Nobody tells you this part. It's a trap. You've written an original screenplay. A producer options your screenplay (how much he paid you or didn't pay you is not relevant to this parable). The producer takes your script to a studio. And the studio loves it. Wants to make a deal. Wants to pay you [...]
The phrase character arc (with the emphasis, inevitably, simply due to the phonetic construction, the meter of the phrase, on arc) leads us to think narrowly. Simplistically. As if such yearning were singular, knowable. Can be rendered in a sentence. It seldom can. Such desire is lifelong and chaotic. Ever shifting. Moving from failure to [...]
A distinction has been lost with the rise in popularity of screenwriting software. They treat the abbreviation (CONT'D) and the character cue (continuing) as equivalent. They aren't. Why on the flip. Share on Facebook
Here's an interview I did back in 1989. Interesting to read after two decades. BOMB Magazine: Guy Gallo by Betsy Sussler. Share on Facebook
Wright. What a great word. wright n.1 Forms: _. 1 wyrhta, Northumb. wyrihta, -te, wyrchta, 1_2 Kent. werhta; 2 wirhta, 3 wurhte, wuruhte. _. 1 wryhta, 3_2 wruhte, wrihhte, 3_4 wriht(e, 5 wrihte, 3_5 wryhte, wryht, (3, 5 wryth, 5 wrythe), 4_4 wry_t(e, 4_5 wri_t, 4_6 wrighte (4 whright, wrigth, writh), 5_6 wryght(e, 4_ wright; [...]
After struggling with the blank page and accreting notes and scribbling an outline and hearing the first faint whisper of a voice and gathering pages like rooting truffles and building idea to event to story to plot and finally hammering out a few scenes and a few more until you can almost see a shape, [...]
There's an ad campaign out right now for Windows 7. Ordinary people telling how they had an idea for improving their computing experience. Flash back to the moment of their insight, in which they are unflawed, beautiful people. The tag line of the ad is: "Windows 7 was my idea." Clever. Perhaps even effective. But [...]
Story is always carried by character. Character generates plot. Character creates motive. Character endures consequence. It is from a character's passion, drive, desire that plot becomes more than event. Becomes meaningful. Plot devoid of consistent character — driven and driving character – is merely spectacle. Structure without voice is empty form. Never forget that empathy [...]
Writing is hard. Way too hard to do if you don't love it. Here's a great quotation from Andre Gide: If a young writer can refrain from writing, he shouldn't hesitate to do so. Writing, as Plato said, is a kind of madness. A sickness of sorts. And for the true writer, there's no cure. [...]
For those of you who have not invested in a dedicated screenplay program, and who have Word for Windows (95-2007) or Word for Mac 2004 — here is a free screenplay template that does all you need to get started. ScriptStyles. Share on Facebook
