Creating Believable Characters with a solid Point of View

Hi improvisers who are into the brain stuff!

Another couple new episodes for your improvs. This week’s episode involves characters and FOUR different ways to communicate their POV. This could be useful for a scene, or comedy writing too. This is the fun stuff. We’re getting into the really fun stuff.

If this stuff is useful, share it with other improvisers you know! Thanks!

Believable Characters Need a Point of View

Many have a goal that goes kinda like this for an improv scene… be clever or funny. Be surprising, be “big”, do some voice, do something unexpected. You get it. THE PRESSURE. While those things can be great, they are usually not what makes your character memorable… or at least, not all on their own.

The thing that an audience connects with, and makes a performance feel real and grounded, is the character’s point of view. Their point of view, or POV, is about why that character does that thing you’re doing in the scene. Whatever it is. This is what is driving them really, to “do that thing”, part of their internal OS. Unique beliefs, emotions, and personal logic that filters how they experience the world of the scene. And this is often the foundation upon which every believable action is built, and the foundation of REALLY GOOD IMPROV.

Because the audience can then relate, or at least understand, who your character really is and why they are “doing that thing.” This can be a relief. Like… why can’t we do this more outside the scene, right?

So yeah… what is great for those of us neurodivergents doing improv is we can express this however we want, because representing ourselves - whoever we are - is valid here. And we get to explain, and show up, in our own unique ways that can be validated by that yes, and. We can fit in these scenes, too. Because guess what… real life includes the whole gamut of real people, and the gamut of real people should be on the stage too. (Wow, I got to use gamut in an email! Twice! Hope I’m using it right!)

So how do we create this POV with this diverse set of cool characters quickly when inside the scene? In this episode, I break a character’s POV down into four methods you can implement in your practice.

Emotion. A clear emotional reaction tells the audience who this person is and what they care about. The emotion doesn’t have to be “correct” and no one needs to label it - show whatever is going on in the moment, whatever way you want to display it or make it up.
Observation. Carefully listening to what our scene partner gives us and define character in relation to them. Whatever you see is valid! Establish that in the scene.
Justification. A reason given for an unusual action reveals a core part of a belief system, deepens their POV (and the character themselves as a human). I love justifications because it makes it clear what is going on. In words. This would be lovely to install socially into life outside the scene, but will have to settle for just improv and unicorn events.
If this is true, what else is true. Builds a whole network of connected beliefs in your own mind, leads to more discover and compelling improv. Connections! We love em.

I provide more information about all of these methods, and practical examples to practice on your own or with a group in the episode.

Listen or Watch

The podcast and the youtube episode contains exercises that help you become a better actor and improviser by establishing a point of view. Learn more about that in the episode below, and get all the exercise directions.

Believable Characters Need a...

Sep 1 · Your Improv Brain

19:26

Three Exercises to Improve Your Acting

In this episode from last week, I share three exercises designed to help you get reps in scenes with little or no dialogue. It is so easy to rely on dialogue to do a lot of the heavy lifting in a scene. When that ends up happening, our performances can start to feel a little flat. We end up telling the audience everything instead of showing them. Read the article about the episode and exercises here.

These exercises that dramatically reduce dialogue to focus on physicality, space work, reactions and voice work might feel strange or uncomfortable at first, but they are a solid workout for your acting muscles and will make you a more grounded, compelling, and versatile performer that can get in that skin suit (watch the episode for more about... that).

I also discuss how whether or not these are useful to players who do not process subtext, tone, or physicality at all, or need more processing time. Do they help or work for those of us in that demographic? (spoiler: yes, yes they do -- keep reading for more!)

Neurodivergent message in this episode

As someone who loves words and does a lot of audio-only improv, the idea of silent scene work might seem… strange. For those of us with ADHD or autistic brains, it might even sound a little dreadful. If we already have difficulty interpreting nonverbal cues or subtext, why would we practice in a way that relies on them so heavily? Yikes.

This question is valid, and the answer is: context. We’re doing observation and interpretation, yes… but in improv, your interpretation is always correct for your character.

We are excellent observers. We might notice details that others miss, even if we need more time to process what those things mean. These exercises can give us that time, and practice. Neat! We get space to slow down, observe our scene partner, and process what we are seeing. Whatever conclusion our brain comes to is a valid offer for the scene. These exercises let us essentially utilze our own strengths.

This practice also reinforces showing and telling. We can tell, too, if we need it. In a regular scene, it is always okay to use dialogue to clarify things. If you do not understand a nonverbal cue from your scene partner, your character can absolutely ask, "Why did you just look at me like that?" That move makes the scene clearer for everyone, including you and the audience.

Practicing without words adds to our toolkit, giving our brains the space they need to process, and learning to trust our own unique observations are more than enough, and totally valid and correct in a scene, to create compelling stories.

Listen or Watch this Episode

The podcast and the youtube episode contains exercises that help you become a better actor by reducing or eliminating dialogue. They work for those of us who don't do well with subtext or physical cues, too. Learn more about that in the episode below, and get all the exercise directions. And come ask questions or share your own tips in the Improv Update discord general improv chat channel.