Marvin V. Acuna

One of my favorite types of films to watch is big ensemble movies. There’s something magical about a cast coming together and all lending their talents to create something great. Perhaps it’s because ensemble films are all about character and that’s a big part of what I respond to when I watch movies and TV shows. However the ensemble is one of my least favorite genres to read unless done really well. So this week, I thought I would bring you some of the keys to writing strong ensemble pieces.

Different genres lend themselves better to ensembles than others. Historical films (“JFK,” “Tombstone,” “Nixon,” “Bobby,”), war films (“Full Metal Jacket,” “Black Hawn Down,”) family comedies (that is, comedies about an extended family), teen movies, disaster films, mysteries (because the more characters you have, the more red herrings and suspicions you can create), and smaller indie character pieces (“The Amateurs,” “Just Add Water”) all tend to work with an ensemble. Sometimes getting a bunch of great well-known actors is what helps sell a small indie film to a broad audience (and just as importantly, a distributor).

Interestingly enough, romantic comedies never used to work as big ensemble pieces because it’s supposed to be about the love between two people and whatever the obstacle comes between them. The biggest task in a romcom was building a believable chemistry and bringing two actors together that we want to wind up together. But with “Love Actually,” that all changed. And after recent hits “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Valentine’s Day,” which each had more than a dozen huge name stars above the title, and a sequel for Valentine’s Day already planned around a different holiday, the ensemble romantic comedy is one of the most sought after genres out there.

Films with largely minority casts like Tyler Perry movies are often ensemble pieces. While no one has come out and admitted it, I believe the reason for this is so that certain characters can be drawn more or less “urban” than others so that different trailers can be created to highlight characters that will play better in different markets and hopefully attract a broader audience. While this is probably true of many ensemble films, it’s all the more poignant in movies where the characters are all (or mostly) minorities.

There are a few different types of ensemble story templates. See if your story falls under one of these;

There are stories where you have a group of characters all together in one basic location for most of the script (whether forced or by choice) and their issues all come to a head in some fashion. This type is often used in projects that revolve around family, an event or a holiday. Examples of this would include “Home for the Holidays,” “Anniversary Party,” “Breakfast Club,” “Big Chill,” and the recent “Death at a Funeral.”

There are ensemble pieces where there are many different storylines in different locations — with usually 2-4 characters in each storyline — that come together or intersect in some way by the end. This style is often used in thrillers or romantic comedies. “Love Actually,” “Go,” “Short Cuts,” “Crash,” “Traffic,” and “Pulp Fiction” are examples.

Then there are projects where there are one or two main characters and all the other supporting parts are just great cameos that only appear in a couple of scenes and can be cast incredibly. For example, “Call of the Wild,” “Natural Born Killers,” and “True Romance.” Projects with cameos are popular because you can pay an actor for one or two days of work and get a hell of a bang for your buck.

Sometimes there are a group of people (strangers or not) forced together in a specific situation who need to rely on each other — or suspect each other of wrongdoing. This set up is used quite often in mysteries, thrillers, and action/disaster movies. “Daylight,” “Poseidon,” “Armageddon,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Clue” are a few examples.

And while in the current market, teen movies have become a bit less about the ensemble and more about a specific relationship, don’t forget that the Brat Pack movies were the very definition of an ensemble piece and they basically created the teen movie genre.

Some directors specialize in ensemble films and they can often launch careers. Robert Altman, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Oliver Stone, Christopher Guest, Garry Marshall, Steven Soderbergh, Michael Mann, etc. have all made their names directing ensemble pieces. Directors love doing these projects because directing an ensemble piece shows that one has incredible storytelling skills and can also handle many moveable parts and many inflated egos. And it’s a great opportunity to create relationships that directors can use in the future. Most directors who helm ensemble pieces go on to use the same actors in later works.

The term ensemble is actually misleading because it connotes that everyone is equal, but that’s not quite the case. Yes, we spend time with different characters and there isn’t ONE character in every single scene, but your ensemble piece still needs a protagonist and an antagonist. There still needs to be a central character(s) around which all the other characters, plot points, and action, circle. Without that central character — that nucleus of your ensemble — your story will run wild and likely get away from you. And when that happens, your script is in trouble.

Let’s look at some of my favorite ensembles — “Home for the Holidays,” “True Romance,” “Heat,” “Nixon,” “Any Given Sunday,” “Saving Private Ryan” and “Boogie Nights” — which all have a central character around whom everyone else revolves or reacts. Someone that keeps the story progressing and connects everyone in some way.

Character is key in an ensemble. When there are more then four characters, personality becomes paramount. Each character needs to have a different voice to make them stand out. Film is a visual medium, but executives have to be able to understand what they’re reading so they can picture it playing out on screen. So making sure each character is very different from the others — with not only their own personalities, but also issues, quirks, arcs, motivations, etc — will greatly help a reader keep everything clear. Yes, it will be obvious who is who on screen when we can match characters with actors faces we know, but on the page, it has to read just as clear.

A small rule that is especially true when writing ensembles is do not give all your characters names that start with the same letter or ones that rhyme. If you have eight characters and five of their names start with “J”, it’s going to be really hard keeping them straight on the page.

The other key to ensembles is the casting, which of course you don’t have any control over. But most ensembles only come together when big name stars are willing to put aside their egos, their quotes, and their preferential treatment, and agree to be part of a team. And I think that’s why ensemble films are often so successful — audiences love to see as many of their favorite stars together as possible as long as there’s a good reason.

However there have been quite a few big ensemble projects that have bombed horribly, including “Ready to Wear,” “The Road to Wellville,” “Mars Attacks,” “The Women,” “Southland Tales,” “Eulogy,” and “I Heart Huckabees.” Why did they fail? Well, some were bad ideas to start with, some were bad scripts, for some the distributor didn’t (or couldn’t) put up enough money for P&A for a proper theatrical release, and some had bad press.

If you are writing an ensemble piece, then once you have finished your first draft, you should go through and track how many pages/scenes each character is in and make sure that all of them are necessary. Don’t jam characters in there that you don’t need or that don’t help bring out your theme and main storyline because it will just make your script feel cluttered and unsatisfying. And you will run the risk of not devoting enough time to the few characters we LOVE because you’re focusing on characters we don’t.

Your concept may be the core of your story, but your characters are what bring them to life. For me, watching an ensemble film or TV show is just more fun. And you know what they say — two’s company, three’s a crowd, eight is enough, but the more the merrier.

About Daniel Manus:
Daniel Manus is the Director of Development for Clifford Werber Productions (Cinderella Story, Sydney White). CWP recently set up a family fantasy/adventure project at United Artists which Daniel is attached to co-produce. He is also attached to produce several projects independently including “Dreams of an Aspiring Romantic,” starring Emily Osment and “Strange Fruit,” written by J.S. Cardone (Prom Night).

Daniel recently started his own script consulting company – No BullScript Consulting, which can be found at www.nobullscript.net. He has been a freelance script consultant for years, working for companies such as ScriptShark and Script Coach and teaches courses to writers at conferences around the country.

Daniel was previously Director of Development for Sandstorm Films, which had a first look deal at Sony Screen Gems and a development deal with Top Cow Comics. Raised on Long Island, NY, he holds a BS degree in Television with a concentration in Screenwriting from the Ithaca College Park School of Communications.