Character Dimensionalization Venn Diagram
Choose details that connect what audiences know with something new
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 98%
Greg Daniels taught Schur to dimensionalize a character by looking for the overlap between established traits and genuinely new information. A detail that only confirms what viewers already know adds nothing; a random surprise can feel false. The useful choice sits in the Venn diagram between familiarity and discovery. Once selected, even a minor preference can become part of the set, create conflict, and generate future stories. The method therefore treats every episode as a chance to add at least a little information about someone without forcing a dramatic revelation. Over time, these small compatible additions broaden motivations, relationships, and story possibilities while preserving continuity. Character development becomes a cumulative process rather than a sequence of disconnected plot devices.
Origin
Greg Daniels taught the method while revising Schur's Christmas episode of The Office and replacing a predictable gift for Angela.
Core principles
- 01Every episode should reveal something
- 02New details should remain believable
- 03Small discoveries can create future stories
- 04Character growth compounds over time
How to run it
- 1
Map the known character
Write down the traits, preferences, motivations, and relationships the audience already understands.
- 2
Reject pure repetition
Remove details that merely restate an established trait without expanding it.
Watch out Accuracy alone does not make a detail useful.
- 3
Find the overlap
Generate details that are surprising enough to teach the audience something but compatible enough to feel true.
Pro tip Use a room of different perspectives when the right association does not appear immediately.
- 4
Let the detail compound
Preserve the chosen discovery and look for later conflicts, relationships, or stories that naturally grow from it.
Pro tip Place persistent details in the character's environment when appropriate.
In the wild
A religious self-help book merely repeated that Angela was prim and religious. The writers instead gave her a poster of babies dressed as jazz musicians: odd, but somehow compatible with her. The poster stayed on the set and later caused a neighboring character to file an HR complaint.
→ One small character discovery generated both added dimension and future story material.
Common mistakes
Repeating a known trait
A detail that only confirms existing information does not broaden the character.
Forcing a giant revelation
Character growth does not require an implausibly dramatic secret; a small new preference can be enough.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for writers developing recurring characters across episodes, chapters, or a series.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for disposable characters whose traits will never affect the story again.
From the transcript
“what would be better is if there was something that were like overlapping in the overlapping area of the venn diagram of what we already…”
“at the end of every episode of the show you should have at least a little bit more information about some of the characters than…”
From the episode
#565: Michael Schur, Creator of “The Good Place” — How SNL Trains Writers, His TV University at “The Office,” Lessons from Lorne Michaels, Wisdom from David Foster Wallace, and Exploring Moral Philosophy with “How to Be Perfect”
Michael Schur