Do these characters need prior development in this sense?

[harmonica44]

In my script, it's about a man who seeks revenge in the third act, and at the end of the second act, going into the start of the third, he rounds up a pretty much a posse of people and they form a lynch mob to go after the villain, with murderous intentions. They believe that the villain should not go on killing, wreaking havoc and continuing to get away with it. The MC is able to round them up after the villain has done enough damage to everyone.

One writer who reviewed the script told me that they didn't like the other lynch mob characters because they have no prior development before they form a lynch mob, and as a result the characters feel like nothing more than plot devices.

I suppose it's kind of like the movie Lady Vengeance, where you follow a lone protagonist for most of it, but then she rounds up a team in the third act.

However, is this a problem? Does it matter if these characters are plot devices since they are not as major of characters? Does every other characters besides the major players need depth and a backstory with development? I mean it's obvious that the main characters are given depth, backstory and character development, but what about more minor characters? I mean in a movie like Goldfinger for example, Oddjob, is a plot device character. No depth really, he is just there to help the villain, cause the writers didn't want the villain doing everything himself. Or in Magnum Force, you have a group of vigilante cops, but they are not really given any backstory to explain how they were before much, they were just there to a serve a purpose in the plot, and that's all. Or in a better example, in the movie M, the mob wants to kill a serial killer, and they get a lot of homeless people to help and act as informers, but the homeless people are not given any backstory before they are recruited. So in that sense, do the characters who help a main character, have to be more than plot devices?

Because if I give these characters backstories and development and all that, then perhaps that could be a problem too and people will think that I have spent too much time on minor characters. What do you think?

Thanks for the advice and input. I appreciate it.

 

[FantasySciFi]

In general, it should make sense why characters do what they do. Sounds like the writer felt you just dropped them into the story in a way that didn't feel believable. The other films you mentioned make the supporting characters relevant. Haven't read your script so no specific advice. In all those movies you cited, the impact of the villain on the mob has been experienced through the whole movie. Has your villain been directly impacting these mob members throughout your movie. Not just in act three but even starting back in acts 1 & 2? If not, it can feel contrived. Not so much backstory of the people in the mob but the villain's impact on people or the attachment they feel in helping the MC that make them want to form a mob. That should feel genuine.

 

[maz]

Aren't this mob of people he assembles the families of victims? Presumably, they have been introduced before? In that sense giving them a bit of screentime in the first act would probably be all they need. However, sufficient backstory to make hurt and/or grieving innocent people into a violent lynch mob is another matter - that would require careful and detailed character development if it is to be at all believable (and even then I would most likely roll my eyes at such a plot).

 

[harmonica44]

Okay thanks. Only one of them is introduced before and the others are not actually. Do they have to be introduced before? It's just I am trying to cut down on length and not have to have several actors for other scenes. How did the movie M do it though without introducing the homeless people before. The audience was able to understand their motives, and they did not need any first act introductions. As far as making it believable, if I must have introduce them prior, how much screen time does each member need would you think? I would like to make a lynch mob believable without the audience rolling their eyes, if that's possible. I guess the last movie to do it that I saw was Lady Vengeance. Even in that movie though, the other members of the mob, other than the main character were not given much development.

If I must add more scenes introducing them, the scenes will pretty much be one of them talking to someone, then another scene with another one talking to someone. But since they are not a part of the plot at all, at this point, what can I do to make their scenes interesting since they may come off as just random family members, of the victim who has not been killed off yet. The victim is also not a much of a major character, so the family members are not going to seem important at all at this point, I feel.