Ideal competition length is no more than 99 pages. If your story starts fast and reads fast and you NEED them, 115 is fine. How can you tell if you need 115 pages? I’ll give you $1,000 for every word you can cut by tomorrow.
Read moreGRATUITOUS RACISM/SEXISM/HOMOPHOBIA IN YOUR SCRIPT
When Your Friend Asks for Brutal Honesty About His First Script
IT’S CHEATED DOWN TO 120
FADE IN: V.O., MEET FLASHBACK
FEEDBACK TRANSLATOR
Ideally, when you enter a competition, you win it. If you don’t, your consolation prize is some knowledgeable feedback about why someone else won. But when you’re reading for a competition, you aren’t a critic. We can’t be brutally honest about what doesn’t work in your script. Our function is to be as helpful as…
Read moreTHE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY
It is an illusion that a screenplay is a transcription of the movie in your head. It is as impossible to write a movie as it is to write a photograph. It is only possible to write a story. There is no spoon.
Read moreFIELD GUIDE TO CHEESY FEMALE CHARACTERS
THE HOT GIRLFRIEND PRIZE She waits, over there, until it is time for her to be awarded to the protagonist in recognition for his achievements. JUST THE WORLD’S BEST EVER MOMWIFE She cares so much. She gets concerned. She just wants to help. She has never needed a drink in her entire life. MISS READY,…
Read moreNEW MOST OVERUSED SPEC OPENING
EXT. THICK WOODS – NIGHT (or DAY, either one) PANTING. Feet RUNNING and STUMBLING. A GIRL (18-24) races for her life from an UNSEEN PURSUER. She DIES. With a SCREAM. And then we switch to somewhere else and meet the protagonist doing something mundane. If you have written this, you are NOT ALONE. Word to…
Read moreCONFLICT
Good conflict is when people want mutually exclusive, life-changing things. GOOD CONFLICT: Jenny’s father wants her to quit school so she can nurse her chronically ill grandmother and he can keep his job as a long-haul truck driver. Jenny wants him to sign a letter of consent for a prestigious military academy so she can…
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