Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

How to name indistinguishable henchmen in a screenplay?

+1
−0

A large group of indistinguishable henchman feature throughout my screenplay. What is an acceptable naming method for them?

Let's say I wanna call them 'Red shirts'. Can I ...

A) Call them all RED SHIRT, even though they are different characters?

B) Call them RED SHIRT #1, RED SHIRT #2, etc, even though by the end of the film I'll be up to a crazy number like RED SHIRT #36?

C) Give them all arbitrary descriptions such as TALL RED SHIRT, ANGRY RED SHIRT, etc, just to make them distinguishable?

D) Something else?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/44706. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+1
−0

If they have lines or specific actions, it's important to give them all names. Why? Because each one will be played by a different actor. Each actor needs to know where s/he is at any given time, what s/he is saying and doing, and so forth.

The director needs to know those things as well. The casting service needs to know the number of unique henchmen. Etc. Etc.

If you look at the credits for actors in a movie, some of the character names will be "Woman in park" or "Lunch patron #3." That's fine. In general, people with a spoken line get a credit.

Then there are extras. Extras do not have speaking lines but they're important to the film. You can name and describe extras as a group.

Chances are you will have maybe 3-6 named characters who are henchmen and 30+ who are extras. It will be easier for casting if you consolidate the lines with just a handful of them (cheaper to pay extras).

Figure out which henchmen are characters, name and describe them (if a description is necessary beyond the range for the general group, for example, the group is probably all adults). For the others, state how many need be in each scene they appear and what they are doing.

  • Henchman #1 (female, late 30's, tall and muscular)
  • Henchman #2 (male, mid 50's, short and wiry)
  • Henchman #3 (early 20's)
History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »