Posted on January 19, 2012 in Story, Structure | No Comments
James Strzelinski explores what he calls the “Mirror Moment” – the turning point of a character arc which has the lead metaphorically (or literally) looking in the mirror and reevaluating everything.
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Posted on December 20, 2011 in General Screenwriting, Story | No Comments
Robert McKee answers this question from writer Steve Ericsson:
“Introducing many characters within a story, even if you have just one or two main characters, is quite a challenge when writing a screenplay. How would you go about introducing several important characters during the first act/first half of the story in an effective and compelling way?”
Posted on November 9, 2011 in General Screenwriting, Story | No Comments
The author of “Writing the Romantic Comedy” Billy Mernit reflects on writing Romantic Comedy and how brevity still is the soul of wit.
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Posted on October 13, 2011 in General Screenwriting, Story | No Comments
Writing inside a genre means you will have specific requirements for feel and characterization. Carson Reeves explores the biggest systematic mistakes writers make writing in their genre:
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Posted on September 14, 2011 in General Screenwriting, Story | No Comments
What constitute a genre? Using a database of 897 scripts, genres are broken down using good old statistics and graphs, which is really the only way to discuss films.
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Posted on July 15, 2011 in General Screenwriting, Story | 1 Comment
It used to be that summer was the season for blockbuster movies. Now it’s a year-round phenomenon. Hollywood is in the business of selling films to a worldwide audience, which means they are always looking for a script with blockbuster potential.
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Posted on July 6, 2011 in Filmmaking 360, Internet, Story | 1 Comment
Jeff Parkin, filmmaker and Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, Brigham Young University, discusses the power of transmedia stories in reaching wide audiences and his experiences in creating the Webby Award honored webseries, The Book of Jer3miah.
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Posted on June 24, 2011 in Story | 2 Comments
In this video Q&A Robert McKee describes how screenwriters should write a non-linear story.
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Posted on June 15, 2011 in General Screenwriting, Story | 1 Comment
Instead of inhibiting you limitations can inspire you. In this video Robert McKee discussed why the setting of your film is so important.
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Posted on June 7, 2011 in Story | 3 Comments
Michael Halperin, Ph. D., television writer, screenwriting instructor and former Executive Story Consultant for 20th Century Fox Television discusses his book Writing the 2nd Act.
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Posted on February 17, 2011 in General Screenwriting, Story | 3 Comments
This memo to the writers of The Unit, David Mamet (the show’s executive producer) provides a short but master class in writing for television. Only Mamet can give a writing memo in all-caps and get away with it.
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Posted on January 11, 2011 in Story | 4 Comments
In every movie of quality, there are three stories going on either simultaneously or in close proximity. One of the first things you need to look at when you approach a rewrite is to make sure all the stories are fulfilled and in the right proportions. The closer they are in theme and proximity, the better.
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Posted on December 28, 2010 in Story | No Comments
In order to create a story that expresses the arc of transformation, a need for that transformation must be established. It is within this context that I can best define the fatal flaw of character.
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Posted on November 30, 2010 in Story | 4 Comments
In every story plot and movie plot, the protagonist (and for that matter, all of the major characters) has at least one long-term goal in the story, and one small goal or more in every scene. Goals give definition to the overall story that unfolds moment-by-moment in scene.
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Posted on October 13, 2010 in Selling Your Script, Story | 3 Comments
Lack of real, empathetic characters is the leading reason why agents and production executives pass on scripts. In today’s competitive market, it is imperative to create the kind of full-bodied characters that mesmerize gatekeepers and bump your script up to the next level.
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