When most people think about comedy, they think of jokes. But if you write a screenplay based on witty and clever sayings from all the characters, you wind up with nothing more than a bunch of characters saying funny things to each other. That’s not a story. A story is about a hero pursuing a […]
Here’s the most common mistake novices make in writing a screenplay. They try to tell a story. While you might think telling a story is the whole purpose of a screenplay, it’s not. The purpose of a screenplay is to draw in an audience and let them figure out for themselves what’s going on. When […]
There are two animated films on the market that both focus on racial diversity. “Raya and the Last Dragon” focuses on Asian culture while “Soul” focuses on the black community. Both are successful in depicting the cultures accurately and positively. The difference lies in how they tell the story. On Rotten Tomatoes, both movies are […]
It can be inspiring to watch a great movie and then strive to create something just as wonderful. However, if you limit your study of movies to great movies, it’s easy to feel intimidated. Great movies can show you what works but it can be just as educational to watch really bad movies to see […]
The most common mistake of novice screenplays is that they provide exposition mostly through dialogue. This creates two problems. First, listening to information is passive and boring. You typically have to repeat information two or three times before people remember it so dumping exposition in dialogue is usually wasted. That’s because screenwriters look at their […]
There’s a huge difference between horror and just gore. Horror porn typically focuses on showing people, usually young attractive women, getting tortured and hurt. However true horror isn’t about gore or seeing someone suffering. Instead, true horror focuses on the shock of a sudden realization. This suddenly realization occurs when the audience and the characters […]
The worst way to write a comedy is to try and be funny. Watch “Disaster Movie” that does nothing more than spoof other movies, but because it’s trying to be funny, the jokes get tedious and dull after a while. If you study the funniest comedies, they have a serious story as its foundation. “Dr. […]
The biggest mistake many novices make it they come up with an idea for a story and then they start writing. usually their idea can push them to complete at least ten pages but once they start reaching twenty pages, they run out of ideas and have no idea what to do next. Writing a […]