Articles based on Lists.
15 Great Mike Judge Quotes After gaining a Physics degree from the University of California, Mike Judge put his science career on hold. The Ecuadorean-born American would go on to create some of the most influential American animated comedies of the 90s, including BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD and KING OF THE HILL. He’s also behind cult …
15 Great Mike Judge Quotes for Writers & Filmmakers Read More »
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, the process of honing their …
Late Risers: 40 Filmmakers Over 40 When They Hit It Big Read More »
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 and PSYCHO are regularly cited …
This guide has been divided into the best free screenwriting software and the best paid screenwriting software, for the benefit of writers strapped for cash. It’s important to find screenwriting software that suits your approach to screenwriting. This will make the writing process that much smoother, as the software takes over all that pesky formatting and …
The Ultimate Guide to Paid & Free Screenwriting Software Read More »
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, even directing an episode of …
15 Paul Feig Quotes Writers and Filmmakers Can Learn From Read More »
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 deeper into the racial tensions …
15 Spike Lee Quotes Writers and Filmmakers Can Learn From Read More »
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 won an Academy Award. McQuarrie …
Chris McQuarrie Quotes For Writers, Directors & Producers Read More »
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 THE SOLDADO, also writing and …
Taylor Sheridan Quotes For Writers, Directors & Producers Read More »
Vince Gilligan Vince Gilligan got his start as a writer for THE X-FILES, but these days he’s best known as the creator, showrunner, writer and director of BREAKING BAD and its spin-off, BETTER CALL SAUL. Following the rise and fall of meek science teacher turned meth kingpin Walter White (Bryan Cranston), BREAKING BAD ran for …
Vince Gilligan Quotes For Writers, Directors & Producers Read More »
Ryan Murphy Quotes Ryan Murphy is one of the few super-producers working in TV, along with the likes of Shonda Rimes and Greg Berlanti. His run of hit shows includes NIP/TUCK, GLEE, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, AMERICAN CRIME STORY, and FEUD. On the feature film side, he’s written and directed RUNNING WITH SCISSORS and directed EAT, PRAY, …
Ryan Murphy Quotes For Producers, Writers & Directors Read More »
Jason Blum founded Blumhouse Productions in 2000, but it wasn’t until 2009 that it started getting its reputation for making some of the most profitable films of all time. The model: find a strong, high-concept but micro-budget horror concept or script, pair with a director with vision, and market the resulting film cleverly. In 2014, …
Jason Blum Quotes For Producers, Writers & Directors Read More »
Already one of the key, iconic actresses of the American indie scene, appearing in the likes of FRANCES HA, MISTRESS AMERICA and 20TH CENTURY WOMEN, Greta Gerwig made her solo directing debut with LADY BIRD, a warm and moving story of a mother-daughter relationship in 2002 Sacramento. It was nominated for several Oscars, including two …
15 Greta Gerwig Quotes for Writers and Filmmakers Read More »
Jordan Peele, one half of the sketch comedy duo KEY & PEELE, burst onto the cinema scene with the highly acclaimed and successful “social thriller” GET OUT, which he wrote and directed. At the 90th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor (for Daniel Kaluuya), a …
10 Jordan Peele Quotes Writers and Directors Can Learn From Read More »
Script Coverage is Needed The times they are a’ changing, as Bob Dylan once said. Who’d have thought a few years ago that full blown movie stars would be appearing on TV? And within the most important part (screenwriting) of the whole process, script coverage now occupies a completely different position of importance to a …
14 Quotes Proving Writers Need Script Coverage Now Read More »
Screenwriter and director Dee Rees’ debut feature film PARIAH was met with positive critical acclaim and since then, her Emmy Award-winning HBO series BESSIE and her feature film MUDBOUND have impressed both audiences and critics alike. Here are 15 of the best Dee Rees quotes to inspire all screenwriters and filmmakers…. 15 Dee Rees Quotes for …
15 Inspiring Dee Rees Quotes for Writers & Filmmakers Read More »
Cinematic Scenes of People, Arguing and/or Laughing It sounds like a dull writing exercise. Put your characters in a room and see what happens, arguing or laughing. But here are 10 great, cinematic scenes that prove being stuck in one room doesn’t have to mean being stuck in a boring scene. 1. GOODFELLAS Who’s …
10 Cinematic Scenes of People, Arguing and/or Laughing Read More »
31 Writing Lessons From Iconic Author Kurt Vonnegut With his deceptively simple prose style, novelist, playwright and essayist Kurt Vonnegut, jr. (1922 – 2007) bridged sci-fi and literary fiction. Novels like Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions didn’t exactly open readers to new worlds as new ways of thinking. Perhaps this is why Vonnegut has rarely been adapted …
31 Writing Lessons From Iconic Author Kurt Vonnegut Read More »
