Awesome Tips for Writing Family-Friendly Screenplays

family

In the ever-evolving entertainment landscape, family-friendly screenplays stand as beacons of shared joy and valuable life lessons. Crafting a narrative that appeals to audiences of all ages requires a thoughtful …

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The One-Page Pitch: 14 ESSENTIAL Elements and a Template

One Page Pitch

What will make your one-page pitch standout from the gazillion other pitches out there? And how do you blend a screenwriter’s creative talents into a technically sound pitch, especially when …

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What Are the Key Screenplay Transitions? An ESSENTIAL Guide

Shaun of the Dead Screenplay Transitions

A blank page. A blinking cursor. Text: right-aligned. Font: courier new. FADE IN: Every movie, and therefore every screenplay, has transitions. Every change in time is a transition; every scene …

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How Do You OVERCOME Creative Burnout as a Screenwriter?

Writer Creative Burnout

Feeling exhausted from writing? Struggling to tap into the imagination you once had? Questioning going back to the job you earned your college degree for because your parents are on …

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Suspenseful Movies: QUICK Tricks for Writing Suspense

Dunkirk Suspenseful Movies

No film technique elicits the fear of the unknown more effectively than writing suspense. As humans, we’d rather know something bad is coming, than be in the unknown. This is …

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How Do You CREATE and MAINTAIN Empathetic Characters?

There are many important aspects to writing a great screenplay; good dialogue, interesting settings, unique stories, and good characterisation. However, little is arguably more important than creating and maintaining empathetic …

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Existential Cinema: How Do You Write an Existential Film?

For the most part, cinema is a form of entertainment. But this is not to say that films cannot and should not concern themselves with some of the more serious …

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Writing a GOOD Workplace Comedy: The VITAL Elements

Superstore Workplace Comedy

Do you have an idea for a workplace comedy but are struggling to get it off the ground? Understanding the key aspects and structures of some of your favourite workplace …

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How Do You Write GOOD Parody in Film and TV?

write parody

Parodies can contain a multitude of differences across a multitude of genres. So how do you even approach writing a tricky and difficult-to-define subgenre? In short, you must try to …

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The KEYS to Achieving Screenwriting Representation

Screenwriting Representation

Screenwriting representation can be a white whale for all screenwriters, the thing that they feel will take them to the next level. And indeed, it can be the first step …

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120 of the BEST Scene Prompts to Kickstart Your Writing

Writing Scene Prompts

What are Scene Prompts? Scene prompts are there to help writers get their creative juices flowing. Say a screenwriter finds themselves stuck during a script, unsure of how to add …

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What is Indirect Characterization in Screenwriting? 12 KEY Steps

The Social Network Indirect Characterization

Indirect characterization is an essential part of constructing a convincing and compelling fictional character. Whether your character is a hero, a villain or a sidekick, they are always more interesting and …

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Your First Screenplay: The MOST IMPORTANT Tips to Get Started

Writing Your First Screenplay

Writing your first screenplay is an exciting but daunting challenge. You have so many great ideas in your head but don’t know how to correctly write them down to create …

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How Do You Write a Convincing and Powerful Death Scene?

Iron Man Death Scene

How to write a good death scene? This is a question writers may well have been pondering since stories were told on the walls of caves. From Shakespeare to Spielberg, …

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How Do You REALLY Analyze Films? The Keys to Film Analysis

Analyze Films

Everyone who has an interest in movies has probably tried to analyze a film at least once. Maybe you analyzed films for your own pleasure or maybe you needed to …

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The KEY Building Blocks to Writing a GOOD Romantic Comedy

Crazy, Stupid Love, Writing Romantic Comedy

The romantic comedy goes all the way back to Shakespeare, with plays such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream being full of love triangles and comic …

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What is the But and Therefore Rule in Screenwriting?

Matt Stone and Trey Parker But and Therefore Rule

In every screenwriting class, you are going to learn about many rules. However, the most important one is always the same: give the story energy to keep the viewers engaged. …

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How Do You Use the Bookend Technique in Screenwriting?

Memories of a Murder Bookend Technique

Often there are terms in screenwriting that do what they say on the tin. The bookend technique fulfils this mantra. It’s a plot device used to sandwich a story like …

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Narrative Pacing: The KEYS To Mastering Your Screenplay’s Pace

silence of the lambs narrative pacing

When it comes to narrative pacing, we all know the feeling of being on the edge of our seats, biting our nails with anticipation for what’s to come. It’s likely …

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What is an Unreliable Narrator and How Do You Write One?

American Psycho Unreliable Narrator

It’s comforting to settle into a story where we can trust the narrator to guide us easily and expertly. The narrator is, after all, the audience’s compass through the story, …

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What is a Mary Sue Character And How Do You Avoid Writing One?

