shitroughdrafts: Godzilla, directed by Gareth Edwards. 2014. Order the Shit Rough Drafts book here! The reader’s life.
Read moreHOW IS A SCREENPLAY LIKE A HAIKU?
A formal structure Full of infinite meaning About just one thing
Read moreON THE DREADED PLACEHOLDER SCENE
There are scenes in your first draft where you’re still figuring out your story, and you know you need to establish something, so you write it down with some dialogue, to hold its place. Then you never go back and rewrite it in an interesting, visual way with a good solid beat in it, and…
Read moreWHY FLASH FORWARD IS A PROBLEM
The most convincing argument I can make against starting your spec with the backstory and then jumping forward in time is this: Casablanca doesn’t open in Paris. Start in the now and set up your now problem. Use the backstory to escalate in your second act. It will elevate your game like crazy.
Read moreOCCAM’S RAZOR AND YOUR SCREENPLAY
Here’s a valuable tip for building your story. You have a guy, in a plot, and he sleeps with his friend’s girlfriend. That is legit story. Things will happen because of that. That will turn into other things. Conflict, confrontation, crisis. Yay! What is not particularly important is that he did it because in fifth…
Read moreAND THE SUBPLOTS JUST KEEP COMING
IMPACT
boojum.as.arizona.edu Spec scripts have this tendency to fall back on dramatic near misses. Like, if Jane found out Pedro cheated, the wedding would be off, but thank goodness that didn’t happen fifteen different times, and here comes the bride. Actually, no. Jane finds out. Impact. Now Jane and Pedro have a megaton of ejecta material…
Read moreWHEN YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH WARPS INTO ALL THE BACKSTORY
OCCAM’S RAZOR AND YOUR SCREENPLAY
Here’s a valuable tip for building your story. You have a guy, in a plot, and he sleeps with his friend’s girlfriend. That is legit story. Things will happen because of that. That will turn into other things. Conflict, confrontation, crisis. Yay! What is not particularly important is that he did it because in fifth…
Read moreWho’s Your Audience?
Tone + Genre + Story + Universal Message = Target Audience The first thing you decide is what story you want to tell, and the second thing to decide is who you want to tell it to. Really, it will make so many of your choices so much simpler. You can’t please everyone, but you…
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