Since I was contacted within the past couple of weeks about two new Internet screenwriting communities launching, I thought I would weigh in. So, what is the deal with online screenwriting communities? The online screenwriting community is sort of like a FaceBook for aspiring screenwriters. It’s an online virtual community where screenwriters can post their […]
Tag Archives | screenwriting notes
Free Screenplay Story Notes Giveaway to Oscar Picks Winner
I’m offering a free basic story notes package on a screenplay to any reader who can correctly predict the Oscar winners in the following categories: 1. Best Picture 2. Actor in a Leading Role 3. Actor in a Supporting Role 4. Actress in a Leading Role 5. Actress in a Supporting Role 6. Cinematography 7. […]
Screenplay Openings: Most Beginnings Are Overwritten
By Monica on July 28, 2009 in Beat Sheet, Character, Formatting, Genre, Location, Logical World, Process, Screenwriting Competitions, Story, Subject Matter, Theme, Tone, Uncategorized
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 […]
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 […]
Subject Matter: Don’t Write About Writers or Hollywood, Please
By Monica on July 21, 2009 in Character, Genre, Logical World, Process, Story, Subject Matter, Theme, Uncategorized
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 […]
What Happened to the Inciting Incident?
You’d be surprised – I have been – but a very high number of scripts I’m reading don’t have inciting incidents. I am getting to page 15, page 20, page 30, and there’s really no defined story. I would say that this is in about 25% of the scripts I’m reading. Obviously, these scripts are […]
Look at It From the Reader’s Perspective…
By Monica on July 15, 2009 in Character, Genre, Location, Logical World, Process, Screenwriting Competitions, Story, Theme, Tone, Uncategorized
I just got through another big push of scripts. There were a handful of recommends, but overall many of them were dismal. When writing, just get the words down on the page. Get through that first draft. But, then rewrite. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. As you get closer to the time you’re going to send your […]
The Scoop on Line Edits
A lot of writers really get all bent out of shape and neurotic about the level of control with the words on the page. In most cases, I look at this as a writer who’s inner critic has run amok. This is one of the many ways to self sabotage. There was one girl in […]
Screenwriting Basics: The Importance of Theme
By Monica on July 6, 2009 in Character, Process, Screenwriting Competitions, Story, Theme, Uncategorized
A reader asked me to write something about theme, as it is possibly the most nebulous component of good writing and yet arguably the most important. Theme, to me, is the soul of the piece. It’s a part of the unspoken meaning to each of the scenes that is continually omnipresent. Most scripts I read […]
Screenwriting Punctuation for Dummies
I’m a stickler for proper English grammar. I get really annoyed when people justify their horrible grammar with excuses, as though it’s snobby to use subject-verb agreement. It’s not. It’s our language. If you want use English to a professional end, you should have a level of mastery. I’ll admit it: my skin crawls when […]
Breaking Story: The Six Major Beats
Generally, when people begin the outline process or look more specifically at the structure of any given script, they look closely at the six beats. In film school, it was explained to us that these are the major “tent pole” story points – the major points of story upon which you hang the rest of […]
Screenplay Plotting: Where’s the B Story?
Many of the scripts I’m reading at the competition level are very unsophisticated in the plotting of their B stories. Many don’t have B stories at all. Your A story may be well plotted and the characters may be clearly and succinctly drawn, however, if there aren’t interesting B stories dense with subtext that inform […]
Writing is Rewriting: You Have To Do the Work
For me as a reader, I can tell you that most scripts I read are a sparkling, resounding, operatic voice calling out from the heavens, “PASS!” There’s just nothing in them. Sometimes I wonder why that writer actually wanted to invest the time. What they thought was so interesting in their little project as to […]
“You Suck,” and Other Things You’d Love To Scream at Someone Giving You Notes on Your Script
I’m writing again about giving and receiving notes because it’s important. In this last week, I’ve had two hard notes sessions (giving notes). Okay, we’re adults. We can admit it. Getting notes is hard. It’s usually shocking. We pour our heart and soul into something, we hear the notes, feel that the person “doesn’t get […]
What, Technically, is a “Beat” in a Screenplay?
By Monica on June 29, 2009 in Beat Sheet, Character, Formatting, Genre, Location, Logical World, Process, Story, Uncategorized
A writer friend of mine emailed asking me to better describe what is a screenwriting “beat.” Here’s the skinny. This is actually a point of confusion for many people, and I recall it was very confusing to me when I started at film school because there are actually three kinds of beats, but people just […]