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It's the trend line in our screenwriting that matters.
The Mental Battle

It's the trend line in our screenwriting that matters.

No one’s work just gets better and better and better. No one’s.
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Tom Vaughan
The habit of making choices.
Scene Work

The habit of making choices.

Get into the habit of making choices, and you will get increasingly better with the choices you make.
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Tom Vaughan
What screenwriters can learn from Kelvin Sampson.
Process

What screenwriters can learn from Kelvin Sampson.

Coach Sampson doesn't bring anything entirely new to this. What he does bring is clarity and commitment. And those two things are what matter.
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Tom Vaughan
The Drive to the Finish
Structure

The Drive to the Finish

The decision that dictates Sequence 6: The Drive to the Finish is the midpoint.
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Tom Vaughan
Write your Spec. But first, write your treatment.
Process

Write your Spec. But first, write your treatment.

I used to hate treatments. Now it's an immensely valuable part of my process.
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Tom Vaughan
What fear are you exploiting?
Process

What fear are you exploiting?

Fear works best when it is primal and taps into something much more profound than jump scares
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Tom Vaughan
The relationships go the way of the story.
Character

The relationships go the way of the story.

Stories do not illustrate a protagonist's journey solely through their actions but also through the effects those actions have on others in their lives.
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Tom Vaughan
Know the mini-story of the scene.
Scene Work

Know the mini-story of the scene.

At its core, screenwriting is scene work. And like everything else, scenes have a story.
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Tom Vaughan
A nepo baby's main advantage is something you can emulate.
The Mental Battle

A nepo baby's main advantage is something you can emulate.

The biggest advantage of nepotism isn't the connections; it's the immersion in the craft and the embedded belief that a career is possible.
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Tom Vaughan
For screenwriting, it's show, then tell.
Action Lines

For screenwriting, it's show, then tell.

Perhaps the most repeated bit of screenwriting advice is "show, don't tell." But maybe that's not the whole story.
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Tom Vaughan
Five ways to simplify your screenwriting.
Process

Five ways to simplify your screenwriting.

Have you SEEN how much information is available on screenwriting? How can we possibly keep our minds clean to write?
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Tom Vaughan
When your story idea starts with a world.
Process

When your story idea starts with a world.

Stories can come from anywhere. A great source is simply recognizing an interesting world that is ripe for narrative attention.
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Tom Vaughan
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