There’s a common dream among novice screenwriters. They think if they write a screenplay, it will be ready for sale. While some first-time screenwriters might find success with their first screenplay, it’s far more likely that your first screenplay will be a complete wreck that’s barely suitable for lining the bottom of a bird cage. […]
Although many people think Disney animated films may be for kids, many of them are actually great examples of how to tell a story. Two older Disney animated films are “Pocahontas” and “Tarzan.” If you watch both, you’ll likely feel that “Pocahontas” is the weaker of the two films. Superficially, both are love stories between […]
Really bad horror movies emphasize slasher gore, often known as torture porn. In these bad horror movies, the goal is to show people getting cut up and killed in as many graphical ways possible. Unfortunately, there’s only so many ways you can show someone getting tortured or killed, so the effect gets numb and dull […]
If you watch trailers for different movies, you’ll notice that they show the best, most exciting parts of the movie. That means if the movie is awful, the trailer showed you all the good parts already. If the movie is good, then the trailer will have provided just a hint of what the rest of […]
Everyone can come up with a great idea for a story. That’s easy. The hard part is turning a great idea into a great story. In the movie world, Hollywood often tries to turn great ideas into great stories by relying on A-list stars and directors, expensive computer-generated special effects, and plenty of gunfire and […]
Stories are about drama and drama is about conflict. In most stories, you’ll have two main characters: a hero and a villain. Obviously the hero and the villain should have conflicting goals where if the hero wins, the villain loses but if the villain wins, the hero loses. Think of any sports movie like “Rocky” […]
There are no original plots so don’t waste time trying to create an original plot. Instead, focus on creating an original story based on an unoriginal plot. One simple way to create a plot is to simply “borrow” a plot from another story. “Clueless” was actually based on Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” except modernized for […]
If you want to write a weak, mediocre screenplay with poor character development, just focus on the hero’s story. However, if you want to write a great screenplay with fully developed characters, you need to focus on more than just the hero. You also need to focus on the villain, mentor, and ally as well. […]
Superior movies are exaggerated versions of ordinary heroes in a story, but you can learn how they follow the exact same story structure. Watch a movie like “Ironman 3” and you’ll see that even though Ironman has a powerful suit, he spends most of the movie wearing a faulty prototype suit. To further make Ironman […]