Impact Character

[Scribbler]

I have a fully written screenplay where the lead character has two lives. One his normal public persona the other a secret indulgence that he lives, on certain occasions in public. The two sides to the characters are completely different but interwoven and have an effect on each other. Question, could one persona be the impact character?

[Chris Huntley]

Yes, though it does make the relationship throughline a bit difficult to encode -- not impossible, but difficult.

The question you should ask yourself is, "Does the conflict between the two personalities play out in the big picture or on the personal side?"

If it is one or the other, then they are either both objective characters (such as protagonist and antagonist), or subjective characters (i.e. MC and IC). Technically, they can be both, but if they are not both then it makes it easier to tell if their relationship is part of their functions as players in the Overall Story throughline, or as MC and IC.