February, 2016 - The 15 Minute Movie Method

Facing the Biggest Fear

February 28, 2016

What makes a story more interesting is that the hero must gradually face the worst fears possible. Initially the hero is trying to solve a...

Creating Emotional Interest

February 25, 2016

One of the biggest problems with movies based on true stories is that they tend to parade a bunch of facts without allowing us to...

Internal vs. External Villains

February 22, 2016

Look at the differences between movies geared for women towards those geared for men. That can help you see how different movies handle villains. In...

Make the Hero’s Problem Clear and Relatable

February 19, 2016

All the action in the world means nothing if you don’t care about the hero. Therefore the first and most crucial part of any screenplay is...

Building a World

February 16, 2016

One way to write any story is to think of your story world. George Lucas didn’t just write a screenplay about a Death Star. Instead...

Show, Don’t Tell

February 13, 2016

One of the more common writing rules is “Show, don’t tell.” That means let the audience experience the emotions of a scene rather than just...

Creative Exposition

February 10, 2016

In the old days, stage plays used to provide exposition by having a maid and a butler set a table and chat about the main...

Every Scene Adds New Information

February 7, 2016

Every scene must be interesting but it must also do more by providing us with new information. When you combine interest with new information, each...

Make Every Scene Interesting

February 4, 2016

Take any screenplay turned into a great movie and rip a scene out at random. Then study that scene. Chances are good that simple scene...

Rile Up the Emotions

February 1, 2016

Nothing makes a scene more interesting to watch than something that stirs up the emotions. The simplest emotion to stir up is the threat of physical...

The 15 Minute Movie Method

February 2016