brynwrites: If a scene feels awkward, slow, or just not-quite-right… (1) Try taking a piece of action and plopping it in the middle of a drama scene, or plop a piece of drama in the middle of an action scene. (Give your character something they need to overcome in order to get back to their…
Read moreHow ‘The Cellar’ Became ’10 Cloverfield Lane’: Breaking Down the Original Script vs. the Final Film
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 moreTime and Your Rewrite
You have full power in your universe to dilate and contract time exactly as you see fit. How long things take on the page depends entirely on how important they are in your story. When you go back to rewrite, consider how you use time. After your first draft, you can start shrinking your first…
Read moreHow to Rewrite Effectively
annerocious: Statistically, you should be packing twice as much story into your pages. When you rewrite, look for scenes that accomplish only one thing, for instance, showing that one character doesn’t like another one. Now. Take that scene and snuggle it down into another scene that accomplishes something else, for instance, the protagonist’s final challenge…
Read moreHow to Rewrite Effectively
Statistically, you should be packing twice as much story into your pages. When you rewrite, look for scenes that accomplish only one thing, for instance, showing that one character doesn’t like another one. Now. Take that scene and snuggle it down into another scene that accomplishes something else, for instance, the protagonist’s final challenge related…
Read moreThe number one note filmmakers get from distributors when trying to sell their films is “Cut ten minutes out of the first act.” (I heard it about the horror feature I produced last year, and the distributors were right.) It’s MUCH easier to cut the pages than it is to cut the footage. michael2h in…
Read moreThe number one note filmmakers get from distributors when trying to sell their films is “Cut ten minutes out of the first act.” (I heard it about the horror feature I produced last year, and the distributors were right.) It’s MUCH easier to cut the pages than it is to cut the footage. michael2h in…
Read moreCLARITY
This is what it’s like to read a script with clarity issues. You can see that there’s a story there, but you can’t exactly make it out because it is mixed in with so much stuff that looks like it, but isn’t it. To improve your clarity, pick your idea and stick to it. First…
Read moreREVERSE ENGINEER YOUR REWRITE
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 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 more