Storytelling is joke telling. It’s knowing your punchline, your ending, knowing that everything you’re saying, from the first sentence to the last, is leading to a singular goal, and ideally confirming some truth that deepens our understandings of who we are as human beings. We all love stories. We’re born for them. Stories affirm who…
Read moreEXCAVATING YOUR STORY
That looks interesting, I will dig there: First draft – scraping away the surface: Second draft – I can almost see something: Getting notes – thanks, guys: Rewrites: Gotta be here somewhere – just one more draft: Found it – now for a little polish: Ready to submit:
Read moreNotes from a Screenreader: The Same but What Now?
Notes from a Screenreader: The Same but What Now? nywift: Photo via Go Into the Story. “The same but different” is the magic formula for a winning script. Does it mean anything or is it double speak for “I know it when I see it?” Patterns not formulas: Create familiar emotional patterns in new situations….
Read moreHow to dialogue. This whole film. In the Loop is streaming on Netflix. It was written by Jesse Armstrong … (screenplay) & Simon Blackwell … (screenplay) & Armando Iannucci … (screenplay) & Tony Roche … (screenplay) Ian Martin … (additional dialogue)
Read moreI think in the event of a critique a writer isn’t happy with they (the writer) should set it aside: the story and the critique. Sometimes there isn’t enough emotional space between a writer and their work, when the critique comes in. Read the critique once, feel whatever it is you feel, and set it…
Read more13 Things Bad Screenwriters Commonly Do
13 Things Bad Screenwriters Commonly Do On the off chance you still think readers exaggerate when they say that most scripts don’t work in the same way, this article is a Cliff Notes of my whole blog!
Read moreA PSYCHOPATH’S TWIST ON A CLASSIC
I got this email this morning, and I was impressed with the level of story. I love the craft in the urgent, creepy Nightvale style. This is how to take a cliche and throw a twist on it. LAMBERT NKELESENIOR OPERATORCABLE/TELEX DEPTCEN BANK NIGERIA. Good day, THIS IS VERY URGENT. I HAVE SEEN WHY YOU…
Read moreYOUR SCRIPT AS THERAPY
Your script should be therapy, you wouldn’t write if you had a better way to externalize the issues that snag and hold and fascinate you. Using language to communicate your deepest self to others is your thing. Except you have to be really careful when you choose screenwriting to do this, because your first job…
Read moreI am not lying
My followers are a really smart, good-looking, talented bunch of people. Plus you like baby animals. So. You’re even more of the best.
Read moreIT’S DONE
No, it isn’t. People keep asking, how can so many scripts be so bad? They can’t be that bad. Surely you’re joking. No. A script can’t live on being technically correct. A script lives and dies on story. You must nail your story to the wall by executing your intent.
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