The results are in! Congratulations to our 2009 CineStory Awards prize winners: UPGRADE by Louis Rosenberg – Grand Prize Winner SHROUDED IN DARKNESS by James Walker – First Place Winner BEADED ROAD by Wenonah Wilms – Second Place Winner In addition to prizes from our kind sponsors, Inktip and Script P.I.M.P., each writer is invited […]
Author Archive | Monica
Go See “Julie & Julia” in Theatres
Congratulations to Amy Robinson, Dana Stevens, Nora Ephron and Julie Powell on the brilliant success of “Julie & Julia.” I loved this movie. Meryl Streep’s performance is incredible, and this story is so touching and relevant to today. Julia Child was one of the original career women, and I think all us working girls who’ve […]
P.S. and Stay Tuned
Thank you to my readers who emailed, asking if I was alright. I’m fine. I’ve just returned from Los Angeles and will be back to blogging regularly. Stay tuned for new features coming to the blog. I’ve enlisted a couple of writer friends to help me create some tools that I feel are essential to […]
You Don’t Need To Be on the Page
I was having a conversation this morning with another writer friend, and we had a little bit of a laugh (but not in a malicious way) about another writer who fancies himself a director and this is evident in his writing because he, meaning his personality, is everywhere on the page. When you read his […]
Be Smart About When You Write What
This is intended as a follow up post to Write What You Love. I went to AFI for film school where, I imagine distinct from USC and UCLA, we didn’t really learn much, if anything, about the entertainment business. I learned a ton about writing and the writing process – but as far as the […]
Write the Movies You Really Want To See
This is intended as a follow up post to Write What You Love. Okay. This might sound ridiculous, but bear with me. Say a magic genie appeared tonight before you fell asleep, Shazam!, and gave you a magic ticket to the best movie ever the following day, what movie would you want to see? If […]
Write What You Love
My friend had a rough writing day the other day. She had a moment of disappointment that she wasn’t writing projects that are more high-concept and commercial. I reminded her that we can only write what we love. That’s the best we can do. Sometimes we just have to write what we love just because […]
If It Doesn’t Buy You Something, Take It Out
The more I write and the more I read, I find I return to this mantra again and again: If it doesn’t buy you something, take it out. Screenplay beats to me are a commodity. You have to buy the beats in the beginning of your story to cash them in later on in the […]
Screenplay Openings: Most Beginnings Are Overwritten
This article follows up on Screenplay: The Importance of the First Five Pages. In the last batch of scripts I read for one of the screenwriting competitions, I would say about 30% of the screenplays had beginnings that were overwritten. It’s not uncommon. In several cases, the real story didn’t start to pick up until […]
Fighting for Your Craft
I’ve been back in LA this week. And from the minute I got here, all I’ve wanted to do was go back to Santa Fe. There’s a specific energy here in LA for me that’s a little bit like living beneath a veil. Everything is a little bit obscured. I chalk this phenomenon up to […]
Subject Matter: Sci-Fi Writers Beware
Science fiction is complicated to write. You have to create a believable world that is rich and full of detail with no breaks in logic in a limited pagecount, hit the genre conventions and then write a smart story on top of that. Also, it can’t be something we’ve seen before – it has to […]
Q&A: Simple Present vs. Present Progressive (“-ing”) Verb Tense
Michael asks: Is it ever okay to use the “ing” present tense to describe action? “The Complete Screenwriters Manual” says no, but I don’t buy it. Monica says: Thanks, Michael. Great question. Here’s the deal with what I refer to as active verbs vs. passive verbs and screenwriting. The standard for screenwriting is to use […]
Clarity Above All
There is no shame in being absolutely clear with your beats. In fact, I am that reader who is likely to not get something if it isn’t on the page. You should assume that if it’s not clear on the page, your reader is not going to get it. If you hint at something but […]
2009 Screenwriting Expo: Early Registration Ends July 31
Click here to register early for the Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles. October 16-18, 2009 WILSHIRE GRAND HOTEL By signing up now, you can save $30 off a Gold Pass and $10 off a Basic Pass. I’ve attended this Expo before and found several of the sessions to be very informative. If you haven’t been […]
Subject Matter: Don’t Write About Writers or Hollywood, Please
Today I’ve read a couple of stories about Hollywood aspirings – aspiring writers, directors, actors, etc. In this reading season I’ve probably read a number of these kinds of scripts. Please, people, no. Don’t do it. Ninety nine times out of one hundred, your life as an aspiring writer isn’t interesting enough to warrant a […]