The ending is the last emotional high that an audience feels right before the story ends. Thus it’s important that your ending not only peaks the audience’s emotions, but also makes sense in relation to the rest of your story. Pick a great movie and the ending is almost always memorable. In “Star Wars,” it’s […]
In a bad movie, things seem to happen for no apparent reason, just for the convenience of the plot. In a good movie, things make sense, but you may need to explain more than necessary to get there. Look for any James Cameron script on the Internet and you’ll see scenes that over explain everything, […]
If you just want to enjoy a movie, you don’t really care who the hero is. If you want to study the structure of a movie as a screenwriter, you need to identify the hero so you can follow the story structure. In most movies, the hero is the main character with the top billing. […]
Everyone follows the Academy Awards, but once they’re over, people often forget about them. Don’t be one of those people. Learn from past Academy Award nominees and winners. Walk into any Blockbuster Video store and you’ll see walls full of the latest releases. The problem is that most of the latest releases suck. If you […]
When James Cameron was filming “Titanic” in Mexico near San Diego, a friend of mine got hired as an extra, playing a dead person floating at the end of the movie. He said during the filming, everyone on the set thought that “Titanic” was going to fail. “It’s just about a ship that sinks,” he […]