I read a lot of scripts that are perfectly competent, but accomplish nothing new. They might as well be movies from ten years ago with new character names and a different maguffin. If you are trying to get somewhere in a competition, the one thing you have on your side is that your story doesn’t…
Read more“BUT I NEED MY VOICEOVER”
99% of voiceover is a writer’s way of telling things to the reader that they haven’t figured out a way to show in action.
Read moreBASTA, BITCHES
NOT EVERY SINGLE FEMALE CHARACTER HAS TO BE DESCRIBED AS STUNNING OR FRUMPY!!!! CHALLENGE YOURSELVES! DO BETTER. MAKE BETTER ART. Damn it.
Read moredatassium: finally Here’s that awesome romcom plot you were looking for
Read moreThe Journey of the Drafts
Read moreIt is perfectly okay to write garbage, as long as you edit brilliantly. C. J. Cherryh (via maxkirin) File under – Rule #2
Read morecoffeeandraindrops: I got so much writing done on my script while my internet was down. File under – Rule #1
Read moreGIVE ME A FLASHBACK, STAT
Not every flashback is as suspicious as an uneven mole. Not every flashback pegs you as a cheater. What are the rules for a good flashback? Excellent question. Firefly, pilot episode. Jams an entire catastrophic interstellar civil war into one quick, action packed sequence with suspense and disaster. It’s a whole story in itself. It…
Read moreWHY DIVERSITY BELONGS IN YOUR SCRIPT
Because of EVERYTHING. The fault of white people in my artistic community is that they, through no active deficiency of their own, take it for granted that the story is about them. The goal is actually to ensure that EVERYONE can take it for granted that the story is about them. As gifted, thoughtful and…
Read moreYOUR SPEC IS NOT A SOAP OPERA
I was stuck at my doctor’s today for half an hour, and a soap opera was on the television. It immediately struck me that most spec features are written exactly this way. Talking. Doing massive exposition. No visuals, just people saying “dramatic” things. Explaining things to each other. Watch a soap opera for an hour….
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