstore. Perhaps I *should* make it into a terminal disease (still needs the word "mutation" in the name), but I'm still not sure how I'd establish that this ISN'T a zero to hero story. I very much want it to be wacky and with lazy/whimsical characters that rarely do any actual work (like Community).
The timeline shouldn't concern you too much. The events in the book 'Mrs Dalloway', by Virginia Woolf, started in the morning and ended in the evening of the same day. As for your character's motivation, that could be anything. Perhaps he doesn't want to work there anymore and hearing he's going to get promoted interferes with his plan to find a job somewhere else because he doesn't want to let his boss down or hurt their feelings.
Hmm. That's not bad, but I'm preferably wanting something that can tie into a theme. The whole episode has a sort of mortality theme. Perhaps I could figure out a motivation for my MC that allows me to make a social commentary on the dying state of malls (and, hell, bookstores). Maybe he gets diagnosed with a *very serious* illness (the mutation thing can just come from him lying about what has to the others so they don't worry), and needs his health insurance, but the store is struggling and the owner tells him that they're on the verge of being closed down. Would get rid of the whole "not being a zero to hero" story, but might be simpler. He needs to help turn around the store to keep his health insurance. I dunno. Thoughts?
Just a few questions/suggestions. Does it have to be a bookstore? Could another type of shop possibly be a better comedic choice? Other shops nearby could provide other characters and plot lines. Perhaps the entire collection of shops is under threat from...??? (Just for fun; I was making a delivery in "Da Bronx," NY. Across the street was a tattoo parlor and a piercing shop, right next door was a trauma center. Perhaps a few "conflicting" businesses attempting to co-exist in the same shopping mall/strip could provide some comedic elements. Your MCs shop could be between a holistic health shop and a restaurant/bar selling quintessential heart attack food. Those owners are always arguing and the MC and his shop are caught in the middle.) You can try the old trope of him getting the diagnosis of another person; he thinks he's seriously ill or dying, but.... Does he have to be ill at all? Maybe he's going through a divorce, and he wants to keep his income down to avoid excessive alimony. Or, perhaps, you can set up a situation where his goals keep changing, flip-flopping between yes he wants the raise/promotion, and then no he doesn't. You can confuse everything even more with the old-school compassionate boss being replaced with a corporate by-the-book martinet just at the time your MC is trying to figure things out. He would have worked as senior xxxxxx for the old boss but not the new one. One last thought... Maybe you can just dogpile on the poor guy. The shop is going from private to corporate, the two arguing shops are interfering with business, his wife is divorcing him, his worthless brother moves in with him in his crowded flat, his mom is always nagging him, and then he finds out his new girlfriend is pregnant (or maybe not). To top it all off, he is diagnosed with narcolepsy, so is always nodding off at inappropriate times. Opening scene finds him sitting in his spot watching the shop. Mom storms in with dead-beat brother in tow; "You take him! I'm done!" and storms out. A Marshal walks in at that point and serves him with the divorce papers, girlfriend calls with the good (or bad) news of "I'm pregnant!" as fight between the two warring shops on either side takes place in front of his store. Completely overcome, the narcolepsy kicks in, so he's asleep at his desk when new corporate boss walks in as the fight spills into the store. Just spit-ballin' here. Good Luck!
Thought about making it just one of those cafés in the middle of a corridor, like the one in my local mall. Probably what I'm gonna do. But now I'm not so sure about the cancer thing. Seems kinda contrived and honestly not what I'm going for (and don't want to deal with all the physical and financial implications, honestly). Just looking for another reason why my MC would *need* the cafe to stay open. Really, the whole underlying desire for him is to have the self-confidence to be himself. He acts all serious, sarcastic, and uptight, but he's really a goofy, immature geek underneath it all. His coworkers pull him in that direction, but he resists. So, essentially, I need to find a reason he needs to keep the store open that challenges his entire fabricated identity. Or maybe that's just a stupid desire that can't carry an entire series. Essentially, he's really Abed Nadir inside, but he's convinced himself that he needs to act like Jeff Winger because he's "mature" and "professional." I thought the cancer thing might be an angle to make him want to live life, but that's the problem right there: he needs to be made to do something he doesn't want to do.
How about reversing everything? He has ZERO desire to be more than a shop clerk. He doesn't want the pressure of the responsibility. But circumstance push him into assistant supervisor, then supervisor, then assistant manager, then... He hates it but loves the money. Ever hear of The Peter Principle? People rise to the level of their incompetence. Now add in some of the emotional/circumstantial dog-pile. For me a café just isn't funny. How about a shop like As Seen On TV, or Buy Buy Baby? Someplace ridiculous for a slacker to work.
I chose a café just because it has a nice range of people that are constantly coming and going. Plus, I know the environment and the situations well. Definitely would love a way to make him a zero instead of a hero — or even someone that goes from hero to zero (instead of the normal zero to hero cliche). Definitely prefer the latter, but unsure how what a good, plausible motivation for this could be that is *very* simple to understand (I've been told having him try to look bad compared to his coworkers to *not* get a promotion so that he could keep his income-based benefits from the government was too complicated). Any ideas for something that could make a responsible, capable person have to resort to becoming a slacker?
