Posted on August 23, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Structure | No Comments
Question: I have completed my screenplay, but I never wrote a treatment. I met a producer who wants to see a treatment only. Some people say a treatment should be three pages long, some say 12. Any advice?
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Posted on August 17, 2010 in General Screenwriting | No Comments
Bring your screenwriting up to the power level with these 10 quick-reference tips from author/screenwriter/script consultant Derek Rydall.
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Posted on August 5, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Internet, Selling Your Film, Selling Your Script | No Comments
Presented by the WGAW Publicity and Marketing Committee, this March 27, 2010 all-day seminar offered Writers Guild members tools to help them get online, promote their careers, raise their industry profiles, build their brands and distribute and monetize their work.
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Posted on July 31, 2010 in General Screenwriting | 1 Comment
Instead of telling your friend what happened that day (really, she can wait), quickly synopsize your movie idea. Instead of texting gossip about that person you met in an elevator, create a piece of scene direction that might describe that person as they enter a movie scene. Instead of engaging in a cutesy I.M., write a “cute meet” between two characters.
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Posted on July 26, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Interviews | 1 Comment
This clip is from the 1983 documentary (packaged in the “Tokyo Story” Criterion Collection DVD set), called I Lived But … The Life and Works of Yasujiro Ozu that featured interviews with Ozu’s production crew and recurring actors, plus excerpts from newsreels, home movies, and clips from two dozen of Ozu’s films. Ozu’s cameraman Yuharu Atsuta shot the film, and his long-time production company Shochiku produced it.
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Posted on July 15, 2010 in Filmmaking 360, General Screenwriting | 2 Comments
The Bechdel Test is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are. It was created by Allison Bechdel in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It is astonishing the number of popular movies that can’t pass this simple test.
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Posted on July 14, 2010 in General Screenwriting | 1 Comment
In movies, TV, and actual conversation it’s by far the most frequently quoted dollar figure to mean “rich,” despite inflation. The top-shelf reality competition shows (Survivor, The Amazing Race) use that as the prize figure. But it’s not just a lot of money. It’s been mythologized as the transformative tipping point between the life we have and some mythological Good Life in which profound satisfaction is possible.
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Posted on July 12, 2010 in Featured, Filmmaking 360, General Production, General Screenwriting, Storyboarding | 4 Comments
For this feature we have rounded up some of the best and most useful Filmmaking Apps that our Deal Leader Steve Jobs has approved for the App Store. As more filmmakers explore the possibilities with these powerful mobile devices, we are sure this list will continue to grow.
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Posted on July 10, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Interviews | No Comments
An educational Q&A with screenwriter, director, and producer: John August, exploring his work on the films, Go, Big Fish, The Nines, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Minority Report, Corpse Bride, Charlie’s Angels, and Titan A.E. — Moderated by Deborah Dearth as part of the Palm Springs Film Festival.
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Posted on July 9, 2010 in Cinematography, Editing, Filmmaking 360, General Screenwriting, Selling Your Film | No Comments
Meet the experts behind the scenes making 3D a reality. 3D gathers momentum, but before there are images on the screen, the art and science of 3D must connect. Join a panel of the technical experts and content creators who have contributed to some of the most anticipated and successful 3D projects.
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Posted on July 6, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Selling Your Script, Story | 1 Comment
How can you write a memorable spec script that helps get you staffed? Why is it so hard to write a TV pilot script that not only gets you noticed, but could sell? I believe that strong writing will rise. In helping to launch countless careers, I’ve noticed some commonalities in the writers who make it. The strongest trait is belief in self and a burning desire to make it happen.
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Posted on June 28, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Screenplay Format | 4 Comments
It’s easy to feel intimidated by the thought of writing your first screenplay. The rules! The formatting! The binding! Don’t let the seemingly endless parade of screenwriting elements scare you away from writing your first script. Since a familiarity with the basics of the craft is half the battle, The Writers Store has created this [...]
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Posted on June 8, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Selling Your Script | 2 Comments
by Richard Walter
You’re heard it a gazillion times: it’s not what you know but who you know.
Talent, schmalent, one screenplay is pretty much like another. Don’t oodles of lousy scripts get produced? We’ve all seen movies that were worse than one or another of our own unsold screenplays. How can it be that a bad [...]
Posted on May 17, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Story | 1 Comment
Let’s start off with a test. A Comedy Perception Test, to see if we’re perceiving comedy with 20-20 vision. Below are seven sentences, seven word-pictures. They don’t mean anything other than what they are. There’s no back story. Read them carefully.
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Posted on May 3, 2010 in General Screenwriting, Producing | No Comments
How do you make a documentary when you have no script? I was faced with this problem when I shot my first unscripted documentary for a class in documentary filmmaking. We had the assignment of making an 8-12 minute unscripted documentary. I started by visiting a friend’s farm and shooting some footage. I quickly filled up 3 one-hour tapes.
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