When your story has a strong theme, it has a strong focal point that everything revolves around. Your story is nothing more than a single idea multiple in different ways by your various characters. Whatever your theme, your hero represents the good side of that theme while the villain represents the evil side of that […]
When coming up with an idea, many screenwriters focus solely on a high-concept idea such as “What would happen if a man-eating shark were terrorizing beach?” (“Jaws” or “Jaws 4”) or “What would happen if aliens attacked the Earth?” (“War of the Worlds” or Battle: Los Angeles”). The problem with focusing solely on the high-concept […]
Most people look for the high-concept idea in a story such as “A lone policeman faces off against an army of terrorists in a skyscraper” (“Die Hard”) or “A teenage girl must survive a reality TV death arena show in the future” (“The Hunger Games”). A high-concept immediately grabs your attention and makes you want […]
A good story should be like a puzzle. Initially the story may be confusing but intriguing. Gradually as the story unfolds, you start to unravel tidbits of information a little at a time until you finally understand everything right before Act III. Then Act III is all about action where the hero confronts the villain. […]
Rotten Tomatoes usually rates movies pretty well. However, if you look at their ratings for “Miss Congeniality” and “Mall Cop,” you’ll see extremely low scores, yet both movies were hits. What critics missed about both movies is that they had a solid story structure in place. In both movies, the hero is a loser. The […]
The foundation of every story begins with a character trying to achieve a goal. Initially that goal is internal or emotional with no specific way to resolve it. That’s why the character also needs an external or physical goal to achieve the internal/emotional goal. Two ways to create an internal/emotional goal for your hero are: […]
Every story is about a single character trying to solve a problem. In his book “The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells” author Ben Bova states one fundamental principle of creating a character. To make a compelling character, you need your character to fight against him or herself. Ben Bova offers a formula that […]
Any time you end a scene, you should make sure it not only holds your audiences interest, but also intrigues them enough to keep reading (or watching). In her book “Outlining Your Novel” K.M. Weiland lists several ways to end a scene with a cliffhanger that pulls the audience into the next scene. Promise of […]
The surest way to keep an audience on the edge of their seats is to keep them in suspense. To do this, you start with something interesting but fail to provide an answer. As long as this hidden information is interesting in some way, audiences will stay intrigued as long as you promise to reveal […]
Everything in your screenplay should be interesting and there’s nothing more crucial than introducing a character. Major characters should always be introduced in a unique way to make it memorable, but you don’t want to do something silly for the sake of being silly. In too many romantic comedies, it’s a cliche for couples to […]