Character Reveal: Minnie Goetze The Diary of a Teenage Girl
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. …
Industrial Scripts
The Insider Interviews: Tim Bevan
The Insider Interviews The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben …
The Insider Interviews: Camille Gatin
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: CAMILLE GATIN The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S …
50 Quotes About Defiance Every Screenwriter Should Live By
Defiance is a Rule to Live By Screenwriting often runs the risk of turning into plate-spinning – following narrative rules; trying to appeal to an audience; trying to appeal to …
Top 5 Story Questions That Pique Our Interest
Stirring Interest If a story doesn’t pose a dramatic question, you’re probably reading a shopping list. Story questions are the narrative equivalent of a sales pitch, the means by which …
OPINION: Screenwriters Should Consider the Cinema Experience
It’s a cliché, but the entertainment industry is an industry. Show business is a business. It behoves screenwriters to remember this and to consider why write films in the first place. What …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Holland March (THE NICE GUYS)
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Tom Reagan (MILLER’S CROSSING)
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. …
OPINION: Crafting Convincing Teenage Characters
A major problem with crafting convincing children and teenage characters is that as we grow up it’s too easy to forget what it’s like to be young. Whether a project …
The Insider Interviews: Emily Leo
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: EMILY LEO The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, …
The Insider Interviews: Rebecca O’Brien
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: REBECCA O’BRIEN The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE …
OPINION: Flashbacks and the (Rare) Stories that Need Them
One of the major exceptions to the oft-repeated “show, don’t tell” screenwriting rule is the equally common received wisdom that screenplays should avoid using flashbacks. The criticisms are familiar from scores …
Character Reveal: Ricky Baker (Hunt For The Wilderpeople)
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. …
The Genius, Multi-Conflict Opening of THE GODFATHER PART 2
There are, broadly speaking, two ways to convey conflict: implicitly and explicitly. The former involves illustrating some kind of dissonance through setting, silence, the way one character looks at another. …
The Insider Interviews: Colin Vaines
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: COLIN VAINES The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, …
The Insider Interviews: Sarah Radclyffe
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: SARAH RADCLYFFE The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the …
Nostalgia: Finding the Future of Film & TV, in the Past…
Audience Nostalgia From looking down 2016’s box office results, it’s clear that a certain trend shows no sign of stopping. Sequels, remakes and reboots abound, tapping into audience nostalgia to massive success. …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: John McClane
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. In …
10 Screenwriting Lessons We Can Learn from…BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997)
Like much of Paul Thomas Anderson’s work, the BOOGIE NIGHTS screenplay has an odd structure, divergent POV and a hefty length, yet every page of it is full of worthwhile …
Should Screenwriters Write “Omnisciently”?
To write omnisciently as a screenwriter often entails, for better or worse, including elements that may never show up onscreen: jokes in descriptions or insights into characters’ thoughts and histories …
10 Screenwriting Lessons From ANGEL HEART (1987)
ANGEL HEART Alan Parker’s ANGEL HEART is an odd blend of genres, taking noir, psychological thriller and horror to a three-way shotgun wedding. The screenwriting lessons it can teach us …
10 Thriller Screenplays You Should Read
Thriller Screenplay Power As a genre, ‘thriller’ tends to gently caress several others, namely horror, sci-fi, and drama. As such, thriller screenplays provide a goldmine of various narrative and structural …
Why Screenwriters Should Consider a Second Act Subplot
While first and third acts pose their own challenges, it’s in the weeds of the second act that many scripts (and movies for that matter) go astray. Introducing a second …
The Brit List Scripts 2016
The Brit List Scripts 2016 As reported by ScreenDaily, The Brit List (a kind of contained, sporadic knock-off of The Black List) was released today. Reportedly more than 80 producers, …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Annie Wilkes
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. …
How to Give EXPERT Script Notes: 10 ESSENTIAL Tips
No matter what part of the filmmaking process your job role fits within, there’ll likely be a time when you’ll be expected to give script notes on a project. Across …
10 Great Sites to Download Movie Scripts From
This article will delve into the numerous resources for finding movie scripts online. Movie Scripts: Why You Need to Read Them as a Screenwriter Smart and serious aspiring screenwriters not …
10 Minor Characters Who Still Have a Great ARC
One facet of screenwriting which causes writers enormous headaches is conveying a lot with a little. Studying great minor characters is one way of learning this kind of efficiency. Minor Characters To …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Jim Donovan (BRIDGE OF SPIES)
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. …
Unresolved Plot Threads: Magic or Madness?
