Audiences instinctively know when a character “feels false.” They make instantaneous judgments about how a particular kind of person would respond to any given situation. A character must respond to a situation in a manner consistent with the audience’s intuitive assessment of the character’s personality or the character doesn’t “feel real.” 

Nailing that audience perception is critical in a film or television show. Today’s market and short viewer attention spans give storytellers very little time for the slow trial and error needed to gradually “find” a character.  The business is too fast-moving and competitive.

A character must be believable from the start and remain believable throughout the show.  The Nine Character Types is a short-cut to creating characters that build on the audience’s immediate perceptions and deliver a satisfying long-term viewing experience.

Human beings perceive reality in sets of three.   For example:  Every picture is composed of a background, middle ground and foreground.  Each picture is viewed as a whole and instantly judged as to how all three elements work together.  

A character’s reality or “depth of field” is composed of similar sets of three.   All elements must work together simultaneously to create a unified whole.  The Nine Character Types is a short cut to creating rich complex characters with all three dimensions and a consistent personality that "feels real."