15 Edgar Wright Quotes for Screenwriters & Filmmakers Edgar Wright quotes aren’t hard to find: the celebrated writer-director is as open about his process, inspiration and influences as any Hollywood director in the business. A master Genre-Blender (see our article: “What species of screenwriter are you?”), Wright has made his way through delivering innovative, fresh …
15 Edgar Wright Quotes for Screenwriters and Filmmakers Read More »
Alongside an eclectic filmography that includes vampires in NEAR DARK, surfing in POINT BREAK, and war in THE HURT LOCKER (though as yet fails to combine them), Kathryn Bigelow is the first (and, as of yet, only) woman to win either an Oscar or a BAFTA for Best Director. Her last two features, THE HURT …
20 Kathryn Bigelow Quotes For Writers & Filmmakers Read More »
15 John Carpenter Quotes Writers & Filmmakers Can Learn From John Carpenter entered film wanting to make cowboy films. He claims that horror as a genre found him, not the other way round. Ironically, though, his enormous career hasn’t featured a single feature length cowboy film, with Carpenter establishing himself as a “brand” writer-director largely in horror and sci-fi. Here …
John Carpenter Quotes and Lessons for Screenwriters Read More »
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 a producer; trying to be original; trying to meet genre expectations (but not too much); pandering to multiple outside opinions from industry members, friends, family; …
50 Quotes About Defiance Every Screenwriter Should Live By Read More »
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 techniques. These may well be films you’ve seen; it’s just that some of them might not have left you desperate to read on the page. …
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; but some goals are more easily conveyed than others. Convincing an audience to root for a character fighting an evil alien race is easy. We …
10 Films That Make You Invested in The Protagonist’s Goal Read More »
Ask yourself this: what is a setting? Really think about it. Is it just a backdrop on which to stage the events of your story? A static playground, conveying only time and place? Or can it be something more? Sometimes the best settings reveal something about a character, or force a character to do something …
14 Brilliant Uses of Setting AS Character in Film and TV Read More »
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 II, THE CONVERSATION, and APOCALYPSE NOW all before reaching the age of 40. Nowadays, largely satisfied with his Hollywood filmography, Coppola spends his time making …
25 Francis Ford Coppola Quotes For Writers & Filmmakers Read More »
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 filmmakers and storytellers the film industry has ever seen. “There are many talented people who haven’t fulfilled their dreams because they over thought it, or …
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. Of course, it’s easy to pick out flaws in retrospect or to credit (or blame) the writer for something that wasn’t their idea. So many things …
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 incidents come in all shapes and sizes, so you should try to think of something clever, inspirational or at least interesting so your narrative fires into …
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 directed over sixty films and documentaries, most of which he also wrote, and directed 170 plays. His most well-known films include: WILD STRAWBERRIES, THE SEVENTH …
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 is going and predict what is going to happen onscreen prematurely. However, those screenwriters in pursuit of something that will truly stand out may think about …
10 Classic Mid-Film Plot Twists by Screenwriters Read More »
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 make sense – that the logic of the premise being presented to them doesn’t “track” – their oh-so-fragile suspension of disbelief risks shattering. The world …
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 utterly forgettable characters you’ve seen on-screen in your lifetime. Characters that had pages and pages and pages devoted to them, yet left you feeling like …
10 Classic Secondary Characters in THE BIG LEBOWSKI Read More »
The legendary director John Ford enjoyed a remarkably long and successful career, working on over 140 films and winning four Academy Awards for Best Director. His most well known films include: STAGECOACH, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE and THE GRAPES OF WRATH. Ford is noted for the precision of his craft as well as …
It goes without saying that reading a script does not have the same sensory effect on a human being as watching a film or TV show. That’s because there are certain types of scene that can only be properly realised on screen. Sometimes the most memorable and visually impactful scenes are the ones that don’t …
10 Types of Scene that Work Onscreen but Not on the Page Read More »
Conflict is essential in every great story. The amount and complexity of the situation can obviously vary greatly depending on the scope, settings and characters involved. In some cases, loading problem upon problem on your character(s) is important in that it shows what they are made of or it shows how they would react under …
10 Moments Where Problem Upon Problem Hits the Protagonist Read More »
