How ‘The Cellar’ Became ’10 Cloverfield Lane’: Breaking Down the Original Script vs. the Final Film This is a perfect example of the Lego quality of a screenplay.
Read moreNotes from a Screenreader: Rethinking Dialogue
nywift: Photo via Go Into the Story. Dialogue is a necessary evil, according to legendary director Fred Zinnemann, and writers of spec scripts should print that out and tack it up over their monitors. It is the polar opposite of telling your story visually. So why do you need it at all? As director Kelly…
Read moreREVERSE ENGINEER FOR REWRITE AWESOMENESS
Aliens is such a fantastic example of this, you should just watch it five times in a row so you can catch all the little setups and how they are accomplished. Nothing is wasted. Everything does double duty. The power loader is the ultimate in reverse engineered awesomeness, of course, it pays off in well-established…
Read moreNotes from a Screenreader: Writing IKEA Style
Notes from a Screenreader: Writing IKEA Style nywift: Photo via Go Into the Story. A script, ideally, is one of those 300 square foot IKEA show apartments with every nook and cranny made useful two or three times over. Static placeholder scenes stick out like a farmhouse table. Written to clarify the writer’s thoughts on…
Read moreLOGLINES ARE EASY!
Yes, loglines are easy. If you write them first. Logline instructions usually include describing the protagonist, his challenge, and the course he takes to accomplish his goal. It is often recommended that you describe the antagonist as well. That should all be wrapped up in one tidy sentence that indicates tone and genre, polished up…
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