April 2014
The Elements of a Great Script
Technically a scene is anything that defines a location and some type of action. You don’t want to focus on writing scenes. What you really want to do is focus on writing mini-stories that can consist of multiple scenes that follow the four-part story structure, which looks like this: An initial grabber scene that makes […]
The How and Why of the Mystery
Every story has a mystery that drops hints along the way until we finally understand what’s going on. If we know too much too soon, there’s no reason for the story to continue. Think of “Star Wars” where we know Darth Vader wants something, but initially we don’t know what’s going on with Darth Vader […]
Analyzing Mini-Stories
In every movie, there are mini-stories that follow the four-part structure of stories like this: An attention-grabber highlights some problem that the characters face The characters try to solve this problem A setback occurs The character’s fate ends in a cliffhanger In “Star Wars,” you can see how these mini-stories work together and also see […]
Nobody Knows Anything
“The Economist” recently wrote about the flops that Hollywood produced and how nobody still knows what will make a hit. The big problem with Hollywood is that they think more money will determine the quality of a movie. By pouring more money into stars, directors, and special effects, they think this can turn a bad […]
Introduce Two or More Subplots Simultaneously
One huge problem with novice screenplays is that they start an interesting scene and then end it. Then they start a different scene and then end that one too. This constant start and stop motion makes the entire screenplay feel like a disjointed series of unrelated scenes that constantly start and stop. To avoid this […]
No Risk, No Interest
I just read a friend’s screenplay where the hero basically drifts through the story with no change. He stays the same from the beginning to the end while watching the story change the secondary characters around him. As a result, the hero is pointless. What makes the hero seem even more pointless is that unlike […]
Elements of a Great Scene – Part II
Technically a scene takes place in a single location, but for our purposes, a scene is a mini-story that can be made up of multiple locations. Just like any story, a scene needs a structure. First, a scene needs to open with an intriguing event that immediately grabs our attention. In “Star Wars,” the opening […]
High Concept and a Hidden Theme
The first step to getting your screenplay recognized is having a great concept. There’s an upcoming movie called “Sex Tape” starring Cameron Diaz. Having read one draft of the screenplay, the script had a great concept (a couple films a sex tape that accidentally gets released on the Internet) but from what I read, the […]
Studying Bad Examples
Ray Bradbury was one of the best short story writers around with a handful of great novels as well. However great he was as a short story writer and novelist, his one contribution to the 1986 revival of The Twilight Zone shows a shocking example of extremely bad screenwriting. In Ray Bradbury’s script called “The […]