Tom Vaughan

What Emotion Are You Going For?

What Emotion Are You Going For?

One of the primary principles of my rewriting is the question, "What is the emotion I want to evoke here?" It's a simple question. I wrote a line. Either dialogue or an action line. There should be no useless words, so I ask myself, what is this line's purpose?

The Humble CUT TO:

The Humble CUT TO:

The goal of the screenplay is to evoke the emotional experience of seeing the movie. Anything that gets in the way of that, I avoid. I want the reader to envision the film and react emotionally rather than engage with the script as some technical document.

When to describe the character in detail

When to describe the character in detail

This week I want to talk about when to describe a character you just introduced. How we describe them is an excellent topic, too, but well covered by others. I’ll save my take on it for another time. Today is about WHEN.

How To Evoke A Shot List In Your Screenwriting

How To Evoke A Shot List In Your Screenwriting

Many people repeat, "Don't direct your screenplay," when they should just be saying, "Don't use camera angles." But you should be directing on the page.

You Must Direct On The Page

You Must Direct On The Page

Let's give a few folks the benefit of the doubt, and maybe they don't understand what they're saying. What they actually mean is, “Don’t use camera angles” and they’re just kind of repeating what they’re told as, "don't direct the script."

The Ordinary World Does Not Mean Boring

The Ordinary World Does Not Mean Boring

Do not let “ordinary” fool you. We do not want to see someone’s alarm go off and a character wake up to an “ordinary day.”

Character-focused stories are easier with plot-focused dramatic questions.

Character-focused stories are easier with plot-focused dramatic questions.

I want to dive a little deeper into the dramatic question and the importance of how we frame it.

It's Never Too Late To Do The Most Important Thing

It's Never Too Late To Do The Most Important Thing

One of the benefits of being a practitioner and not an academic is that the definitions I’ve sculpted over twenty years of teaching seek less to classify things and more to help us execute them properly.

Don’t start with theme. Let it come to you.

Don’t start with theme. Let it come to you.

Writers love to talk about theme. Academics, too. It comes up often. A story’s themes can unify and deepen the emotional reaction and those layers can make the work feel “elevated.” For writers and other artists, this is awfully seductive. It really does inflate our self-importance.

Small Things That Make A Difference

Small Things That Make A Difference

Small things matter, because the small things add up. I am a strong believer in writing's cumulative effect over any kind of duration.

90s Action and Why Speed’s Weird Third Act Works

90s Action and Why Speed’s Weird Third Act Works

I’ve been watching 90s action movies with my mom for the last few weeks. I’ll drive up to visit, and suddenly a movie I’ve seen at least ten times but unwatched in 15 years is playing, and we have the surround sound turned UP.

An option for midpoint problems

An option for midpoint problems

A big bottle-neck for many as they first try to structure their story is the midpoint. This is often the third big structural decision I make on a project. I credit realizing the importance of the midpoint as one of my first big breakthroughs toward being a professional.