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How to Write a Whodunnit A whodunnit is more a narrative structure, than a genre (although one could easily argue it’s a sub-genre). That’s why it can be presented in the form of a thriller, a horror, a mockumentary and even a comedy. The structure encompasses everything from the
One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap for mainstream movies:
25 Great David Lynch Quotes Screenwriters and Filmmakers Can Learn From A master of surrealism, David Lynch is very much the king of crazy within Hollywood. His enigmatic 1977 cinema debut ERASERHEAD is still to this day one of the most shocking, experimental body horrors ever made. He then
19 Awesome Denis Villeneuve Quotes About His Creative Process Denis Villeneuve began his career as a film-maker in his native Canada, as part of the National Film Board of Canada to produce a series of self-shot documentaries. He has had a career that has spanned 29 Years and has
Thriller vs Horror – What Are the Critical Differences? In terms of movie genres, Thriller and Horror are often mistakenly confused, or even lumped in together. The truth is, both genres have critical macro and micro differences. But as they share some structure and themes, it’s easy to lose
Generating Script Ideas – 5 Top Tips Whether you’re sitting down to write your first script or are an experienced writer writing your tenth screenplay – where you get your script ideas from can be tricky. There are a number of easy ways to help get your creative juices flowing
How to Write a Coming-Of-Age Movie As its name implies, a Coming-Of-Age movie focuses on the growth of the main character from youth to adulthood. In this context, it’s quite common and logical that most of these stories revolve around the high school years, especially 12th-grade senior year. Leaving
One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap: not quite a full-blown
This month’s featured industry guest at The Insider Interviews is Tom Daley of eOne Entertainment. 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 Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO
ORIGINAL CHARACTERS Series: Part 1 Welcome to Original Characters, an ongoing series of articles that will examine the most original characters to appear in both TV and film. What is an Original Character? What is an original character? It’s a character that sticks with you even when they’re
Crafting Ideas for Great Movie Titles: Your 5-Step Guide It is often argued that the first 5 pages of your script will make or break your chances in screenwriting ,at least in terms of making that initial first impression on busy script readers, development executives and producers. First impressions
How to Write Outstanding TV & Movie Loglines: The ULTIMATE Guide There’s no doubt about it: A fundamental step in the initial stages of writing a screenplay is devising the perfect Logline. Having the ability to create a concise and effective summary of your story is a big step
15 Inspiring Russo Brothers Quotes for Filmmakers The career of the Russo Brothers has been anything but conventional. From independent cinema, through award-winning TV to shattering box office records with the second half of the Avengers series, this American directing duo have constantly shown that quality and the possibility
In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This instalment focuses on Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck), the neglectful husband accused of murder in the Gillian Flynn, David
One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap: not quite a full-blown
This month’s featured industry guest at The Insider Interviews is Doug Mankoff of Echo Lake Entertainment. 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 Oscar-nominated writer
One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap: not quite
This month’s featured industry guest at The Insider Interviews is Kitty Kaletsky of Black Bear Pictures. 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 Oscar-nominated writer
One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books , Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, who were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it the book delivered a structural roadmap to writers: not quite join-the-dots,
One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books , Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, who were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it the book delivered a structural roadmap to writers: not quite join-the-dots,
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 Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can view all the series’ previous guests
One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books , Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, who were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it the book delivered a structural roadmap to writers: not
Legendary writer-director John Hughes was responsible for a string of iconic teen films from the 1980s onward. And yet without the characters feeling like real teenagers (with Cameron Frye in particular, to the fore), the films wouldn’t work. The audiences wouldn’t care. People still argue that in PRETTY IN PINK
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 Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can watch these here. The Insider Interviews now exist
BACK TO THE FUTURE Video Essay Not content with dominating blockbuster filmmaking as a director, the ’80s saw Steven Spielberg become a producing powerhouse. He brought his Amblin touch to the generation-defining likes of GREMLINS, POLTERGEIST, THE GOONIES and also BACK TO THE FUTURE. After several box office failures,
PADDINGTON 2 video essay PADDINGTON was that rare, quintessentially British film that found success around the globe. So there was little surprise when the studio confirmed PADDINGTON 2. Paul King returned to direct. David Heyman (of HARRY POTTER fame) returned to produce, through Heyday Films and StudioCanal UK. Paul King
THE SOCIAL NETWORK They’re making a film about Facebook? Commentators greeted news of the project with scepticism. But with a tight script from Aaron Sorkin (THE WEST WING) and clinical direction from David Fincher (GONE GIRL), THE SOCIAL NETWORK has proved to be one of the modern era’s best –
