A JOURNEY INTO CHARACTER
The Enneagram For Storytellers
I’ve been creating characters and storylines with the help of the Enneagram for almost a decade now. The tool has proven to be so helpful for me that I started teaching it to other curious storytellers.
What is the Enneagram?
The Enneagram is a tool for a better understanding of human behaviour.
The concept in its current form was presented to the broader public in the 60s and has been very popular with psychologists, Christian priests, Rabbis, Imams, Buddhists and soul searchers ever since.
Its origins, however, can be traced back to the early days of Christianity and Islam.
The Enneagram is based on the idea that all human dilemma stems from nine original vices or sins. (The seven deadly sins of the Christian church: wrath, pride, envy, greed, gluttony, lust and sloth plus two more: vanity and fear.)
Each of us tends to battle with one of these sins for her/his whole life.
This battle shapes our character and defines our “TYPE“.
Whichever vice we may fall for depends not only on our genetics, but largely on how we are influenced by parents, siblings, friends and our environment while we grow up.
The Nine Sins are connected to each other in a certain way, taking shape in an Enneagram (“Ennea” = Greek for “nine”).
A 9-pointed star in a circle:
The Vices / Sins of the Enneagram
What does this have to do with storytelling / screenwriting?
The Enneagram leads to nine basic character types. Each of these types faces a specific conflict of values. This conflict of values leads to specific story themes for every character.
If we understand how these character types tend to act, what they pursue and how they react to each other, we can shape more credible characters and define a clear range of possibilities for character arcs that viewers find fulfilling.
Successfull Movie and TV makers like David Lynch (“Twin Peaks”, “Mullholland Drive”) oder Jantje Friese (“Dark”, “1899”) have been working with the Enneagram to develop their characters and stories.
Contrary to other teachers, I try to put a lot of focus on the Enneagram as a map, explaining especially the lines / connections between the different character types and the potential of growth for characters along these lines.
The “Types” of the Enneagram
How is this seminar structured?
After a brief introduction regarding the history of the Enneagram, the Nine Character Types and their behaviour patterns are being introduced using the ensemble of the currently most successful TV show “Game of Thrones“.
Through the colourful and well known characters of Ned Stark, Daenerys, Tyrion and others, it will become clear to the attendees how the Enneagram can be used as a powerful storytelling tool. To make it practical and fun, a lot of practical video samples from this series as well as other series and feature films will be watched and discussed ensuite. Additionally I will give students an insight how my colleagues and I used the tool to create our own characters in the TV drama series “Legal Affairs” and “Über die Grenze” / “Borderland”.
I teach the Enneagram on one or two day seminars, usually in English, but German is also possible.
If you want more extensive information, please feel free to listen to my approach to the Enneagram technique for storytellers on the following podcast, produced by SEAN, the Serial Eyes Alumni Network:
Who is the seminar for?
“A Journey Into Character - The Enneagram For Storytellers” has been especially tailored for creatives in the TV and Film industry - screenwriters, actors, producers and directors. But it has proven to be also quite fascinating for attendees who were just interested in using it for psychological / self improvement purposes.
What people say about the seminar…
“Felice Götze delivered this workshop to a group of highly experienced international writers at the European TV Drama Lab. His practical approach using the „Game of Thrones“ characters as well as his own TV series to demonstrate the complex principles of the enneagram-technique made the content highly accessible. It stimulated animated discussions amongst the participants which continued long after the session finished. We’re looking forward to working again with Felice in the near future.“
-Francis Foster, Head of Creative Services MediaXchange, UK
Above: The 3Wing4 Enneagram Type (Romantic Performer) in his natural state.
Photo Credit: Robert Bilsing, Berlin
“Felice really opened my eyes to a whole new way to construct and develop characters. His expertise on the subject and ability to easily explain the concept of the Enneagram made his seminar a pleasure.“
-Michael Barmish, Screenwriter & Playwright, USA
"I had already known about the Enneagram-technique in creating characters and writing different role types from film school, but had never used it. Then I attended Felice’s lecture and that's when it clicked for me. He delineated the system in a clear manner, went into details that were new to me, and used examples to make the method easy to understand. Best of all, I feel that my writing has improved, not just in writing characters but in story structure and plot."
-Raquel Stern, Screenwriter, USA
References
The Seminar “A Journey Into Character - The Enneagram For Storytellers” has been so far taught at/for the following institutions:
Serial Eyes - International Showrunner Programme Media Exchange / Erich Pommer Institute - European TV Drama Series Seminar dffb - Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
SEAN - The Serial Eyes Alumni Network
MET - International Film School Berlin
IFS - International Film School Cologne
Scriptmakers Berlin
Skriptakademie Berlin