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…
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…
Read moreEXCAVATING YOUR STORY
That looks interesting, I will dig there: First draft – scraping away the surface: Second draft – I can almost see something: Getting notes – thanks, guys: Rewrites: Gotta be here somewhere – just one more draft: Found it – now for a little polish: Ready to submit:
Read moreYOUR SCRIPT AS THERAPY
Your script should be therapy, you wouldn’t write if you had a better way to externalize the issues that snag and hold and fascinate you. Using language to communicate your deepest self to others is your thing. Except you have to be really careful when you choose screenwriting to do this, because your first job…
Read moreIT’S DONE
No, it isn’t. People keep asking, how can so many scripts be so bad? They can’t be that bad. Surely you’re joking. No. A script can’t live on being technically correct. A script lives and dies on story. You must nail your story to the wall by executing your intent.
Read moreWHAT IS SO IMPORTANT ABOUT THE STUPID FLAW?
Drama is driven by conflict, and conflict is driven by needs. Needs spring from the cavernous emptiness that echoes inside us all. Flaws force people into bad decisions, down the wrong path, into dead ends. Stories exist to show that that damage is undoable. Success is possible, happiness attainable. You take a pastry chef whose…
Read moreHOW TO FIRST DRAFT
This post is for mentioning that your first draft should be the wrong length, make no sense and be horrible. Everything that I write in this blog about structure and pacing and character development and arcs and tension and stakes is way too much to deal with in your first draft. The first draft is…
Read moreIT’S UP TO YOU
Say you’ve got 70 actual scenes. It doesn’t matter, really. There’s no magic number. The point is, you have a limited amount of time. 70 beats looks like quite a lot, until you try to fit everything into them. You have to choose. Say one of your big beats is that your protag with Asperger’s…
Read moreThis is the kind of hypothesis that really crystallizes your story for the reader. Is it true? False? It’s the protag’s job to find out, the final test is to prove it.
Read moreThe 3 Rules of Transmedia Storytelling from Transmedia Guru Jeff Gomez | Filmmakers, Film Industry, Film Festivals, Awards & Movie Reviews | Indiewire
The 3 Rules of Transmedia Storytelling from Transmedia Guru Jeff Gomez | Filmmakers, Film Industry, Film Festivals, Awards & Movie Reviews | Indiewire Great link for exploring how to turn your story into a transmedia one.
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