ABSTRACT
In this chapter, five screenwriters discuss language and characterization. How can a character’s personality or individuality be created through the ways they use language? The interviewees tell us how writers build characters through language and how language differentiates characters from each other. David Mandel, Jane Espenson, Sheila Lawrence, Robert Berens, and Doris Egan each provide their own answers, and offer concrete examples from Veep, Desperate Housewives, Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Battlestar Galactica. The chapter concludes with a brief summary and advice for budding screenwriters.
