Posted on November 30, 2008 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
by Guy Magar
‘Heck, we’ll just write them, and let the directors worry about visualization!’
More often than not, and consciously or not, this seems to be the mindset of most writers based on the many hundreds of screenplays that have crossed my desk at all levels of proficiency. Sorry folks, it’s called ‘motion pictures.’ This does [...]
Posted on October 22, 2008 in General Screenwriting | 2 Comments
The most important bit of writing advice for the beginning writer, every scene you write needs to be a situation, no exceptions. You must create interest before you can accomplish anything else, and situations create interest. The two basic ways situations emerge: circumstance and strong character need.
…Talking about drama is not the same as drama…
…The [...]
Posted on October 6, 2008 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
by Christina Hamlett
The arrival of Daylight Savings Time three weeks early this year heralds the approach of a long stretch of summer for you to finally get cracking on that screenplay you’ve always wanted to write.
There’s only one obstacle: Where to find a fresh story to whet the appetite of prospective producers and appease [...]
Posted on September 27, 2008 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
by Gene Perret
In a previous column, I noted that the magic bullet for writing success is to Be Good At What You Do. If you want to be a writer, learn to write. That earlier article practically guaranteed that if you became a good writer and continued to become a better writer that the profession [...]
Posted on September 24, 2008 in General Screenwriting | 1 Comment
John August (co-writer of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle) asks his readers to comment on this quote by David Mamet:
“People have tried for centuries to use drama to change people’s lives, to influence, to comment, to express themselves. It doesn’t work. It might be nice if it worked for those things, but it doesn’t. The only [...]
Posted on September 23, 2008 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
Read it aloud, make sure there’s a favorite part – and don’t fall into the ‘German funk trap’. Frank Cottrell Boyce who scripted 24 Hour Party People and A Cock and Bull Story, lays down his screenwriting golden rules
…A while back, I was on Radio 4’s Film Programme the same day as Simon Pegg. We [...]
Posted on September 22, 2008 in General Screenwriting | 1 Comment
by John Truby
The Thriller is one of Hollywood’s most popular forms because it combines the criminality and surprise of the detective form with the danger and pressure of horror.
A good thriller puts the hero in danger early and never lets up. While the thriller usually involves a main character trying to find a murderer, it [...]
Posted on September 21, 2008 in General Screenwriting | 1 Comment
Is the Internet a tool or distraction? We it’s certainly both and all writers need to find a balance. Although, finding that balance is easier said than done. Jacket Copy, the book blog of The L.A. Times, takes a look at some of the more drastic measures some writers have implemented to [...]
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Posted on September 15, 2008 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
by Carolyn Handler Miller
As writers, we are practitioners of an ancient art: the art of storytelling. Storytelling is a continually evolving form of expression. The first storytellers had only one simple tool at their disposal – the spoken word. Later storytellers had more sophisticated methods of spinning tales, using staged dramas, printed texts, and ultimately, [...]
Posted on September 13, 2008 in General Screenwriting | 1 Comment
by George Orwell
Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language — so the argument runs — must inevitably share in the [...]
Posted on September 13, 2008 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
by Mark Twain
“The Pathfinder” and “The Deerslayer” stand at the head of Cooper’s novels as artistic creations. There are others of his works which contain parts as perfect as are to be found in these, and scenes even more thrilling. Not one can be compared with either of them as [...]
Posted on September 8, 2008 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
by Christopher Keane
A story that made a big impression on me was “Little Red Riding Hood.” I was ten and my mother said to me, “Who’s the main character in the story?”
I thought for a moment, and said, “Red Riding Hood.”
“How so?”
“The story is called that,” I said. “Little Red Riding Hood.”
“You think [...]
Posted on September 5, 2008 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
by D.B. Gilles
Raymond Chandler wrote his first screenplay at 56. He didn’t even publish his first novel until he was 51. For the record, he wrote the original screenplays for ‘Double Indemnity’ and ‘Strangers On A Train.’
In 1939, after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s career as a novelist had faltered, he needed money fast. He went to [...]
Posted on August 20, 2008 in General Screenwriting | 1 Comment
by James Bonnet
We all know how incredibly hard it is to get a screenplay produced. We have all heard talk about all the great scripts out there that never got made. And that might be true. But why is it true? If you have a professionally crafted screenplay, one with obvious commercial potential, which has [...]
Posted on August 7, 2008 in General Screenwriting | 2 Comments
The Poynter Institute is a school for journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists, but even if you are not a journalist all writers/filmmakers can learn for their site. Here is a list of a 50 articles by Roy Peter Clark from the Poynter site that all writers should all read.
Writing Tool #1: Branch to [...]