Rey Mary Sue Character

In recent years, there has been a lot of dialogue around who the term Mary Sue can be ascribed to and what constitutes it. But what, fundamentally, is a Mary …

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The Viking Movie: 10 Elements to Writing This Powerful Sub Genre

The Northman Viking Movie

In many ways, the Viking movie is a sub-genre as old as the cinematic form itself. And Vikings have certainly been an integral part of folklore and storytelling for centuries. …

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The Comedy Horror Movie: The KEYS to Both Laughs and Scares

Write a Comedy Horror Movie

Washington Irving’s short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has been cited as “the first great comedy horror story”, as readers were made to “laugh one moment and scream the …

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The 10 KEY Building Blocks to Writing Revenge Stories

Kill Bill Revenge Stories

Revenge stories are a popular sub-genre almost guaranteed to satisfy an audience. They’re typically a visceral and cathartic response to injustice and consequently something that elicits easy emotion. We love …

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10 VITAL Ways Green, Amateur Writers Can Avoid Amateur Mistakes

Amateur Writers Bin

Screenwriting can be a maze, especially when you’re first starting out. When learning the ropes, it can be easy to fall into traps which will make you look like an …

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The Rewriting Process: 10 Key Steps to Perfecting Your Screenplay

We’re all perfectionists when it comes to our writing – whether we want to admit it or not. Developing a writing process that works for you is one thing, but …

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The BEST Series Finales and What They Teach About Writing TV

Sopranos Series Finale

How do you finish writing a TV series? We all know the feeling of being disappointed by a series finale, mourning not only the loss of a treasured show but …

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Writing Act Three: The Conclusion – An ESSENTIAL Breakdown

Fury Ending - Writing Act Three.

The third act. The end. The stroll off into the sunset or dramatic cliffhanger. Writing your third act is the finishing stretch and, therefore, vitally important in leaving the audience …

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The 22 PIXAR STORYTELLING RULES: Lessons for Screenwriters

Up Storytelling

Pixar films are some of the most well-crafted stories in cinema history. And so it’s no wonder that there appear to be Pixar storytelling rules that writers and directors of …

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Writing Act Two: The Conflict – An ESSENTIAL and SIMPLE Breakdown

Dune

So you’ve finished act one. You’ve got your beginning and you probably have some ideas about your ending, but how do you create your middle? What happens between the end …

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What is Magical Realism? The KEY Steps to Using it in Screenwriting

Birdman Magical Realism

What is Magical Realism? The phrase magical realism is really an oxymoron. But though contradictory, it describes what the genre truly is; a merging of fantasy and realism. Magical realism …

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How to Write an Anthology Series & The BEST Anthology Series Examples

Black Mirror Anthology Series

The wide variety of anthology series that have emerged in contemporary TV can be attributed in part to the success of series such as Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone. …

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6 KEY Ways to Adapt a Short Story & the Best Short Story Adaptations

Arrival Short Story Adaptation

Short stories can seem like unlikely source material for some of the best and most compelling feature films. They may be limited in their length but often it’s the confines …

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How Do You Find a Writing Partner? 10 KEY Tips for Writing Partnerships

Writing Partner

In ordinary discourse, the term partnership tends to be a simple synonym for cooperation. However, finding a writing partner refers more precisely to the mastery of creativity, talent, and experience …

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How Do You Write BRILLIANT and ALTERNATIVE Teen Drama?

Stranger Things - Teen Drama

Teen drama is one of the most enduring genres to have graced TV screens since its inception. We’ve all been teenagers at some point. And the heartbreak, emotions, journeys, discoveries, …

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How Do You Best Convey the Passage of Time in Your Screenplay?

Passage of Time Metropolis

It’s rare that you would find a script without any significant passage of time whatsoever. It’s often a vital part of how a script develops and keeps its audience engaged. …

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How Do You Write Highly Realistic Dialogue? The 10 KEY Steps…

The Master Realistic Dialogue

One of the biggest humps to get over when writing for film or television is dialogue. Even if you have a perfect story, outline, and characters, bad dialogue can bring …

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How to Effectively Weave Character Backstory into Your Screenplay

The Godfather Character Backstory

So, you made it through one of the hardest parts of writing a screenplay; you created your characters. From childhood trauma to adulthood adventures, you’ve fleshed out your entire character …

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The ESSENTIAL Ways to Craft a Brilliant TV Show Idea

Black Mirror TV Show Idea

Crafting a TV Show Idea How does one craft a brilliant TV show idea? First, it’s important to understand what exactly that means. Longevity of story is foremost what separates …

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How To Write an Active Protagonist (and Avoid a Passive Protagonist)

Licorice Pizza Active Protagonists

What is an Active Protagonist? An active protagonist is a main character who is not merely affected by the world around them, but affects that world too. Their actions, both …

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Writing Christmas Films & Navigating the Holidays: The ULTIMATE Guide

It's a Wonderful Life Christmas Films

When writing Christmas films there’s multiple sub-genres and elements to consider to make it the perfect holiday watch. It’s no secret that there are a range of elements to cover …

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The 10 ESSENTIAL Elements of a Historical Fiction Script

What is Historical Fiction? At face value, the definition of historical fiction is simple: a fictional story set against a real time period in the past. It is when we …

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