Hey guys, I hope you are all staying safe and healthy!
I am in the concept phase for a sitcom and was wondering how many characters are needed to create a beating dramatic heart and how many is too many. If you have experiences please share.
My reasoning until now on how many characters are needed as a minimum:
Let's say you do a buddy show about two UPS-drivers or two doctors in a rural clinic. That means you'd need 2 at the minimum to have conflict with one another. Every episode they'd run into outside antagonisms.
Then you'd probably add a third person so the two others can fight about the third's affection and appreciation, turning that third into a benchmark on who's better than the other. That makes 3.
Then you'd probably want to turn the external antagonistic forces (in that example either people to whom the UPS-deliveries have to be given or people coming into the doctor's office) into antagonists so you have some recognition for the viewers. I'm guessing you need one at least but I am also guessing that two antagonists can motivate each other into creating more crazy problems for the protags. So that would make 5.
Now 5 would seem like my minimum for a beating heart. Maybe 4. But 5 is better because it's a less stable construction, I would think.
From then on I could add others. Parents, children, co-workers, etc. Question is whether this can happen indefinitely and would only be limited by screentime?
What are your thoughts?
Why does Parks and Rec have a large ensemble and Seinfeld doesn't?
Is it because a workplace can feature more characters on screen at the same time than a believable apartment?
Thank you for your thoughts and stay healthy!
OS
I am in the concept phase for a sitcom and was wondering how many characters are needed to create a beating dramatic heart and how many is too many. If you have experiences please share.
My reasoning until now on how many characters are needed as a minimum:
Let's say you do a buddy show about two UPS-drivers or two doctors in a rural clinic. That means you'd need 2 at the minimum to have conflict with one another. Every episode they'd run into outside antagonisms.
Then you'd probably add a third person so the two others can fight about the third's affection and appreciation, turning that third into a benchmark on who's better than the other. That makes 3.
Then you'd probably want to turn the external antagonistic forces (in that example either people to whom the UPS-deliveries have to be given or people coming into the doctor's office) into antagonists so you have some recognition for the viewers. I'm guessing you need one at least but I am also guessing that two antagonists can motivate each other into creating more crazy problems for the protags. So that would make 5.
Now 5 would seem like my minimum for a beating heart. Maybe 4. But 5 is better because it's a less stable construction, I would think.
From then on I could add others. Parents, children, co-workers, etc. Question is whether this can happen indefinitely and would only be limited by screentime?
What are your thoughts?
Why does Parks and Rec have a large ensemble and Seinfeld doesn't?
Is it because a workplace can feature more characters on screen at the same time than a believable apartment?
Thank you for your thoughts and stay healthy!
OS
Comment