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Political Thrillers & Sci-Fi: Track the World

It is a common mistake for political thrillers and sci-fi screenplays to dump too many characters in the openings. This gets very confusing quickly.

As a reader, I always feel the strongest choice is to introduce the protagonist alone, so that he/she stands out and is clearly identified in the mind of the reader.

Once [...]

How To Title Your Script

Coming up with an amazing title is important. Why?

As a script reader, if I smile when I read your title, that’s a huge bonus – because it means I will be excited to read your script. Conversely, if the title evokes nothing, that’s bad. I don’t know what that script is about and I’ll [...]

The Script Reader’s Top 10 Screenplay “Dos”

The following is a very basic list of items that get my attention as a script reader. If your script addresses each of these points, you’re probably doing a good job. I will be excited to read your script.

So, here we go, a list of my top 10 screenplay “dos” when reading:

DO keep your page [...]

The Script Reader’s Top 5 Screenplay “Do Nots”

The following is a very basic list of items that do not impress me as a script reader and, more often than not, will get your script a resounding pass. If your script contains any of these points, consider rewriting before sending out.

So, here we go, a list of my top 5 screenplay peeves when [...]

Example of How To Introduce Your Protagonist (Hurt Locker)

Let’s look at another great example of how to open a script – both in terms of character and also in terms of location, setting the world. I loved the opening of this script and actually loved the film as well because it paints an immediate, thrilling, chilling, palpable world for us.

In this script, [...]

Example of How To Introduce Your Protagonist (Erin Brockovich)

One of my favorite scripts is “Erin Brockovich,” because I love the writing. It is abundantly clear, sparsely written, and dense with meaning. This script captures worlds of information with just a few simple, extremely well chosen words. To my mind, that is excellence in screenwriting.

Please read this excerpt of the opening of [...]

Introduce Your Character to the Reader

Now that we’re heading back into competition season for 2010, I am going to revisit the most important aspects of the screenplay, and in some cases I will try to link to examples of how they’re done correctly.

I just read a pile of scripts and only one of the writers bothered to introduce me to [...]

Why Shutter Island Didn’t Work: Audience Expectation

Okay, okay, so it was based on a book. Let’s forget that and look at why this project didn’t work as a film.

There’s an adage about screenwriting that you shouldn’t write movies about a dream within a dream within a dream and then *ta da!* oops, you only imagined what you saw this whole [...]

Ten Rules for Writing Fiction

Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, The Guardian asked authors for their personal dos and don’ts.

Part One of the article from The Guardian.

Click here for Part Two of the article.

How Many Scenes in a Screenplay?

The basic number of scenes within a script will vary with genre. Keep in mind that each page of script represents approximately one minute of screen time, with the average scene not to exceed three pages. Keep in mind that most scripts submitted, also genre dependent, come in between 100-110 pages.

The more talky the [...]

Pixar: Writing Complete Stories

An interesting article on how Pixar focuses on writing complete stories from Story Fanatic.

Positioning Yourself as a Writer:<br>Choosing Genre

It’s probably worth your time to think about how you want to get sold as a writer. If you have material worth selling, at some point someone is going to discover this, and they’ll try to package you and sell you as a certain kind of writer.

What kind of writer do you want to [...]

Be Careful When Mixing Genre: Jennifer’s Body

I’m sitting here watching Jennifer’s Body, which is a movie I should love. I think the concept is amazing – a girl who gets taken advantage of by men only to turn the tables and start fucking over men. It should be edgy, fucking hilarious, scary as shit and I was expecting this movie to [...]

Who Are You Writing For?

I was Skyping with a writer friend the other night who had sent me a list of about 10 loglines and was wanting to brainstorm which project to write next. He later sent me an email indicating he’d chosen to write a horror movie starring a young boy character and, in essence, a CGI character. [...]

To All The Haters

Recently I got a comment on the blog that I decided not to post because it was clearly from a Hater. “Hater” is the term I use to describe angry, reactive people who are foul and negative only to assert their hostile position – however, in most cases, their position isn’t fueled by logic but [...]

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