‘A year ahead of me in my high school was a guy named Sam Raimi, who later went on to direct the Spiderman trilogy. I never knew Sam Raimi personally, but I did know that in high school, he used to make movies all the time and show them to everyone in the auditorium. Then […]
At a recent panel discussion at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas predicted that the studios couldn’t afford to invest massive amounts of money on tentpole movies, which are those movies that cost a lot because they’re expected to make a lot. In most cases, such tentpole movies fail dramatically like “John Carter” and “The […]
The second half of Act II is where the hero starts losing and the villain starts winning. By knowing the purpose of this second half of Act II, you’ll understand how to bridge the gap between Act I and Act III. By the end of the first half of Act II (which I call Act […]
In the movie “About Schmidt,” Jack Nicholson plays the hero, a retired insurance agent who has lived a relatively dull existence most of his life and comes to the conclusion that his life has been relatively meaningless. What makes “About Schmidt” fascinating is its use of irony that lets the audience experience both sides of […]
To be a professional writer, you don’t necessarily need skill and talent. You just need passion and desire to write and tell a story. Since 1990, I’ve been a full-time, freelance, professional writer making my living solely through writing books and magazine articles. At the time of this writing, I have yet to sell one […]
To get a clear idea how the 15 minute movie method works, watch the 1973 movie, “The Sting,” starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Without giving away the plot, the story of “The Sting” is clearly divided into roughly 15 minute segments where each segment has a clear exposition, conflict, and climactic ending. First, let’s […]
In case you’re wondering, this site is undergoing major remodeling because I screwed up. While trying to update WordPress that runs this web site, something happened that killed the entire site. I have backups (fortunately), but it will involve a time-consuming process to put everything back together again so over the next few weeks, expect […]
How the movie “Die Hard” taught me the importance of mini-goals. Whether you like action movies or not, the 1988 “Die Hard” movie is one great action flick that grabs you right from the start and never lets go. (The multitude of diluted “Die Hard” sequels shows how to take a really good idea, remove […]