How to make a compelling character? A protagonist who the audience will invest in and want to follow. Someone who can sustain narrative and interest for hours or even, in the case of TV, years? Unfortunately there is no single right answer. But one option on the table – make them an expert.
Ozark follows Marty Bird, a whiz accountant who cooks the books for an international drug cartel. Out of desperation he moves his family to the Ozarks as a new base of operations for his employer’s money laundering. From there things snowball, gathering enemies and obstacles as he jumps from pan to fire to volcano.
Through it all, one of the things that consistently keeps Marty interesting is how good he is at his job.
Competency Porn
For the right kind of project, an expert main character creates a nice friction with the plot. Some incredibly difficult situation gets thrown at them; and they overcome by application of their exceptional skills. You see this called competency porn. The pleasure of watching someone good at their job.
Marty definitely fits the bill. In the first season he gets dropped in a brand new world and has to find a way to launder 8 million dollars – and deal with the local redneck opioid producers, criminal clans, and an FBI investigation.
Each of these situations finds Marty using his business acumen to navigate the challenges. He identifies cash-poor business and takes them over, by charm or by force. He brokers deals with opposing criminal forces by accurately assessing risk/reward. He bluffs his way out of bad situations by running the numbers on behalf of his opponents.
Every problem he faces, no matter how bad, he finds the way out, and usually through an excel spreadsheet. His wife, Wendy, eventually gets in on the game too as the show plays up her political experience. She sets off on a similar track, using the skills of a fixer rather than an accountant to keep her plates spinning.
The Thrill of the Watch
What Ozark and similar shows do is create a question in the minds of the audience – how is he going to get out of this one? We watch because we like putting ourselves in the same situation and struggle to find a way out, then marvel at what the character – and the writers – comes up with.
It’s not that different from a crime procedural. But instead of the story engine of an investigation and running down leads, each episode revolves around the newest problem and how fast the character can out think it.
This can be a bit of a double-edged sword. Once you promise the audience that your main character will dazzle by out-thinking every situation through their specific field of expertise, you have to be able deliver. We have to believe that Marty is as good an accountant as the show says he is. Maybe a real accountant wouldn’t be impressed, but that doesn’t matter. You just got to convince the general public.
Applying to Your Own Writing
As you’re assembling your main character, one tool to keep in your toolbox is to make them an expert, but an expert in a seemingly tangential field. Consider how much more interesting following a chemistry or accounting pro in the criminal world proved to be, and then look for your own off-beat field to make your character a pro at.