All drama is conflict. Without conflict, you have no action ; without action, you have no character ; without character, you have no story ; without story, you have no screenplay. Syd Field, in “Screenplay : The foundations of screenwriting”, chapter 1 “What is a screenplay?” (via lespizzasjoey)

Read more

5 STAR ESCALATION

Escalation keeps the story interesting. To succeed, an individual escalation should be well set-up as the thing we hope doesn’t ever happen. Then when it happens, we know the most shit has just hit the biggest fan. Rinse, then repeat until the end of act two.

Read more

tribecafilm: Read 4 of the Oscar-Nominated Screenplays Online Right Now Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, Before Midnight and Nebraska.

Read more

WHAT IS A BEAT AND HOW DOES IT WORK LIKE FOOTBALL?

A beat is like a down. A new foothold has been established. There was a play (a plan), a skirmish (conflict) and an advance was made toward the endzone (goal). There are first downs and also downs of lesser importance, which establish a rhythm of forward motion, including an occasional setback. Sometimes you get a…

Read more

Useful Confessions

The first script I wrote in school, despite my smart teacher’s advice, was a family fantasy involving a genie and a magic book. Because I thought it would be easy. It wasn’t. I was going for Pixar. I got a volcanically hot mess. My teacher’s advice was “Pick something you really want to spend the…

Read more

I observe life more than I live it. Jayme K. (via quotestuff) Yeah, and…?

Read more