If you’ve been following the reviews of the “Batman vs. Superman” movie, you’ll know that it hasn’t been well received by the critics. If you watch that movie, you’ll see that it’s mediocre. Not bad, but not great and definitely not as good as it could have been. The first problem is that it’s not […]
To keep your story interesting, create a mystery and then gradually reveal that mystery. In Act I, you introduce that mystery. In Act IIa you deepen that mystery by providing more details. In Act IIb, you add yet more mystery. Finally in Act III you reveal that mystery. In “The Lady in the Van,” the […]
This blog post title (Keep Trying to Succeed) can apply both to your own dreams of writing and selling a screenplay as well as the main goal of the hero of your screenplay. Your hero must have a goal right from the start and must keep trying to achieve that dream with constant setbacks. Only […]
In the old days, knights would compete by jousting. That would involve charging at each other on horseback with a lance with the intent of knocking the other knight off his horse. With jousting, both sides are trying to achieve a goal of some kind and only one of them will win in the end. […]
Every movie consists of four Acts. In a 120-minute movie, each Act is 30 minutes. Within each Act, you absolutely must keep your story’s promise to the audience. “Star Wars” promises lots of battles in space, so each Act has its own major fight scene: Act I — Darth Vader’s starship overtakes and boards Princess Leia’s […]
Most screenwriting books tell you to focus on the hero, but if you only focus on the hero, you’ll risk creating a plodding, narrowly focused story filled with additional characters who feel more like cardboard cutouts than actual people. Ideally, you not only want the hero to change, but the hero’s actions will help the […]
By the middle of your story, everything should look like your hero is going to succeed. Then immediately afterwards, everything starts falling apart rapidly. The reason for this is for contrast. You want to give your audience hope that your hero’s problems are finally solved, then there’s nothing more dramatic than completely wrecking the hero’s […]
The most important part of the beginning is making the hero’s goal clear and understandable. Once we know why the hero wants something and why he or she is motivated to achieve it, then the audience will be hooked on the story from beginning to end. The hero’s goal must be crystal clear and the […]
Most stories start at the beginning and stop when they reach the end. However, a few stories use non-linear storytelling. That’s where the events you see don’t happen in chronological order. Telling stories with events out of order can be an especially interesting technique because it helps put earlier events in a different perspective. In […]
One of the best ways to make your hero likable is to make him or her an underdog. That means every villain has far more power than the hero, which makes the hero’s goal seemingly impossible. The more power the villain has and the more admirable the hero’s goal, the more likable the hero. So […]