How can you tell a “flat” story with no depth vs. a compelling story that captivates an audience? Count how many of your characters have problems. In every great movie, every character has a problem. In every lousy movie, only the hero has a problem. My favorite lousy movie of the year is “Clash of […]

What makes a compelling hero? A hero is someone you respect, although you may not agree with them, and the surest way to gain someone’s respect is to overcome tremendous obstacles. What makes a story so compelling is the ending where the hero has to overcome great odds and obstacles to finally achieve a goal. […]

Every important event in your story has to be set up and foreshadowed. Otherwise your story can feel artificial and contrived. Take any bad movie and you’ll find characters saving themselves through actions or devices that never previously appeared before. In “The Phantom Menace,” the two Jedi knights get trapped in a room that’s filled […]

Hollywood loves remaking movies to update them for a new audience. Often times that means destroying what made the original so great in the first place. (Anyone see the horrid remake to the comedy “The In-Laws”?) Sometimes the remake can be faithful to the original while still being fresh as in the case of the […]

The formula seems perfect. Take a popular video game, turn it into a movie, and legions of video games will flock to see their favorite characters come to life on film. Unfortunately, most video games make for lousy movies. Here’s an article to read about “why video games make lousy movies“. The basic argument behind […]

When you start telling a story, you have to remain consistent. Being consistent promises to give the audience what they want. Being inconsistent means promising one thing and giving the audience something they didn’t expect. Imagine if you walked into a fast food restaurant and the cashier asked if you wanted an oil change? Or […]