Act I poses a question that finally gets answered in Act III. In romantic comedies, Act I poses the question on whether the hero will ever find love. Then Act III answers that question by showing how the hero eventually finds love. In “Die Hard,” the initial question is whether the hero will get back […]
A typical 120-minute movie can be divided into four Acts of 30 minutes each: Act I Act IIa Act IIb Act III In Act I, the villain introduces a Symbol of Hope into the hero’s life and then the hero pursues that Symbol of Hope to make a Leap of Faith into a strange new […]
Initially, the hero and villain have no idea the other person even exists. To bring the two of them together, the villain must introduce something into the hero’s life. This person or object comes from the villain and appears in the hero’s life. Now the hero has a goal to pursue and this pursuit of […]
The beginning of Act I poses an initial question. Then the end of Act III answers that question. In “Die Hard,” the beginning of Act poses the question of whether the hero will get back with his wife again. By the end of Act III (and the entire movie), that question gets answered. The hero […]
Watch “Detroit” and you’ll see a movie that feels more like a documentary than a story. As a result, “Detroit” explains what might have happened during the 1967 Detroit riots, but fails to engage us in the characters. Truth simply isn’t as exciting as fiction. In “Detroit,” there’s no traditional emotional change in the hero […]
“Writing Scenes for Screenplays” is an updated and retitled edition of my previous “Making a Scene” book about writing scenes. This updated version includes more information about scene structure along with creating scenes that define the villain’s goal, the hero’s pursuit of a Symbol of Hope goal, the ally’s change, and the mentor’s redemption. If […]
Watch “Nine Lives” and “The Emoji Movie” to see a good idea poorly executed. In “Nine Lives,” a selfish, businessman gets turned into a cat so he can learn to be more humble and appreciative of his family. In “The Emoji Movie,” an emoji who can’t limit himself to one expression, eventually learns to take […]
There’s a pattern among bad movies like “King Arthur” and “The Dark Tower.” Instead of setting up information that pays off earlier, bad movies simply skip crucial information and jump right to the action. The end result is that the action doesn’t make much sense despite all the special effects on display. Watch the original […]
Stephen King’s series, “The Dark Tower,” consists of eight books. Given the popularity of Stephen King’s novels and the appeal of “The Dark Tower” series by itself, it’s obvious why Hollywood wanted to make a movie out of the book series. However, Hollywood made the same mistake they keep making. They filmed the story and […]
Your hero must change. Without change, your story will feel flat and dull. Think of bad James Bond movies like “Die Another Day” or “A View to a Kill” and you can see that James Bond doesn’t change. As a result, the story is rather boring. Now think of good James Bond movies like “Skyfall” […]