What Do I Write About?
After a lengthy absence from screenwriting, I got back into the game and finished a script I had been working on for a good number of years. I received a lot of great feedback and decided to solicit some managers.…
screenwriting tips
Jurassic World, Jurassic Values
If there’s one thing to learn from this video, and there’s a lot, it’s that conflict shouldn’t exist if you must compromise your character to achieve it. The creative team behind Jurassic World understood this principle (though they certainly didn’t…
How Horror Movies Became a Money Making Machine
I’ve had friends tell me to write a horror movie. I just can’t resonate with that genre as I have others, as I have been told times repeatedly, with less “commercial potential.” This video made me think about my favorite…
Do Not Try To Sell Your Screenplay
If you’re really, really smart, you don’t go into it. This is not for really, really smart people. You gotta be dumber than that if you wanna succeed in creative expression. You gotta be a little crazy. Richard Walter UCLA…
Red Letter Media’s Conversation with Max Landis
Whether you like Max Landis or not, he’s a guy that has essentially been immersed in the industry since conception. He’s outspoken. He’s opinionated. He hurls so many damn darts that he’s guaranteed to cluster a bullseye every now and…
No Second Act = No Story
GUY: Here’s my pitch: A guy must bond with his gambler father to get closure on his childhood. ME: Great. What’s the second act? GUY: Well, it’s whatever happens between page 25 and page 90. ME: Right, but how is…
How Is Act Two-A Different from Act Two-B?
The midpoint is the most arguable of the story points in the classic three act structure. It’s the axis upon which the second act revolves, it clarifies the arc, the stakes, and the tone of the exploration of the script.…
The Easiest Screenwriting Exercise in the World
Think of a common object, something tangible, smaller than a garbage can, the kind of object you can buy at a store. For instance: hairspray. Say one thing about the object’s appearance. Something specific, but still in the realm of…
How To Write Good Scenes
Beginning writers struggle to write good scripts. I posit that they struggle to write good scripts because they struggle to write second acts. Further, I posit that they struggle to write second acts because they struggle to write scenes.
