Story Do we really need to raise the stakes? Raising the stakes often misses the point. What we really want is for the audience to care more deeply about the story’s outcome.
Action Lines The questions you ask matter. "How do I format slow motion in my screenplay?" It sounds simple, right? But it's the wrong question.
Process Don't sleep on writing short films. Writing shorts is a near-perfect laboratory for improving your screenwriting. Nearly everything you learn about feature writing applies to shorts.
Process Key decisions that make your screenwriting easier. Here is a harsh truth: 99% of your passes are pre-destined. Here's why.
Scene Work Scene generation: "What do we want to see?" Given the characters, genre, situation, relationships, and the concepts we have established: What do we want to see?
Character What motivates the characters in your screenplay? Anxiety means well. Anxiety’s job is to protect us, after all. It’s just usually an incredibly unskilled and unproductive way to do it.
Action Lines How to attack your scene transitions. Nearly every screenplay has 100+ transitions from one scene to another. This can be a major area of stress with the reader. Don't let it be.
The Business Strategies for the industry contraction. I was back in Los Angeles for the first time in eight months. My first priority was to sit and talk with my agents. This is what we discussed.
Scene Work Choosing the point of view of a scene. The narrative point of view is through whom we experience a story, scene, or moment. We get information as they do, and often, as a result, that is who we empathize with.
The Business Five types of directors attached to your screenplay. Not all directors are created equal. While it's always great to hear kind things about our work, always know exactly how and why someone moves your project further toward production.
Action Lines Do professional screenwriters get to play by different rules? Do professional writers operate under different rules? No. They do not. Can they get away with more aggressive formatting? Yes, they can. But not because of rules.