Humans - Real connection requires individuality
Updated: Sep 11
Hi, In case you are new here, I write these here articles rather informally as a way to discuss the projects that I have available on my 'current projects' list as a bit of fun and insider details on writing and directing.
Mentions of: Supernatural (2005) S1E1, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (2013), Criminal Minds (2005), The Proposal (2009), Passengers (2016), MacGyver (2016) & Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
I think connection between characters can go 1 of 3 ways: 1. Underdeveloped in a way that you can tell the film was most likely made in an afternoon with a case of bud. 2. Over-explained and doing the MOST to tell the audience, "Look, they care about each other because they said so". and 3. The sweet spot: actual connection between characters.
The Audience is stupid
T.V. and Film are becoming so dumbed down in the assumption that people are going to be on their phones and just half-watching the show or film and therefore can't keep up with the art of storytelling.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck talk about their new projects and mention that Netflix is now requiring writers to explain the plot multiple times within the story. This is why you get things like Stranger Things Season 5, where the plans are constantly being repeated. It's so that people on their phones can keep up with the story — which is so rude, not only to screenwriters who have to dumb down their scripts but also rude to filmmakers because it's enabling the use of phones while watching a film or TV show, so now the film isn't actually being watched; all the hard work going into making each shot and each set and embodying each character is being ignored because they are just listening to the film instead and every now and then looking up.
There are even films and T.V. before this half-watch anomaly that dumb down the dialogue to quicken the connection. Films and shows that do this will greet characters like "Hey, sis" or "Hi, big bro" when nobody actually talks like this. I have two sisters; I have never once called them sis or little sis when talking to them. I've seen many other people who have siblings say the same thing. It's a cheap trick to establish a relationship quickly, when if they didn't treat the audience as stupid, then they wouldn't need to use cheap tricks.
Let's use 'Supernatural' (2005) S1E1 as an example. If you go in with no prior knowledge of the show, somehow. You will see:
A prologue: 22 years ago, the mother says "Come on, let's say goodnight to your brother" and then the father walks in says "Hi, Dean" the kid reacts with "Daddy!" and then the dad says "Goodnight, Sam" while looking at the baby in the crib. So we have already been given the family details straight away, within the first 1 minute and 22 seconds. We understand Dean is the older brother, Sam is the little brother in the crib, and the dad seems to have just gotten in judging from Dean's reaction.
At 4 minute mark we are jumped to the present day, we see an image of the mother and the father in a frame, a woman yells "Sam! You coming or what?". Then a man appears and says "Do I have to?". From this interaction and the fact it says present day, we can assume that this is Sam.
We stay with Sam's life for a bit before we reach 6 minutes 30 seconds... Sam wakes up to noises, there is an intruder, Sam fights the intruder. Sam loses to the intruder, who pins him to the ground, then we see the intruders face as he says "Woah, easy tiger". We go back to Sam who sees Dean's face too now, and Sam questions "Dean?". So we now have both kids from the prologue here as adults.
Then we get the whole "What are you doing here?", "If I had called would you have picked up" Proving that there is tension and distance between them.
Jessica, the woman from before, comes into the room, Sam introduces Dean to Jessica "Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica" and Jessica responds "Wait. your brother, Dean?" And then Dean responds "I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league".
There's some conversation then Dean says "Dad hasn't been home in a few days", to which Sam responds about him being drunk and he'll stumble in sooner or later. Showing the disconnect between Sam with Dean and his Dad. And then we get the famous line "Dad's on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days" as the camera pushes in on Sam's reaction. The use of "Dad" here shows that they're talking about the shared parent, its not "My dad..." or "Your dad..." its "Dad" so it showing through dialogue that they are brothers without saying "We are brothers".
Other than the first use of the word brother (Point 1), there isn't a need for it because the rest of the dialogue does everything. Saying "Say goodnight to your brother" isn't an unusual thing to say, especially when talking to a kid and getting them used to their baby sibling, so the scene feels very natural; one might even say super natural (Didn't even try to stop myself).
We could even completely get rid of the word brother in the first ten minutes of the show, the mother could have said "Say goodnight to Sam" because when you see a baby and a little boy sleeping in the same house you're going to assume they are brothers, especially going off of the rest of the prologue. There are context clues.