We all know that most good characters undergo some kind of change over the course of their story. Whether it’s a change in perspective, circumstance or goal, WE as the audience feel closer to the character, having witnessed their growth. But when audience members learn to expect character growth, it takes a more extreme transformation …
Empire Magazine has been a staple in the film industry for many years. The magazine, and now the website, is seen as one of the world’s leading authorities on film-related content and news. Here at Industrial Scripts we’ve trawled through the impressive back-catalogue of Empire Magazine Articles to bring you ten that will help you develop …
10 Great Empire Magazine Articles For Screenwriters Read More »
In a giant sea of screenwriting tips and advice, where does one begin? It’s almost as bad as dieting these days. Cranberries are bad for you. No, scrap that, we’ve now decided they’re good for you. Your protagonist should dominate most scenes. It’s fine for your protagonist to drift in and out, to strengthen your …
These are the Only Screenwriting Tips Worth Keeping Read More »
You’ve rewritten, redrafted, typed ‘Fade Out’ more times than you can count. You’re finally satisfied that your script, the one you’ve poured months maybe even years into writing, is finished. Now what? For most writers, the endgame is seeing their script up on the big screen or on television, and getting paid. But, how do …
10 Fee-Charging Screenwriting Contests, their Likely Profits and Prestige Read More »
Figuring out how to get a bona fide literary management company to represent you is complicated, especially if you’re new(ish) to the entertainment industry. Unlike most things, Googling “literary managers” won’t instantly answer your questions. It’s a confusing marketplace, due, in part, to the semi-collapse of the full-time script development job market in LA in …
20 Must Know Hollywood Literary Management Companies Read More »
Hollywood Films and British IP The wider British public are usually treated, once-a-year or so, to a slick piece of PR spin usually including the phrase “British film is booming” and citing major Hollywood releases as contributing to said boom. But the next time you sit down to watch a ‘British’ hit, consider whether it …
What is the BBC Writers Room? Writing may be a solitary task and, frankly, that’s often one of the things that appeals to those of us who do it, but every writer needs help before their work is ready to find an audience. For new writers, it’s essential and that is why resources like the BBC …
10 Reasons Every Writer Should Explore The BBC Writers Room Read More »
The crowdfunding pitch film is the campaign’s secret weapon. The pitch film sits at the forefront of your ask for the crowd to fund you. The pitch film literally should be perfect and personal. It should move, involve and inspire. If those three emotions are provoked, someone just might dip their hand in their pocket …
The Top 8 Crowdfunding Pitch Movies on Indiegogo Read More »
You’re no stranger to getting advice if you’re a writer. Thousands of books, hundreds of films, and even entire college majors have been dedicated to the art of honing the English language. As a result, there are bound to be some bits of writing advice that come into debate. While some words of wisdom may …
5 Bits of Famous Writing Advice You Should Ignore Read More »
I recently ventured from my comfortable world of screenwriting into a completely new territory. No, I’m not acting– I’m working on a stage musical. The process has involved late nights, rewrites, and brainstorming until I think I’ll explode. Yet despite the artistic suffering, writing a musical has taught me a lot of lessons. Many of them I plan to bring …
Scorsese and Storytelling Martin Scorsese needs little introduction. The visionary director behind a lengthy list of iconic films from Taxi Driver to Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and through to The Wolf of Wall Street has inspired generations of movie-goers and filmmakers. In addition, Scorsese is a prominent film historian. He founded a nonprofit dedicated to film preservation, started the World Cinema Foundation, and has …
THE NEWSROOM This post started as a tweet, developed into a Facebook status and is now finding full expression as a blog post. recently I finished, in a double-bill, The Newsroom Season 3 (and, by extension, The Newsroom). Some observations: The Observations 1. Humbug to the naysayers. So it’s not quite The West Wing, …
9 Observations about Aaron Sorkin’s THE NEWSROOM Read More »
The MUST is for effect. You don’t have to do anything, particularly buying screenwriting books in such volume that the Amazon driver knows you by name . But you’re a writer, you already know that. A more accurate title for this article would be “Books THIS Screenwriter Owns And Which HE Has Found Useful And Which …
Do These Signs Match Your Habits? Someone tells a tragic family story that has taken them years to open up about and you unwittingly shout “DIBS ON THAT” the second you hear a breath being taken in case any other sympathetic ear in the room was thinking the same thing. You. Now. Own. The. Tragedy. …
How to Write a Screenplay: Your 30-Step Guide. So – you want to learn how to write a screenplay. You think about it constantly. Whenever you watch a movie you annoy your friends, going on about how you could have written a better script. You daydream about Jimmy Kimmel making fun of you as …
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