Zack Snyder’s return to franchise filmmaking didn’t come in the form of superheroes but a zombie heist movie. A crew of eleven characters must break into Las Vegas, get past the zombie hordes, and steal a whole lotta cash.
Something I really appreciated about the script, with shared credit by Snyder, Shay Hatten and Joby Harold, was how it broke down this large crew and gave the audience different arcs to track. So when you’re gearing up for your next heist (or just writing one), here’s one approach to managing your ensemble.
It’s All About the Relationships
We’re big fans of The Screenwriting Life podcast, and one of the ideas they return to often is the need for core relationships for the audience to invest in. Coming from the Pixar tradition, it’s easy to see the presence of duos. For instance, Woody and Buzz, Marlin and Dory, Joy and Sadness, Joe and 22 all go on adventures together. In these movies, the relationship itself is often at stake by the end of act two. And the changes in it demonstrates the growth of the characters.
What’s great about Pixar movies is they’re so elemental in their storytelling you can easily track the techniques being used. In each of the above examples, these two characters embark on a reluctant journey together with adjacent but different objectives. They grow closer, then have an all is lost moment in their relationship, before finally aligning objectives and truly coming together as a team.
By using this model, Pixar gives the characters personal stakes that we can invest in and a clear way to demonstrate their growth. Bet you weren’t expecting a Pixar discussion in this Zack Snyder article!
The Same, Just More
Snyder et al essentially do the same thing with Army of the Dead. They take this group of eleven characters and break them down into smaller groups and relationships that arc over the course of the story. Even with the 2.5 hour runtime there’s not enough space to explore how they all relate to each other. It would have been a mess. By zeroing in on specific relationships, the audience gets stories they can follow.
The heart of the movie, of course, is the relationship between mercenary Scott Ward and his daughter Kate. At the start they’re estranged. Ward goes on the heist to give the money to his daughter, and by the end has reconciled with her thanks to his sacrifice. Just like in Pixar, they reluctantly go on this journey together, and only by fully aligning their objectives can they repair their relationship.
But outside of this core relationship we get several other pairs and triads. Security Chief Martin deals with a suspicious Chambers and the coyote Lily. Dieter’s naivete first annoys and then endears him to Vanderohe, leading to moments of true sacrifice between them. And of course Pilot Peters must persevere with her helicopter.
These and other key relationships make up the mini story-arcs that fill the script. Each one is told with efficiency and simplicity – you need to keep room for the zombie kills. But they also give the audience stories to hold onto in what could be an overwhelming amount of characters.
The Takeaway
When dealing with a large number of characters, you can help the audience out by keeping things simple. Break them down into smaller groups, and give those relationships a beginning, middle and end. Like we talked about with Tony Tost and Draft Zero, you really only have space for one complicated thing. A large ensemble complicates your structure – so keep the rest straight-forward by giving the characters smaller, simpler stories.