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How To Write a Screenplay

Learn how to write a screenplay through detailed analysis of feature films.

  • Screenwriting Tips
  • How To Write A Screenplay

Jurassic World, Jurassic Values

December 4, 2017 By William Robert Rich Leave a Comment

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 use it to its potential). It was clear from the get-go that Claire’s misbehavior was her obsession with her career. She’s the typical workaholic. The scene where the ops team gets slaughtered by the hybrid-rex dinosaur is central to her arc. Is she as bad as this guy makes out? Is she a worthy symbol to all the heroic, female, action starlets that preceded her? If box office receipts alone answer that question, they prove that audiences don’t care about that kind of nuance. They want to see shit blow up. They want to see people get eaten by dinosaurs. They want carnage. They want a dark space to escape and not think about their problems for two hours. And they want two beautiful faces on the screen when it all goes down. You, the aspiring screenwriter, don’t have that luxury. Listen to Mike Hill and others that speak to and challenge your sensibilities.

Check out more of Mike Hill’s videos

How Horror Movies Became a Money Making Machine

November 12, 2017 By William Robert Rich Leave a Comment

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 horror movies. Only two came to mind: The Silence of the Lambs, which, like David Fincher’s Seven, would more appropriately be categorized as a crime thriller, and John Carpenter’s The Thing, which is about as horror as horror gets. But it got me to thinking how much I loved Alien (broken down here). Alien was likely pitched as Star Wars meets a horror movie. It had one of the best tags of movie, perhaps, only second to “Stupid is as stupid does,” with, “In space no one can hear you scream.” Alien really isn’t any different from The Thing if you think about it. You have a small group of people trapped who must use their wits to defeat a hell-bent beast. Then there’s The Shining, Scream, and Psycho. The Lost Boys was a big movie from my childhood, and, as Alien was Star Wars to horror, it was The Goonies meets vampires. Stranger Things has recently took inspiration from that subset. That’s more than enough inspiration to do something, if I were so inclined. So that’s what I’m saying to all of you folks who are taking the time to read my thoughts: This is show business. You can be an artist or you can write what sells and then earn the privilege of being an artist. Sure, luck is involved, but understanding what makes people more lucky than others is a big part of the game. So good luck out there.

Do Not Try To Sell Your Screenplay

February 15, 2016 By William Robert Rich 2 Comments

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
Associate Dean, Student Affairs; Area Head, MFA Screenwriting Program

[Read more…]

Red Letter Media’s Conversation with Max Landis

December 4, 2015 By William Robert Rich Leave a Comment

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 then. But please don’t mistake any of this blabber for enmity — I really like him. I love watching his enthusiasm hold pace with his ADHD. He’s a blowhard one second, the next, so humble and self-effacing that you just can’t help but hope that he writes a self-help column for failed writers; A column where he pens each and every question long after his hypomania plunges into the deepest recesses of his soul. If you aspire to write for the screen, taking note of a working screenwriter scrutinizing the current state of the industry, and his place in it, isn’t a bad idea. Seriously, Max — we need more of you. Like yesterday.

[Read more…]

No Second Act = No Story

June 9, 2015 By Matt Lazarus Leave a Comment

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 this explored? So he needs to bond with his father. Do they bond by surfing? Kidnapping a girl? Planning a casino heist.
GUY: No!
ME: But they could, right? You see how each avenue of exploration changes the genre, tone and visuals of the movie. How is yours explored?
GUY: I don’t know.
ME: Then you only have half an idea.

The second act is the exploration of the idea. It’s the money part.

The three act structure tends to trip people up. People are either way too into it, or they’re way too dismissive of it. While it’s true that many professional writers don’t set out to neatly color within the lines as they’re writing their work, it’s also true that the three act structure is a useful teaching tool for people who are looking for something, anything to hang an understanding off of as they’re starting out.

I’ve heard of college classes where they read each other’s screenplays, but only the second act. That’s apocryphal, but I love that idea, because the second act is the movie.[1] [Read more…]

How Is Act Two-A Different from Act Two-B?

June 1, 2015 By Matt Lazarus Leave a Comment

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. Midpoints are incredibly useful, so they’re worth talking about.

The second act takes up 50% percent of a scripts length. You want this second act to showcase what you can do with a concept. It’s been said that a second act is what the story is about. The midpoint separates act two into two parts. Proponents of three act structure often talk about act one, act two a, act two b, and act three. Sometimes people ask why it’s the three act structure and not the four act structure. This is a fair question. Someday, someone is going to to write a book called “MASTERING THE FOUR ACT STRUCTURE” or similar, and everyone will argue about this more, but for now, let’s use the three act structure, which is widely accepted, well documented, and useful.

Your basic three act structure:

ACT 1 (25%): Set up the world and characters, explain how we got to the events of the story.
ACT TWO (50%): Explore what’s cool about the premise and the characters in an active, memorable and visceral way that both entertains and shows off why you deserve to be a professional writer.
ACT THREE (25%): Resolve the goal of the story, illustrate how the second act changed the character to a version of himself that can succeed at his goal.
So act two = exploration, where the premise of the movie is explored via a series of genre beats in a way that creates specific and memorable entertainment. If you’re using a midpoint, it’s going to split that second act into two roughly equal chunks, act two a and act two b.

This raises a simple question: how is act two a different from act two b? [Read more…]

The Easiest Screenwriting Exercise in the World

May 7, 2015 By Matt Lazarus Leave a Comment

The Easiest Screenwriting Lesson in the World

  1. 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.
  2. Say one thing about the object’s appearance. Something specific, but still in the realm of recognizable reality. For instance: it’s a dusty can of dollar store hair spray with the orange price tag still attached.
  3. Say another thing about the object. It could be another visual detail about it, or it could be where it’s located. For instance: it’s at the bottom of a box of old cans hidden in the back of a cluttered, hoarded out garage in a Maine townhouse.
  4. Say something extraordinary about this object. It should be story specific. Saying that Marilyn Monroe owned it isn’t that interesting. Saying that Marilyn Monroe killed for it is a little more story specific.

[Read more…]

How To Write Good Scenes

April 16, 2015 By Matt Lazarus 1 Comment

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.

[Read more…]

What Makes a Great Antagonist?

February 9, 2015 By Matt Lazarus Leave a Comment

What Makes a Great Antagonist?

Q: What do you think makes a great antagonist? Do they always have to have a legit reason (at least to them) of why they are doing bad things? Is it as simple as having a few quirks that people hate?

A: Which is more dramatically affecting: An antagonist who has a great reason for doing his job who never actually meets the protag (rare, but some examples exist) or an antagonist who is never explained, but very present, who takes a perverse, almost sexual thrill in hurting and humiliating the hero?
[Read more…]

Second Act Screenwriting Tip

November 17, 2014 By Matt Lazarus Leave a Comment

Second Act Screenwriting Tip

When people write loglines or a “premise test,” they often write one that misses the meat of the story. Stories aren’t just about the setup of an idea, it’s about the execution of that idea. That execution occurs in the second act.

[Read more…]

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