15 Examples of Bad Writing in Really GOOD Movies and Shows
If you pay even a sliver of attention to people’s critiques of TV and film, then you understand that great screenwriting isn’t necessarily a given, even for shows and movies …
TV
Articles focussing heavily on TV.
201 Character Archetypes Writers MUST Have In Their Armoury
Every screenwriter knows that writing a great screenplay takes more than just a good plot or good world building. It relies heavily on constructing memorable characters. Understanding character archetypes are …
The Fourth Wall Break in Screenwriting – How to Do it & Why
The Fourth Wall Break – How to Do it and Why An increasingly common device used in modern Film and Television, the fourth wall break can serve as a …
World Building in Film and TV: The Essential Steps
World Building in Film & TV: The Essential Steps If you’ve ever enjoyed losing yourself in the world of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, you know how …
ORIGINAL CHARACTERS Series: Part 2 – Omar Little
ORIGINAL CHARACTERS Series: Part 2 Welcome to Original Characters, an ongoing series of Industrial Scripts articles examining the most original characters to appear in both TV and film. Want to …
15 Genius Foreshadowing Examples in Film and TV
15 Genius Foreshadowing Examples in Film and TV Foreshadowing is typically used to enhance the audience’s experience of the intended themes and messages of the movie or TV show …
ORIGINAL CHARACTERS Series: Part 1 – Tony Soprano
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 …
Why Screenwriters Need Pro Script Analysis Now, More Than Ever
Why Pro Film & TV Script Analysis is Critical to Writers There’s often an element of mystery or confusion surrounding script analysis services. Sitting at home, watching a bad film …
The Insider Interviews – Kitty Kaletsky
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 Insider Interviews: Rose Wicksteed
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Arvind Ethan David
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Dominic Minghella
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Simon 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 …
VIDEO ESSAY: Dual Perspectives – THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is a Netflix miniseries loosely adapted from the book by Shirley Jackson. It was created by horror maestro Mike Flanagan (OCULUS, …
What is THE industry-standard screenplay font?
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 …
How to Pitch a TV Show: The Ultimate Guide
How to Pitch a TV Show: The Key Steps Writing is, obviously, a vital part of creating a TV Show. However, it is sadly not the only vital part …
VIDEO ESSAY: The Dramedy Balance – CATASTROPHE
CATASTROPHE CATASTROPHE is a Channel 4 and Amazon Prime show. It’s created by, written by, and stars American comedian Rob Delaney and Irish writer-actress Sharon Horgan. It was nominated for …
VIDEO ESSAY: Creating the Fascinating Antagonist – Gus Fring
Gus Fring BREAKING BAD, created by Vince Gilligan, introduced us to many great characters. Antihero Walter White (Brian Cranston), the cancer-diagnosed high school teacher who turns to making meth. Jesse …
OPINION: The Thrill of the Real Time Screenplay
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 …
Taylor Sheridan Quotes For Writers, Directors & Producers
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 …
Vince Gilligan Quotes For Writers, Directors & Producers
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 …
Why Screenwriters Should Understand Screenplay Atmosphere
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 …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Jim Hopper (STRANGER THINGS)
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Ben Roberts
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 …
Ryan Murphy Quotes For Producers, Writers & Directors
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, …
OPINION: Why Your Second Act Must Have Escalating Stakes
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 …
Talent Connector LIVE opens to OVERDRIVE members
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Duncan Heath
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Caryn Mandabach
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: CARYN MANDABACH 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, …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Bill Tench (MINDHUNTER)
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 …
Genius Character Reveal: Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)
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 …
The 10 Best Literary Agents for Writers & Filmmakers
As a screenwriter, it can be confusing navigating the multitude of literary agents out there. Big or small, almost all literary agents won’t accept unsolicited material. Many specify that unsolicited …
OPINION: Great Dialogue is All in the Subtext
Writing great dialogue is difficult, but one way to get a step closer is through the use of subtext. Subtext, literally what is below the text, is the deeper implication behind …
Why Screenwriters Should Tell Stories about Everyday Heroes
With the dominance of superhero and tentpole films, sometimes it seems like there’s no place in cinema for everyday heroes. Most audiences don’t want their reality simply reflected back to them. However, …
How to Mine History & the Real World for Your Next TV Script
History is, to gently mutilate a great quote, often stranger than fiction, which is what makes it such a great basis for fiction. Of course, mining history for a solid …
The Insider Interviews: Rhodri Thomas
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: RHODRI THOMAS 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 …
Which Species of Screenwriter Are You?
Screenwriter The ‘building-block’ nature of screenwriting is such that any screenwriter needs a selection box of varying skills. As you’d expect then, different screenwriters tend to find themselves drawn to, …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Dale Cooper (TWIN PEAKS)
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 month’s instalment focuses on FBI …
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 …
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Paul Webster
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: PAUL WEBSTER 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 …
OPINION: This Is (Not) A True Story
This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of …
10 Types of Scene that Work Onscreen but Not on the Page
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Nisha Parti
THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: NISHA PARTI 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 …
10 Extreme Character Arcs in Film & TV
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 …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Geoffrey Tennant
Genius Character Reveals Welcome to the first of our new series: GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS. In this series we’ll look at scenes and moments where the film or TV screenwriter/director has …
OPINION: The Riddle of Tone
Understanding The Riddle of Tone The release of BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is an appropriate moment to talk about tone, one of the least understood tools in the …
Check out this Reader who passed on THE INBETWEENERS script!
About THE INBETWEENERS script Before we get into the cases “for” and “against” both the script reader and their report on THE INBETWEENERS script, let’s just remind ourselves what …
A Screenwriting Salary – how much do scribes REALLY earn?
A Screenwriting Salary – how much do scribes REALLY earn? Although it’s hard to get on the screenwriting salary ladder and even harder to stay on it – let alone …
OPINION: The Power Of Linear Storytelling
Linear Storytelling Power How important is the straight-and-narrow in screenwriting? Can so-called conformity actually get you noticed? As screenwriters, we are left to own imaginations to find ides that strike …