May, 2015 - The 15 Minute Movie Method

The Big Bang

May 31, 2015

Watch older movies and they tend to be slower and often close with a whimper instead of a bang. Then you watch newer, good movies...

Crafting a Pitch

May 27, 2015

Here’s how most people write a screenplay. They come up with an interesting idea and start writing. Then they run out of gas less than...

Put Your Hero in a Dark Spot Early

May 25, 2015

In the beginning of your story, your hero is in a dead end life. The more awful you make this early introduction to your hero’s...

How to Write Dialogue

May 24, 2015

The biggest mistake novices make with dialogue is that they use dialogue to provide information to the audience. Don’t do that. Instead, make the audience...

Choosing a Screenwriting Program

May 23, 2015

The most popular (and expensive) screenwriting program around is “Final Draft” ($249) along with its most popular rival “Movie Magic Screenwriter” ($249). However, don’t think...

“Four Screenplays” by William Goldman

May 21, 2015

William Goldman has written some of the best movies in the past few decades that you can learn much about screenwriting structure by reading some...

The Eight Segments of Story Telling

May 17, 2015

Take a two hour movie (120 minutes) and break it into eight 15-minute segments where each 15-minute segment tells an interesting story. If you study...

Tell an Interesting Story

May 14, 2015

One of the biggest problems with most novice screenplays is that the screenwriter buys an expensive screenwriting program like Final Draft or Movie Magic and...

Same Idea, Different Stories

May 11, 2015

One fallacy about writing is that you need to come up with an original plot. That’s basically impossible because humanity has been around for so...

Make it Visual

May 4, 2015

Before you write a single word of dialogue, focus on telling a story through actions alone. Visual actions make far more of an impact on...

The 15 Minute Movie Method

May 2015