There are so many stories of wunderkinds and overnight successes that it can become dispiriting for filmmakers still plugging away. However, some of the world’s most renowned filmmakers didn’t start early, whether they pursued other careers first or toiled away at lower levels of the industry. For many of them,
CRAZY RICH ASIANS Video Essay CRAZY RICH ASIANS is the smash hit that proves that, contrary to recent reports, the rom-com isn’t dead. Rachel (Constance Wu) is an economics professor in New York. When her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) asks her to join him in Singapore for his friend’s wedding,
Follow my blog with Bloglovin Screenplay Font – Does It Matter? This article will explain what the industry-standard screenplay font is. As well as explaining what it is, we’ll look at the reasons why this is font holds the title of the industry-standard font for screenwriters and filmmakers alike. Additionally, we’ll explore
15 Great Alfred Hitchcock Quotes The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock was a genius who needs no introduction. He cut his teeth in the UK with early thriller masterpieces like THE 39 STEPS, but the move to Hollywood brought bigger budgets and more prestige. REAR WINDOW, VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST
15 Great Paul Feig Quotes Paul Feig has had a unusual career. He created the cult comedy FREAKS & GEEKS, where many of the Judd Apatow stable (James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel) first appeared. For a while, he continued as a TV producer and director (THE OFFICE, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT,
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 Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can watch these here. The Insider Interviews now exist
15 Great Spike Lee Quotes Spike Lee, with 32 years of film experience, is a figure that any aspiring writer and filmmaker can learn from. His breakthrough debut film SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, a lighthearted comedy, exceeded all box office expectations giving Lee future creative freedom. He chose to dive
Before editing was created and perfected as its own art form, every film was in real time. (Although this isn’t entirely true: before sound, films were shown at whatever speed the projectionist decided.) However now, even though editing opens up so many possibilites, the real time screenplay is still popular.
On the Special Edition DVD/Blu-Ray for THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Jodie Foster is interviewed as part of a retrospective. In the interview, Foster explains that a structurally insignificant scene (the one where “Multiple” Miggs can’t contain his excitement, after Clarice’s first meeting with Hannibal Lecter) is in fact very
Christopher McQuarrie After an inauspicious few years working at a detective agency, Christopher McQuarrie broke out as a screenwriter with two collaborations with director Bryan Singer. PUBLIC ACCESS won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, but it was soon eclipsed by THE USUAL SUSPECTS, for which McQuarrie
In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This instalment focuses on Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neil), the palaeontologist hero of Steven Spielberg‘s dinosaur horror-adventure blockbuster JURASSIC PARK.
Taylor Sheridan Taylor Sheridan got his start as an actor, his most notable role arriving in the form of Deputy Chief of Police David Hale in SONS OF ANARCHY. He transitioned this experience into screenwriting. Over a few years, he wrote SICARIO, HELL OR HIGH WATER, and SICARIO: DAY OF
What is a Point of No Return? The “point of no return” is essentially when the plot leaves the character with no choice but to go forwards. Perhaps the easiest way to imagine a point of no return is as an island from which a character can’t escape. The setting
In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This instalment focuses on Danny Ocean (George Clooney), the mastermind of a complex casino heist in Steven Soderbergh‘s OCEAN’S ELEVEN.
Understanding Screenplay Atmosphere Screenplay atmosphere is difficult. At the bottom of the poster for THEY CAME TOGETHER, a spoof of rom-coms, there’s a disclaimer: Please note: New York City plays such a central role in this story, it is almost like another character in the movie. Although intended as a compliment,
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: OLIVER PARKER 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 Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can watch
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: BEN ROBERTS 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 Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can watch
In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This instalment focuses on Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), the police chief of Amity island in Steven Spielberg‘s JAWS. Martin
The second act is all about escalating stakes. Absolute urgency. There’s a gap in the classic three act structure as extolled by many screenwriting books and teachers. The problem is the second act, which is usually the bulk of the story. Depending on your terminology of choice, you’ll likely find
Talent Connector, the free online script promotion bonus offered to qualifying Industrial Scripts clients, has been expanded this month with the launch of Talent Connector LIVE. TCL is open to OVERDRIVE members only, and will run alongside and in addition to IS’ popular Insider Interviews series. The regular private pitch-networking
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: DUNCAN HEATH 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 Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can watch
2018 was a great and diverse year for cinema. Everything from BLACK PANTHER by Ryan Coogler to Disney’s long anticipated INCREDIBLES 2. In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount
Finding the perfect ending is difficult, even for professional writers and big-budget films. The resolution after the climax provides closure for the audience and characters. Sometimes termed the “denouement,” this scene is just as important as the climax itself. It’s the part of the story that resolves any remaining subplots. The script
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