writerlyn: I just read the first scene of three separate screenplays… … …and they all started with a pretty young woman getting killed. …. for fucks sake. Please don’t start your script this way. FFS. What’s wrong with you that you can’t stop killing women?
Read moreHelpful Hint From the Comment Section
annerocious: Protags are easier to write when they are not a slightly blurred version of the writer. If you read a comment section on an “issue” piece of any kind, you can identify the characters represented there as if the usernames were “DelusionalMRA”, “MyFeelingsAreFacts” and “YouFoolishPeasants”. You understand everything about those people immediately. You know…
Read morethescriptlab: FROM SCRIPT TO SCREEN: The Matrix (1999): Lobby Scene Script to Screens are a lot of fun. This is a perfect example of how to use your voice to save page space and let the reader do all the production design and stunt coordinating for you. Which is what we want to do anyway….
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 moreGood ideas are often murdered by better ones. Roddy Doyle (via thescriptlab) If you’re not writing your script with this in mind, you are missing opportunities left and right.
Read moreForgive me if I’m being ignorant here, but I fail to see why you aren’t allowed to create problematic characters or have them in your story. In my experience, some characters don’t ask politely, some characters are amoral. If someone (even a critiquer) finds your writing problematic because it’s not exactly pc or is a trigger for them, why does that mean you have to change it? There’s no way you’ll be able to please everyone, nor should you…
elumish: You are allowed to create problematic characters, and you should, but at the same time, there should be some acknowledgement that they are problematic. For my story, one of the main issues was the fact that the character was supposed to be a fundamentally good person, and he cannot be both a good person…
Read moreFave lines. This is how dialogue is supposed to work. Less telling me what’s going on in the plot, more conflict in character development.
Read morethebluebird: A professional script reader read 300 screenplays for five different studios, all the while tracking the many recurring problems. The infographic he made with the collected data offers a glimpse at where screenwriting goes wrong. It’s back! Except when you write notes, you have to think of really nice ways to say “this is…
Read moreNot that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short. Henry David Thoreau (via thescriptlab)
Read moreUseful Confessions #10
In your spec script, inexplicit visual motifs will go unappreciated. As in, making random objects blue to mean they are (bad/pure/tempting, etc.), or that they represent that the character has (changed her mind/grown/believed a lie, etc.) is not a compelling way to communicate your intent to a reader. Spec scripts for competitions should stick to…
Read more