Endings are crucial. The feeling an ending gives an audience is the feeling they leave the cinema with. It’s the feeling that will colour their perception of their whole experience …
10 Commandments of the Accountable Screenwriter (Download)
There are two kinds of rugby player”, the legendary Scottish coach Jim Telfer told his players, “there are the honest ones, and there’s the rest. The honest player gets up in …
10 Films That Make You Invested in The Protagonist’s Goal
In 9/10 cases the protagonist is the driving force of a successful film narrative. We invest in their story because we identify with their goal and become invested in it; …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Kate Mercer
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. Writer-director …
OPINION: Screenplay Anachronisms Can Bring the Past to Life
Films that are set in the past are often judged for their authenticity. The “goofs” section of IMDb is overrun with anachronisms: this porcelain wasn’t made until six years later; or …
14 Ways a TV or Movie Setting Was Used To Enhance a Screenplay
When a TV or Movie Setting IS A Character In the Narrative… Ask yourself this: what is a TV or movie setting? Really think about it. Is it just a …
25 Francis Ford Coppola Quotes For Writers & Filmmakers
Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola is one of the greatest writer-directors to come out of the so-called “New Hollywood” wave of filmmaking, having made THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER PART …
How to Write “Mythically” but Avoid Cliche – PDF Guide
Writing mythically with cliché is relatively easy: watch a couple of films, read a couple of books then regurgitate the obvious stuff: quasi-religious story world, the quest, the mentor, initiation, …
20 Great James Cameron Quotes on Storytelling
20 Great James Cameron Quotes on Storytelling With a filmography that boasts the likes of THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS, and THE ABYSS, James Cameron is undoubtedly one of the finest genre …
10 Almost-Great Screenplays
An almost-great screenplay can be more frustrating than a really bad one. The potential is strong and the execution is almost there, but something went wrong at the final hurdle. …
OPINION: Hacking Films Don’t Have to be Boring
Computers are not the most interesting subjects. Anyone who’s had to watch someone else type very slowly into a search bar can attest to this. In a visual medium like film …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Mark Watney
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. …
15 Genius Inciting Incidents by Screenwriters
15 Genius Inciting Incidents by Screenwriters You’ve created a fully developed character or series of characters and are now pondering their motivation through the narrative you’ve started to develop. Inciting …
The Insider Interviews: Michael Kuhn
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: MICHAEL KUHN The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the …
12 Quotes about the Importance of Networking in Film & TV
12 Quotes about the Importance of Networking No matter if you are a producer, writer or director, a would-be executive or talent agent, if you want to crack film and TV …
20 Great Ingmar Bergman Quotes on Storytelling
One of the most influential auteurs of all time, Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born in Sweden and worked as a director, producer and writer across and theatre and screen. He …
10 Classic Mid-Film Plot Twists by Screenwriters
10 Great Mid-Film Plot Twists by Screenwriters Too often when watching a film, especially for those of us who have seen many of them, you can read where the story …
OPINION: Support Your Supporting Characters
While it’s true that the star system is not what it once was, actors can still have tremendous power. Many actors have their own production companies, partly as a route for finding interesting …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Young Adult
In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. …
In Screenwriting terms, what is ‘tracking’?
In screenwriting terms, ‘tracking’ refers to being able to follow or ‘track’ the logic of a premise smoothly. The moment the audience starts to think that the story does not …
10 Classic Secondary Characters in THE BIG LEBOWSKI
The Coen Brothers‘ ability to create amazing, ultra-memorable secondary characters with only a few lines of writing is something that all screenwriters can learn from. Consider the giant sea of …