Character Slams
5 ways to do them,
5 ways your characters will react
by Deanna Carlyle
© 2008 Deanna Carlyle
This article first appeared
in the December 2008 issue of Scriptscene’s Rewrit.
You’ve heard of poetry slams? A poor poet bares
his soul onstage, then audience members cheer, heckle or
burp? Well, character slams, as defined by screenwriting
guru David Freeman, serve a similar function: They expose
a fictional character’s soul to positive or negative
reinforcement, forcing him to grow (or not, depending on
your theme and purpose).
During a seminar I attended with him this year, Freeman
encouraged writers to continually “slam” a
character’s fear, limitation, block or wound to force
the character to grow. He presented a simple, five-step
brainstorming technique for slamming characters, one that
goes right to the crux of the character-plot conundrum:
Which came first, character or plot? The answer is both,
and here’s how:
 Types
of slams
1. Happy
occasion slam - e.g., The commitmentphobic
Hugh Grant character in Four Weddings and a Funeral attends
a wedding and sees how happy, great and wonderful his
exes are now that they’ve committed to other relationships.
2. Unhappy occasion slam - e.g., A commitmentphobe
at a funeral for a now-dead, unhappy bachelor.
3. Inquiry slam - e.g., Another character asks, “Do
you have a problem with commitment?” or claims, “You
have a problem with commitment.”
4. Similar situation slam - e.g., An obvious
creep or loser guy turns to Hugh Grant and says, “You’ll
never catch me getting trapped in marriage!”
5. Opposite situation slam - e.g., in Good
Will Hunting, Will’s lover tenderly strokes
his back, and Will freaks out and leaves because he’s
afraid of intimacy and doesn’t want to risk re-opening
his wound (He was beat cruelly and sadistically by his
parents).
In his seminar, Freeman said characters needs to be slammed
a number of times before they’ll change.
 The
slamee could then . . .
1. Retaliate for the slam
2. Joke it off
3. Admit the other person’s right, then do nothing
4. Excuse own behavior and do nothing
5. Ignore the slam
The major turning point slams, however, your character
can’t ignore if he’s going to have a growth
arc.
Are you ready to do some slam-dunks? Your character is
playing defense, but with creativity and persistence, you’ll
bring him around to winning this game called his life. 
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