Everyone has heard of horror stories of Hollywood butchering a script and turning something wonderful into a pile of garbage. However, it often works the other way around too. Too often, Hollywood takes a good script and tuns it into a crappy movie. However, sometimes the reverse happens where Hollywood can take a good story […]
May 2012
The Hero and the Villain
Most screenwriters focus on creating a story from the hero’s point of view. However, you should also create that same story from the villain’s point of view to give your script a deeper, more complicated story structure. The typical way of creating a screenplay is to think in terms of the hero. Of course, there’s […]
Fail As Fast As You Can
Thomas Edison reportedly went through 10,000 failed designs for the light bulb. When asked about so many failures, Edison reportedly replied, “I didn’t fail 10,000 times. I just found 10,000 different ways not to design a light bulb.” That same sense of optimism can work when writing a screenplay. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. […]
Special Effects
Special effects are like cotton candy for the eyes. They look good and they grab an audience’s attention, but there’s a better way to make a compelling story than relying on action alone. The latest “Transformers” sequel is a big hit with audiences, but a critical flop according to the critics. So who’s right? The […]
The Hero Affects Many
In most bad screenplays, the whole focus is on the hero and all the other characters exist solely to help the hero on his (or her) way. While the hero is the focus, the hero actually changes others around him (or her). In every screenplay, the hero must change. In every good screenplay, the hero […]
From an Actor’s Point of View
As screenwriters, we tend to look at a story from the author’s point of view. Step back a moment and look at your story from the actor’s point of view. You may be surprised at how your viewpoint may change. Probably the biggest problem with most screenplays is that the characters are flat and only […]