Do: Create interest in your characters first Don’t: Think we will care about your pg 1 bloodbath because it’s so out there and extreme. WE DON’T KNOW THESE CHARACTERS. There is NO CONTEXT therefore IT IS MEANINGLESS which makes it BORING You want a nice hearty handshake from a story’s first page, not a naked…
Read moreA dog is barking…
No. A dog BARKS. It’s such a picky thing, but readers read present progressive as wrong, because that’s how it’s taught. It’s bad screenplay grammar.
Read moreScenes I Have Had Enough Of
Getting the kids out the door in the morning on pg 1 Arbitrarily mean boss fires protag on pg 3 Ambitious girlfriend dumps protag on pg 4 Protag spills coffee in lap while driving on pg 5 Super: Twenty Years Later on pg 9 The protag decides to win a contest on page 10 Slutty…
Read moreIf the Story Starts on Page 50…
Take out the first 49 pages and we’ll talk.
Read moreShe is selling seashells
Is called present progressive, which is a useful tense with a useful grammatical aspect, just as Arial is a useful font. Neither of them belong in a screenplay. It’s a natural way to describe what you see in your head. “She’s sitting over there, he’s making coffee, the dog is chewing a sex toy.” However, readers…
Read moreIf I cry at the end…
You are getting a goddamn Recommend.
Read moreMy thing is that most scripts aren’t bad scripts, they’re just not finished yet. Michael Arndt (via scriptwriters-network) That’s my thing, too.
Read moreFor Your Consideration 2016
brianparis: lifeascaty: It’s that time of year again! Awards Season is rapidly advancing and the studios are releasing scripts (for your consideration!). I’ll update as more become available. Carol – Phyllis Nagy Danny Collins – Dan Fogelman Ex Machina – Alex Garland Grandma – Paul Weitz I’ll See You In My Dreams – Brett Haley & Marc Basch Infinitely Polar…
Read morefetchyourexcellence: hopeful-melancholy: The Kite Runner (2007) I highly recommend this movie!!! Notes: screenwriting group edition
Read moreSo I Read 600+ Scripts And…
You may not have noticed that the Banal Probe has been trickling in lately, but it’s because I read too many scripts in a row. Which is what I do, so there was money, but at what price? It’s not that the scripts are bad, or that the writing is bad. It all boils down…
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