I was able to talk with Patricia Verducci, writer and director of the 1996 film, True Crime. She has also written screenplays for Touchstone Pictures and FX. Her short films have appeared at festivals all over the world and even at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

I attended the “Writing Your First Screenplay” panel at the UCLA writer’s faire not too long ago where Pat was a speaker on the panel. I would have loved to ask her a million questions but I really wanted 2 questions answered after the panel and here are her answers to those questions.

When writing, I tend to come up with so many interesting characters but I never know how to divide up the main and supporting characters. So what is the maximum amount of main characters that can generally be put in a film?

The rule of thumb for most movies is one main character. This person is our window into the story and his/her experience is our experience as we watch the film. However, there have been some great films, ensemble type movies, where we follow the journey of more than one person. But even in these films, there is usually one person that we follow more closely and are more invested in. My rule of thumb for secondary characters is that they should only be in the story if they somehow contribute to the journey of the main character. So that’s usually how I judge whether a character makes the cut or not– what does he or she DO that pushes or pulls my protagonist?

Do you find that it is a smart move to create a certain charm about the antagonist if you want people to like the protagonist and antagonist? Or just stick with the antagonist as only the enemy to not confuse the audience?

I think the more interesting, nuanced and sympathetic/empathetic the antagonist is, the better. We have to be able to see this person as fully human or we fall into caricature/cartoon-land. We have to understand WHY this person is doing what they are doing, and what’s at stake for him or her. One of the most interesting bad guys I’ve ever seen in movies is played by Gary Sinise in Ransom. He’s a cop who kidnaps Mel Gibson’s kid, kills his girlfriend, and is absolutely ruthless, but the writer, Richard Price, gives him one speech that explains to us, the audience, why he behaves the way he does. He feels inferior to men like Gibson, and the stakes for him are huge– his self esteem.

What are you currently working on right now and how is the process going?

Actually, I’ve finished a script about a real life prison escape from Alcatraz and it’s making the rounds as an independent film. And I just worked a few days as a story consultant on an animated project for Disney/Pixar. I usually work on live action films, and it was fantastic to see how much more collaborative and visually oriented developing a story for an animated film is. The experience really cemented for me the importance of “seeing” the film in your head as you’re writing.