I feel like we start to get spoon-fed information from point 5. Jessica didn't need to say "Wait. Your brother, Dean?" because we had already figured out that they were brothers using the information from the prologue where Dean is told to say goodnight to his baby brother and then fact in the present day Sam identified him as Dean. We aren't being confused by who Dean is; we understand. We aren't thinking this is going to be a separate Dean that has nothing to do with prologue Dean.
Then Dean confirms he is Sam's brother by saying, "You are out of my brother's league"... You are just confirming the same thing twice that we already know, not only confirming but spoon-feeding us the same information: "See, they're brothers, it is important you know that they are brothers"... We... We got it. Please... Stop. An argument could be said that the line "You're out of my brother's league" does more than tell us once again that they are brothers; of course it does more. However, you can change the two lines in point 5, and it still does the same thing.
Sam: Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica.
Jess: Oh, You're Dean. I've heard a lot about you. (with an attempt to hide judgement but failing)
Dean: Well, I don't know what he's told you, but I do know that you are out of his league (While being flirty).
With this, Dean is still be disrespectful to Jess and to Sam by hitting on Jess. It also cements that Sam and Dean aren't close at all... The actual important part and not the fact they are brothers. It also establishes that Jessica also understands who Dean is as well.
I'm making jokes about the show, but it is one of the tamer shows/films to spoon-feed information or repeat it so much for no apparent reason. Or it is just used as a quick connection to a new character even though it feels so unnatural: "Hey, little bro", "Hey, big bro", etc.
Verbal Synchronicity
Verbal synchronicity is a quick way to show that characters are connected. It happens a lot in media with twins, in which they will say the same thing at the same time or finish each others sentences as though they have a hivemind. It can even be a shared look that is essentially a blank stare; it gives nothing, and yet they know each other so well they know what the other is thinking, when that never happens in real life. When two people share a look, there is still communication happening, whether it's best friends across a room and one gives a nod or a glance towards a direction to meet up or two women sharing a look as a man joins the conversation; the look is eyes widening slightly, it's an eyebrow tilt, it's not a blank stare that gives no emotions. They aren't just staring at each other and knowing what the other is thinking; they're communicating through micro-expressions.
One that I see a lot is the banter and talking over each other. In 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' (2013), there are two characters, Fitz and Simmons... And the characters call them FitzSimmons because they are always together. They also constantly talk over each other, finish each other's sentences, or mind-read each other's needs. They aren't individual characters; they are a hivemind blob with a single name.
In 'Criminal Minds' (2005), the majority of the episodes follow a pattern of Suspect commits crime, then the BAU getting briefed, then they fly over to the location. Once there, they brief the police station on who the suspect is. And you need to in your mind watch this as the characters already having practiced these briefings; otherwise, it feels almost ridiculous and unnatural with how they do these briefings. Each of the characters has a speciality, and they speak on their speciality, but it feels like they finish the other person's thought with their own information based on their speciality.
What happens is the leader starts it off, and then the next person does their bit of information, and then the next; it would seem like they are interrupting each other because as soon as the last syllable in the line is spoken, the next person starts, and the blocking and dialogue come off like they are speaking in the moment and haven't pre-planned what they want to tell the officers... and it genuinely feels like a poorly blocked scene. The hivemind connection is so in your face; they have several minutes of each other speaking in such an organised manner of your turn, my turn, their turn and I wouldn't have a problem with it if it wasn't for the fact they don't show the last speaker looking at the next speaker to be like, "It's your turn". I have watched the first 8 or 9 seasons, and I don't think I ever spotted a shared look to gesture to the next character that it is their turn to speak.
Proximity means connection
There are films that use proximity as a form of connection, but when you watch the film, there isn't any chemistry there, not only from the actors but also in the dialogue. An example of this is 'The Proposal' (2009). The film is about an Editor (Sandra Bullock) and her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) having to pretend to be engaged while visiting his family so they can get to know each other and pass as an actual couple so she can get a green card. The film shows them hating each other for the majority and then suddenly switches it up and acts like the characters are in love when they haven't actually shown us them falling for each other. Yes, there were some moments of not hatred that were a lot softer in the film, but they were rare and didn't mean they had fallen in love with one another or that they were hiding how they felt; they were just nice to one another for a beat before going back to despising each other.
For me, this is the cheap way to force connection in that the writers almost say, "These characters have spent enough time with one another; the audience must think there is a relationship or connection". The connection hasn't been made; they are just near one another. In the proposal, there is no real yearning, no light touches; the only time we see Sandra Bullock getting upset is because she knows she is being selfish and is starting to see that this would affect someone else too... That does not mean love; that just means she has developed a soul.
