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 morestephevemadrid: Procrastination kills. #writing #screenwriting #screenplay So true it hurts. Oh, well. Have to go do my nails.
Read moreSeriously. Use one of those eighteen mostly empty notebooks you own. Write it all down. You will never remember it.
Read moreA PSYCHOPATH’S TWIST ON A CLASSIC
I got this email this morning, and I was impressed with the level of story. I love the craft in the urgent, creepy Nightvale style. This is how to take a cliche and throw a twist on it. LAMBERT NKELESENIOR OPERATORCABLE/TELEX DEPTCEN BANK NIGERIA. Good day, THIS IS VERY URGENT. I HAVE SEEN WHY YOU…
Read morePACING
BAD PACING: There is an idea set up that something is going to happen, and then nothing dramatic happens. And that keeps looping. GOOD PACING: Something is about to happen. Something completely unexpected happens. Then, CAR! Then garbage cans are flying everywhere. New problem. And the lawn still isn’t mowed.
Read moreHOW DOES TENSION WORK?
Like this. As long as its central question stays unresolved, it is tension. It’s the only thing that makes readers turn pages. Amplify these moments in your script. Set them up and draw them out. You need to build one in each scene, a bigger one for each sequence and the ultimate one that stretches…
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SHOW, DON’T HINT
It’s okay to plainly state your intent. It’s a pretty good idea, actually, because subtle little brushstrokes are open to a lot of misinterpretation, or worse, not being interpreted at all. Showing is better than telling, but telling is better than hinting. There is no point in constructing an elaborate thematic device and leaving it…
Read moreIt is a hell of a lot easier to write someone else’s idea because you aren’t attached to it.
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