When you get a lot of unencouraging feedback, you have written a script that doesn’t work yet, like every single other person who has ever tried to write one. Is it a script? Then it’s a mess. It is packed with blind spots and missed opportunities that you will never know about until someone else…
Read morePHONETIC DIALECT IS A PAIN IN THE ASS TO READ
Great dialect adds a lot to your script, unless you spell it the way it sounds, in which case it’s very annoying because it stops being reading and turns into breaking code. Go easy on the apostrophes, darlin’. I’s fixin’ ta gin y’all a whuppin’ iff’n ya don’t.
Read moreYOUR THIRD ACT REFUSING TO PAY OFF THE SETUP
Notes from a Screenreader: The Deep Freeze Script
Notes from a Screenreader: The Deep Freeze Script nywift: Photo via Go Into the Story. Scripts that feel rote turn readers off right away even though rote scripts are written by people who know exactly what they’re doing. The plot moves forward, the conflicts are in place, the beats come and go like clockwork. Scoring…
Read moreHOW DOES PLOT WORK?
Plot happens when a character sets a chain of unforeseeable events in motion with a decision to achieve something of tangible personal importance.
Read moreKEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS
Avoid giving your characters speeches about their feelings in the first act. You can show their feelings in what they do, but conversations about their feels and why they feel that way in the setup are boring. There is so much time in the second act to do this work, after we care. It’s not…
Read moreNO PLOTS, ONLY CHARACTERS
A story is about a person. Who is this person and why do we care? Pro tip: it is not because they are the main character. Plots do not have fandoms. It is impossible to connect with characters who are a function of the plot. Focus on who your person is and what they would…
Read moreHow TV Scripts are Different
TV scripts as far as the eye can see
Read moreWhen you create flaws, make them nasty and unmanageable. Characters with things about themselves that they despise, try to hide and/or can’t control make writing conflict easier and naturally vivid.
Read moreFaced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage. Confucius — Laura Stolmeier (@stolmeier) November 25, 2013 File Under: Revealing your characters through action, Inciting incident, Midpoint, Final challenge.
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