plotless-monster: It’s no surprise when people get educated, they don’t go back to the places they came from. (namely the small poor towns where people are batshit and hold a primitive mindset) Here’s another universal theme.
Read more50 Shades of You Can’t Argue with the Dollar Vote
So I’m as mad as anyone that this bad art spoke to a hundred million people, but I also find it pointless to just rage against it as stupid and wrong when it actually works as a story for so many people, most of whom are women. So I kept looking at it from every…
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 moreUNIVERSAL MESSAGES
Universal messages are the comfort food of film language. They are the reason you will do better with a story about love fixing all your problems than a bully beating you to death for standing up to them. A lot of writers discuss this issue as a moral quandary about selling out. It isn’t. Casablanca succeeds…
Read moreNotes from a Screenreader: Bang a Gong
Notes from a Screenreader: Bang a Gong nywift: Photo via Go Into the Story. Theme is the beating heart of the screenplay, the proposition about the human condition that your story explores—the big issues. Love. Faith. Resilience. Trust. Power. Courage. All the goosebumpy things. The theme, that single, simple thesis that creates…
Read moreHOW MANY THINGS IS YOUR SCRIPT ABOUT?
CLARITY PROBLEMS
Clarity problems happen when the central conflict gets buried under an avalanche of superfluous ideas. To enhance clarity in your script, give the reader the thread early. Weight your setup to favor your protagonist and the problem, give less time to secondary characters, set atmosphere with active images instead of conversations. Keep all of your…
Read moreTheme is genetic. It you took a scene out and planted it, it should grow into the shape of the whole movie. John August
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