Another film that has done this is 'Passengers' (2016), which could have been such an amazing horror film if it had been told in a different sequence, but that is another article for another day. The film is about Chris Pratt being forced awake from cryo-sleep; the spaceship that is travelling 100s of years to a different planet has everyone in cryo-sleep until the last month. Chris wakes up early and alone; he spends months trying to fix the issue or get help, and because there isn't another soul awake, he begins to go through video introductions made by other passengers. He finds Jennifer Lawrence's video and becomes infatuated; it's now the only video he watches while he struggles with the loneliness. He eventually decides to wake her up too and pretends it was a ship issue. She starts to become friends with him since there is nobody else on the ship, and then they start to date; eventually, she finds out that he woke her up and begins to hate him for essentially imprisoning her here. There are some issues with the ship, and one of them almost dies, and there's a scene where they kiss (I believe... it has been 10 years since I watched it). The film is posed as a romantic sci-fi film, and in the end they live happily ever after.
The friendship started because they were the only two people awake, and they may as well get on, but then she finds out that he is the one to essentially kill her since their destination is still 90 years away and the ship is all she will experience for the rest of her life. She understands this and becomes angry to the point of violence in some parts of the film, but yet she tells Chris Pratt that she loves him when he is about to do something incredibly dangerous... that isn't love, babe, that's just a captive situationship. It went from not being able to hear his voice, look at him, and even inflicting violence on him to then apparently loving him within a scene. I feel like this film didn't treat the character with respect and more sided with Chris Pratt's character, who had almost a parasocial relationship with JL's character before she was awoken.
Another proximity connection is when the characters have random history. If we look at 'MacGyver' (2016) characters Mac and Jack (Or 'The Avengers' (2012) characters Clint and Natasha). The audience is told that these two characters have a strong relationship because they banter, and they also have a top-secret mission that went wrong in a location, 'Cairo', and they reference that top-secret location a lot to remind the audience they have history. (Budapest for Natasha and Clint). It's a quick way to show that they have been working together for a long time and are experienced in what they do. It has become a trend of sorts when it comes to two agents in media; they will always have a reference like this.
'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' (2026) also does this with Spider-Man and Frank Castle and the “Staten Island Ferry Incident”; we don’t hear what happens because both characters explain what happened while talking over each other as part of a gag. I feel that while it was a fun scene, it did confuse some audience members who felt they perhaps missed something from the MCU’s million and one projects.
Good connection
There are so many pieces of media that get connection right, that don't rely on cheap tricks to convince or inform the audience. They use emotions and communication. If we look at 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' (2017), the characters of Ned and Peter are shown to be best friends, they react to what each other are saying, they listen to each other, yes they have their secret handshake but that isn't needed because we already see that they are best friends. Actual connection allows individualism instead of becoming a blob hivemind.
Humans
In my screenplay, Humans, I thought it was important to show connection especially because of the topic of the film being about humanity. I did this in a few ways, one of the ways was showing the different cultures and sharing stories about said cultures. The protagonist shares a room with 4 other women, all from different countries, and they introduce one another and then share their cultural food and snacks that they have brought with them for the trip with each person chatting about taste and having them as kids etc. This shows that even though the film is set in a future where there is a spaceship Earth, there are still different cultures that are celebrated. It creates the individual characters already.
Another way I add connection is by having them share stories and listen to one another. Mei asks her roommate if they have been to Earth before, and Freya responds. Mei listens and reacts in a way that shows it isn't a script that she is following or that she is just waiting for her turn to speak again.
Another way is through love languages, my protagonist decided to have a love language without my say so at all but I love it and it definitely makes her an individual instead of just a character. She fist bumps people, hugs and receives hugs from family and friends, she pats shoulders, nudges elbows and taps feet. She communicates through touch as much as she does through dialogue. When we see her receive hugs from others it feels like a friendship, because her friends are listening to how she displays love and reciprocating in the same way.
There is banter in my screenplay, I'm British so it felt more natural than any other part to write, but they still listen and not just hear. Long winded jokes that aren't interrupted, no hivemind mentality, just individuals becoming friends a million miles from home.
If you haven't had a chance to look at my screenplay 'Humans', the link below will take you to a page to read a simplified version of the treatment and pitch deck, with character designs and the first few pages of the screenplay.
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