Well, maybe not a slacker, he just has no interest in taking on more responsibility. When I was running my audio post business, I hit a slow patch and took on a job slinging coffee to pay the bills. I had absolutely ZERO interest in doing any management, despite having a lot of experience as a manager. At one point many years ago, I was operations manager for a small firm that managed corporation/shareholder interface programs - buyouts and buybacks, proxy solicitation, bankruptcies, etc. At one point I was authorizing up to US$10 million in stock transactions per week and managed a staff of 30. During my performing career I was musical director for a well-known oldies group. I was responsible for keeping the singers tight, rehearsing and directing the back-up bands, writing charts, plus communicating with the stage manager, monitor mix engineer and front-of-house engineer. Among the places I've performed is Carnegie Hall, the Beacon Theatre, The Apollo, Madison Square Garden and the Meadowlands. And, of course, I've managed my own business. But, despite the fact that I have lots of management experience, I DID NOT want to do any managing for the coffee shop, despite repeated offers. I still had projects to do with my audio post business; I didn't want the extra hours and the added stress and having to schmooze the visiting corporate anal sphincters. I'm not trying to impress you; this is just an example of why someone - myself - would not want to take on responsibilities. Maybe the MC is the corporate version of the burned out, disgusted cop who quits the force and becomes a security guard; he just doesn't give a crap anymore and doesn't want to. Perhaps he has depression or a Bi-polar disorder; the stress of responsibility aggravates his condition. Maybe he's going to school at night and doesn't have the time. Maybe it's the cliche of mommy and daddy pressuring him to succeed and he does the opposite just to piss them off. I can toss ideas around all night long. The issue, it seems to me, is that you really need to develop this character until you know him inside and out. Then you can figure out where to put him and how to make his life comedically FUBAR.
Thanks for the insight, I appreciate it! Definitely need to flesh out this character more. I know exactly who the other main characters are, but having the most trouble with this one. I really thought I had something with the whole cancer diagnosis thing — wherein he gets pulled into a meeting saying if they miss another month if rent, the store will have to close, and he'll lose his health insurance — but I don't really want to have to deal with all the financial and physical consequences of cancer. Don't want my main character going through chemo, or being medical billed into poverty, or have everything be about that every episode. Just a general goal that weaves it's way through the series as a whole, but isn't necessarily explicitly stated all the time. Essentially, like how Jeff Winger in Community goes to Greendale to get a real degree and become a lawyer again, but most episodes never once mention this. Perhaps there *is* some type of cancer that doesn't have nearly the amount of consequences I'm imaging, but I'm not sure it's something that can carry the plot long-term, and, most importantly, I'm not sure it's something that allows my main character to plausibly take part in the other characters' shenanigans — which I DEFINITELY want him to. I mean, if he's really *so* desperate to keep the store open to keep his health insurance, he probably wouldn't take the time to live out another characters' hair metal band fantasy. Which is kinda where I'm leaning again towards more nefarious motivations. But I dunno what they could be. I need something that can carry the series, can't be solved in one or just a few episodes, and plausibly allows him to slack off and go get into shenanigans with his coworkers. Perhaps I'm oveethinking this, and the cancer thing IS a good idea, and maybe he's thrown into the shenanigans against his will, or constantly needs to humor his coworkers in order to have any chance at getting through to them.
I haven't read this whole thread, but he could be just one of those people who never grow up, a child in an adult's body. These people are everywhere, you see a lot of them in comedies and sitcoms. Hell, just about everybody in Guardians of the Galaxy is a child. It's the only way the whole premise makes any sense. They're just different kinds of kids, with very different personalities—if you imagine the movies with kids in place of the adult actors, it actually makes perfect sense most of the time. Same for the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, and on and on. I think the reason Napoleon Dynamite was so good is because Jon Heder must have spent a lot of time with a kid, maybe a little brother or a friend's brother, and he was able to channel it perfectly. He did a pitch perfect rendition of a boy between maybe 8 and 13. Same for Adam Sandler and a lot of other comedians. Someone unable to take on adult repsonsibilities would keep sabotaging any efforts to promote him or to get a better job, he'd end up always back at the same shitty place or just still there forever. I'm not sure if this solves all your problems, but it sounds like it might be what you're looking for.
That's true. But I guess I'm looking more for something that absolutely, 100% keeps him there. For Jeff Winger, for example, he's at Greendale because he faked his degree to become a lawyer, and needs to now get it to become one again. There's no thinking involved or any mental gymnastics needed to ascertain his motivation. He goes for four years, and becomes a lawyer again. I'm sorta looking for something like that. I thought about the whole cancer angle, needing to elevate to the level of a good manager to keep the store -- and, more importantly, his health insurance -- afloat. I'm just not sure if I want to enter that territory. It's supposed to be an absurd comedy. Not some dark humor thing, but something like Community. Perhaps I'm overthinking this, and that cancer angle can work. Doesn't have to be terminal or come with chemo or anything. Any type of cancer whatsoever outside of probably skin cancer would be enough to make this former slacker feel forced to keep his cafe open. If some showrunner or something down the line decided to make him go in remission -- which is what I think would be best -- so be it. Just not sure what his season-long arc could be for any pitch bible, which is my real concern. I mean, I can definitely write out this pilot no problem. I'm just concerned that, if I do sell this script, I'm not sure where I want him to go with his diagnosis. I mean, if he does go in remission, what keeps the show going? How will I weave the cancer thing into the plots of the shows occasionally? Might help drive some plots more if he's constantly trying to keep his diagnosis secret from his friends, who wonder why he's suddenly all serious and responsible.
